The South Asian nation of Bangladesh is home to 165 million people.

It's also facing some of the worst effects of climate change.

Massive cyclones and constant floods in coastal areas cause enormous damage and loss of life every year.

The effects are even reaching major cities that are undergoing rapid economic growth.

Central Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital.

Tightly packed homes line this slum.

Around 200,000 people are thought to live here, although there are no accurate figures.

Ten years ago, this was an enormous lake.

People come from all over the country, dump garbage, and set up homes here.

There was a flood in June
that caused massive damage.

Now there's not enough work
at home so we came to Dhaka.

Climate migrants have been forced to leave their villages for Dhaka.

The slum is expanding fast.

They are the displacement because of the climate change.

Every day, people are influx to my city.

Every day 2,000.

City have the overcrowded.

City cannot have that much of capability.

Neither have the capacity.

So this is the meaning that we are already being exhausted.

The number of climate migrants continues to rise.

So far, over seven million people have been forced to leave their homes.

And it's not just major cities - smaller, more rural towns are also being affected.

So many people come. There's no space.
Where can they go?

But I can't stop them. Even if
I wanted to, they'd still come.

We follow the struggles of climate migrants in Bangladesh, one of Asia's poorest countries.

Home to over 20 million people, Dhaka is one of the world's most densely populated megacities.

As climate migrants flock to its streets, the situation is not improving.

Here, people are gathering scrap metal from a demolition site.

24-year-old Rabiul Awal came to Dhaka three years ago.

In two hours, he manages to scrape together a small haul of scrap.

How much scrap did you get?

9kg. That's US$4.50.

The money is shared among the team of three.

They each take home one dollar fifty.

Rabiul moved to Dhaka from a village near the southern coast of Bangladesh.

He rents a small home in the slums.

This is his daughter, Rafisa.

I came here because my house was taken
by the river. It happens frequently.

Situation there is not good.
Life is not good there. That's why.

When Rabiul faces despair, he turns to his wife, Sadia.

They met here in Dhaka.

They've been married for three years, but he's focused on work, and only sees his family at meals.

In the sprawling city of Dhaka, climate migrants can only find low-paying, insecure work.

Rabiul also collects disused items and trash.

With both jobs, he still only makes around $60 a month.

There's no sign that things will improve.

The work I do is high risk. I often
get cuts on my hands and feet.

I couldn't work for 2 months
after a bad cut on my foot.

Surgery to remove the broken glass
here cost over $470.

It's hard but what can we do?
This is how life is here.

His wife Sadia is deeply worried about how hard he works.

I want to find work but he says
I don't need to, that he'll manage.

In my village, we don't let our wives
work outside the home. Men work.

Rabiul is not the only one to leave home.

Of his relatives, eight families now live in Dhaka.

We're poor. We're unlucky.

We suffer wherever we are.
Here in Dhaka or in the village.

Rabiul feels the irony of fate in his situation.

I'm Rabiul Talukder.

Talukder means my grandfather
had a lot of taluk, or land.

Grandfather was wealthy.

Now it's just a name.

People used to respect us,
greet us. Not anymore.

Rabiul is from Morrelganj, a small village about 250 kilometers from Dhaka

that has existed in harmony with its river for many years.

Rabiul's father, Gias still lives there.

My house was there, on that shore.
It is gradually breaking.

Only Allah knows
where all this will take us.

Erosion.

It's advancing, just look.

Erosion is eating away at the river's banks.

Gias has lost his home three times, and all of his money.

Many people in coastal areas in Bangladesh are facing similar situations.

The rising river levels are thought to be caused by a combination of melting glaciers

and higher sea levels resulting from climate change.

The pace of the rise also seems to be quickening.

Many village homes are on the edge of disaster.

Yet residents want to stay as long as they own the land.

There was a graveyard here
with many graves. Gone now.

My children, a relative,
and my husband were there.

The river is almost here.
Now only my husband's grave remains.

All I love is here. How can
I leave my husband's grave?

My fate is one of suffering.

I bought this land after much struggle.
Now it is gone.

200 meters from the riverbank lies Gias's fourth home.

He took on a mountain of debt to buy the land.

Three of his remaining sons and their families all live here,

a total of 15 people under the same roof.

Rabiul lived beside me
but the land fell away.

He said we couldn't all live
together in such a small place.

He left to earn money for us in Dhaka.

Nobody knows how long they will be able to live in this home.

His sons are agonizing over moving away.

I have two children,
where can I take them?

We live here because
it doesn't cost us rent.

Gias has no intention of leaving his homeland.

But he's growing older and has reached his financial limits.

If this house disappears, he will not be able to build a new one.

He couldn't allow young Rabiul to stay,

and he feels guilty about the difficult struggle his son faces.

- What are you doing?
- Just got home.

- You just got back?
- Yes.

- Have you eaten?
- No, bath first.

