内容摘要：A Galapagos sea lion swims around the rocky reef off of Isabela Island, Ecuador in the Galapagos on Saturday, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Alie Skowronski)

A Galapagos sea lion swims around the rocky reef off of Isabela Island, Ecuador in the Galapagos on Saturday, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Alie Skowronski)

Huq said more than a dozen satellite towns, all adjacent to economic hubs such as sea and river ports, have already been identified as potential migrant-friendly locations.“These are all secondary towns with populations of up to half a million, which can shelter up to another half a million climate migrants each,” said Huq. “Thus we can offer alternatives to at least 10 million climate migrants over next one decade.”

Climate scientists say low-lying Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and millions are at the risk of being displaced — becoming climate refugees because of sea level rise, river erosion, cyclonic storms and intrusion of saline water. The World Bank in a new report said last year that Bangladesh will have more than 19 million internal climate refugees by 2050, almost half the projected number for the entire South Asia region.Houses and trees affected during the 2020 Cyclone Amphan sit on the water’s edge at Chila Bazar in Mongla, Bangladesh, March 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)Houses and trees affected during the 2020 Cyclone Amphan sit on the water’s edge at Chila Bazar in Mongla, Bangladesh, March 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Huq said by an approach of transformative adaptation in about two dozen small coastal towns including Mongla, at least 10 million climate refugees could be resettled, rather than forcing them to move to slums in big cities like Dhaka, the nation’s capital.“The trend is that climate migrants move to places where there are economic activities for them. We can’t stop displacement, we can only offer alternatives that they will accept,” he said.

The vision of transformative adaption is to create opportunities for climate migrants to live and work in an environment where the host population accepts them.

Workers walk to work at an export processing zone early in the morning after crossing the Mongla river in Mongla, Bangladesh, March 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)But those newcomers and summer tourists aren’t the ones relying on nature for food, and they aren’t the ones fighting for traditions that go back generations. As inland lakes warm with climate change, tribal members experience the effects first.

Carol Hanlon, left, and Renee DeBrot record the sex, size and type of fish at a station at a boat landing on Round Lake Saturday, April 13, 2024, near Hayward, Wis. (AP Photo/John Locher)Carol Hanlon, left, and Renee DeBrot record the sex, size and type of fish at a station at a boat landing on Round Lake Saturday, April 13, 2024, near Hayward, Wis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Kelly Martin, left, embraces Muriel Shirriff, as he drops off frozen fish he and his family caught Friday, April 19, 2024, in Hayward, Wis. (AP Photo/John Locher)Kelly Martin, left, embraces Muriel Shirriff, as he drops off frozen fish he and his family caught Friday, April 19, 2024, in Hayward, Wis. (AP Photo/John Locher)