POBNEWS24, Dhaka, Sep 14,2021: Close to 17 percent of Bangladesh could be submerged by the rising sea level by 2050. In her address to the 48th session of the Human Rights Council on Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet quoted a report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) that in Bangladesh 20 million people will be deprived of their homes by 2050 due to the rising sea level. Worldwide at least 1.2 billion people could be displaced due to rising sea levels by 2050.
According to the WEF Bangladesh had the third largest number of over 4 million people displaced from their homes due to disasters in 2019.
Other countries in South East Asia including Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam will also face damaging consequences due to high tides which would affect 48 million people in these countries by 2050.
Highlighting the serious phenomenon of environmental disaster, Michelle Bachelet said that in 2019 China, Bangladesh, India and the Philippines witnessed more disaster displacement than all other countries combined together accounting for 70 percent of the global total . She said that forecasts of this gravity can’t be ignored as they will have cascading economic, social, cultural and political effects.
She urged all countries to work together to expand pathways for safe and regular migration for people who are compelled to leave their countries in the context of environmental degradation.
