People Chased by the Sea - Dhaka, Maldives, Tuvalu - Drifting to the Year 2050

People Chased by the Sea - Dhaka, Maldives, Tuvalu - Drifting to the Year 2050

In Bangladesh, rising sea levels and more intense storms have led to coastal erosion and flooding, and salt damage to farmland and damage to houses and roads have become the norm. This has led to an accelerated influx of people from coastal and rural areas to the capital city of Dhaka. In a slum in Dhaka that the author visited, all residents said that coastal erosion, salinization of groundwater, and pollution had made it impossible to sustain their lives and forced them to leave their villages. The situation is also serious in low-lying island countries. In the Maldives and Tuvalu, in addition to the destruction of infrastructure due to receding coastlines, storm surges, and waves, seawater is seeping into the ground and contaminating groundwater, increasing the risk that soil, vegetation, and basic infrastructure will fail. If these combined degradations continue, it is feared that the area may become uninhabitable by around 2050. Furthermore, from the perspective of the l
egal system, the loss of coastlines poses a challenge that could spill over into the delineation of territories and economic zones, and could shake the very foundations of the nation itself.