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If Bangladesh becomes uninhabitable those 150 million or so people will need to move. Four thousand years ago there weren't anywhere near that number of people
by skh 8y ago
If Bangladesh becomes uninhabitable those 150 million or so people will need to move. Four thousand years ago there weren't anywhere near that number of people in the area that is now called Bangladesh. The scale has drastically changed.
It's easier for an individual to move now than in the past. This is clear. But if an entire high population region becomes uninhabitable in a short period of time then it's difficult for that population to shift. The neighboring countries generally won't want to accept the incoming people and often times can't sustain the incoming population.
Look at the problems with a few million people suddenly going to Europe has caused. Imagine if it were 150 million people trying to get into Europe.
- njarboe 8y agoLike you mentioned, the thing that causes millions of people needing to move in a short timescale these days is caused by humans, ie. wars. Even if sea-level rise is as bad as the most dire predictions and the Bangladeshis can't find a way to build some dikes, it will still take many multiple decades for parts of Bangladesh to become "uninhabitable".
- skh 8y agoI mentioned relatively short time scales. I'm thinking multi decade time scales and not something like wars. If the predictions of sea level rise are correct then the problem won't be to just one region. It will be world wide and the resulting migrations/chaos will be catastrophic for nations and people. I was just giving an example of how the scale has changed now versus 5000 years ago.