Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh ranks 9th globally among countries at the highest risk of climate-induced disasters, including tropical cyclones, tornadoes, floods, coastal and riverbank erosion, droughts, and landslides, according to a new report released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Monday.
The country, which also has the 5th largest population in the Asia and Pacific region, faces significant threats as climate change intensifies.
The report estimates that by 2050, 17 percent of Bangladesh’s territory will be submerged due to rising sea levels, resulting in the loss of 30 percent of the nation’s agricultural land.
This will force coastal communities to migrate to urban areas, where they will likely experience poor living conditions and unemployment.
“As climate change increasingly impacts Bangladesh, social protection becomes essential for building resilience in the face of flooding, heat waves, and other natural disasters.
Properly designed and well-funded social protection systems can greatly mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, facilitate a just transition, and provide income protection for those affected,” said Tuomo Poutiainen, ILO Country Director for Bangladesh.
Despite the adoption of a National Social Security Strategy (NSSS) in 2015, Bangladesh has yet to institutionalize a comprehensive social protection system capable of addressing sudden climate-induced shocks and providing long-term benefits.
The Asia-Pacific region marked a milestone in 2023, with over half of its population (53.6 percent) now covered by at least one social protection benefit, according to the ILO’s World Social Protection Report 2024-26: Universal Social Protection for Climate Action and a Just Transition.
However, social protection systems across the region remain insufficient, facing both recurring and new challenges.
These systems will require significant strengthening to effectively address the impacts of climate change.
While the region’s effective social protection coverage now exceeds the global average (52.4 percent), approximately 2.1 billion people remain unprotected from various socio-economic risks, and progress in extending coverage has been uneven.
Since 2015, effective coverage in Eastern Asia has increased by 15.2 percentage points (from 63.3 to 78.5 percent), by 13.4 percentage points (from 32.5 to 45.9 percent) in South-Eastern Asia, by 16.7 percentage points (from 18.7 to 35.4 percent) in Southern Asia, and by 6.8 percentage points (from 65.7 to 72.5 percent) in the Pacific Islands. However, significant disparities persist among countries.