Persistent vulnerability and precarious futures: the limits of adaptation in ‘climate migrant’ informal settlements of coastal Bangladesh

Populations exposed and vulnerable to climatic shocks and environmental degradation are increasingly likely to employ migration as an adaptive strategy in response to escalating severity and frequency of hazards associated with climate change. This study responds to the critical need to assess the role of migration in adaptation, particularly how post-migration conditions shape vulnerability, well-being and opportunities for existing households and their subsequent generations. Drawing on qualitative, participatory research in so-called ‘climate migrant’ slums in southwest Bangladesh, the study examines how migration reconfigures household risk by changing levels of exposure whilst reshaping and potentially reproducing conditions of vulnerability. While moving away from high-risk rural areas may reduce exposure, informal urban settlements remain exposed and are marked by socio-economic precarity and political exclusion, reinforcing conditions of vulnerability. Many such households are rendered immobile, both in terms of future migration and socio-economic mobility. Therefore, the success of migration as an adaptation strategy will depend not only on reducing exposure to hazards but also on addressing broader social, economic and political factors that shape vulnerability, enabling households to withstand future hazards and support long-term development.