Impacts of Climate Change on Induced Migration in South Asia: An Analysis from 2007 to 2023

Background: Large-scale population displacements, historically driven by socio-economic factors and increasingly exacerbated by climate change, are a pressing global issue. This paper aims to understand the induced migration due to climate change in South Asian countries and their socio-economic impacts.

Methods: Used MunichRe NatCatSERVICE data (2007-2023), for the impacts of extreme weather events and associated socio-economic data. MunichRe collects the number of total losses caused by weather events, the number of deaths, the insured damages and the total economic damages. Global Climate Risk Index (CRI) developed for the analyses quantified impacts of extreme weather events in terms of fatalities and economic losses. CRI indicates a level of exposure and vulnerability to extreme events. The CRI (2009-2023) analysed data from five top 10 most affected South Asian countries (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal).

Results: Results shows that Bangladesh and Pakistan, the two South Asian developing countries had to suffer from a significant number of deaths and direct economic losses exceedingly more than US$ 10 and US$ 2 billion, respectively. Sri Lanka started the year 2018 with severe monsoon rains from 20^th to 26^th of May, affecting 20 districts. At least 38 people died, more than 170000 people were affected, and nearly 6000 people were displaced. Over the last decade, the Germanwatch think tank’s Global Climate Risk Index (CRI) has ranked India and Pakistan among the top ten south Asian countries vulnerable to climate change. Back in 2009, Cyclone Aila displaced 2.3 million in India and nearly a million in Bangladesh.

Conclusion: There is a need to recognize the displacement of people within the countries and regions so that proper action can be taken to address their problems. There is a need for a better understanding of the relationship between climate change and migration.