Climate-Induced Migration and Interdependent Vulnerabilities Between Bangladesh and India

The states of north-eastern India have seen some of the worst conflicts in the recent years. Various factors such as land distribution, religion, ethnicity and large scale migration from Bangladesh have been analyzed as reasons for increasing social vulnerability of these states. In most cases, vulnerability to climate change, related migration has often been analyzed from a place based perspective. However, with ecological interdependence and increasing impacts of climate change, the concept of ‘interdependent vulnerability’ can enhance our understanding of the vulnerability arising out of interdependent natural, social and economic systems. This depends on recognizing that, due to the transboundary nature of global environmental change the capacity of states to effectively deal with the problems, without the cooperation of other states is decreasing. This framework looks into the question of migration through interdependent factors and associated vulnerabilities. This paper discusses the links between migration and vulnerability in both regions. Further, I analyze the implications of these insights for the notion of interdependent vulnerability and importance for climate-induced migration, concluding there is a need to address the drivers of vulnerability and needed policies to reduce vulnerability of people.