He told me that he doesn't want to
do such hard work.

I felt like crying.

He said someone wants
to hire him for a foreign job.

But travel would cost $1,900.

I couldn't sleep that night,
I was desperate to help him.

If I had some money,
I could borrow the rest.

But I have nothing.

Populations are growing fast in the cities climate migrants are flocking to

after losing their homes.

Dhaka is gaining around 700,000 new residents each year,

while Bangladesh's second largest city Chattogram is also growing by around 100,000.

Traffic jams.

Water shortages.

Towering trash heaps.

Infrastructure has ground to a halt, and there's no room for any more people.

Fifteen million people are on Dhaka north city corporation.

But it's overcrowded already.

We have to understand there is a capability and there is a capacity.

I have a capacity to serve this much of people.

But I don't have that much of capability to give them the other services.

So when you are saying being a city mayor, what is my responsibility?

The government cannot take all the responsibility.

The responsibility must take for those country, we are affected.

They must take all the responsibility.

Compared to developed economies,

Bangladesh produces barely any of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change.

Yet climate change-related costs now account for 4% of the national budget.

It will no doubt rise even further.

We are expecting to go to middle income country and that high income country in the next couple of decades.

Climate change certainly is taking away some part of the resources

that was that could be used for the annual development program.

We are diverting this for adaptation activities and that is certainly a challenge.

But we cannot avoid this challenge.

In 2022, the United Nations' COP27 climate summit was held in Egypt.

Developing countries such as Bangladesh demanded reparations from developed nations

that produced vast quantities of greenhouse gases.

So decided.

But these nations balked at the idea of handing over the huge sums sought by the developing countries.

Although they agreed to set up a foundation to address losses and damages,

the finer details of the agreement were postponed until the next conference.

As international support wavers, the situation on the ground is becoming increasingly serious.

Over seven million people in Bangladesh have already lost their homes,

and it's predicted that many more will join them in the years to come.

As major cities reach their limits, some smaller towns have become new destinations for climate migrants.

The port town of Mongla lies 230 kilometers from Dhaka.

It's in the Bengal Delta, which has seen many migrants fleeing cyclones and floods.

Over the last decade, its population has more than doubled to 100,000.

Once a small fishing village, it has become a city of climate migrants.

At 7AM, people crowd onto a ferry.

They're heading to Mongla's EPZ, or export processing zone.

The national government revamped it in 2009.

Because customs are not levied in this zone, it has attracted foreign investment.

New factories are providing stable employment.

Dhaka and Chattogram are very
expensive. I can't live there.

Wages are higher but so are
expenses. It works out the same.

I was in Dhaka and Chattogram
but I moved here.

Before, I couldn't visit my family
if something happened.

I couldn't always come back
once a year.

Now I see my parents every week.

Mongla provides steady wages without needing to travel to large, distant cities.

It's now the first location of choice for residents of nearby areas who need to move.

One such area is the village of Southkhali, 50 kilometers from Mongla.

The village is protected by an embankment.

Yet there's a constant flood of people moving away to Mongla.

The embankment keeps us safe.
But it doesn't fill our stomachs!

There's no work here. Our only
option is to go to the cities.

It's much hotter than it used to be
and harvests are much smaller.

People will leave.

Mehedi Hassan is 14.

His family plans to move to Mongla.

Mehedi has just become a fisherman.

His parents are out of work, and can't pay for further education.

He had to leave junior high last year.

But catches are down, and the family can't make ends meet.

His parents asked if he'd consider working in Mongla if the whole family moved.

It's fine. I've stopped studying
and I'm willing to work elsewhere.

If that helps the family,
then it's best for us.

Mehedi's parents are ill and say they must rely on their son.

Mongla is close to the village and they have relatives there.

They think the move is feasible.

If we die here, what will happen
to the children?

A good job in Mongla with good
wages will let him buy land.

It's a chance for him to shine.

I hope he feels happy, that he's
on his way to a brighter future.

Mehedi visits Mongla in preparation for the move.

It's his first ever visit to a town.

His relatives are waiting for him.

They've been asked to find him work.

Their first stop is the town's bustling ferry station.

The boats you see,
can you operate these?

No, I can't.

Their next stop is a hotel.

For the village-born Mehedi, everything he sees is new.

He's still too young and inexperienced to land work in the EPZ.

His only option is low-paying jobs.

You will have to serve tea
to the customers like this.

Maybe serve there and
over here. Can you do it?

- I can, yes.
- You're sure?

If you can't, you'll
have to return home.

I can do this.

Mongla is a beacon of hope for climate migrants.

But it's starting to face some of the same problems as the larger cities.

Drinking water is running low.

Long lines form daily in the slums.

As a last resort, the town is now using water from a local pond.

But they still can't keep up with demand.

So many people come. There's no space.
Where can they go?

But I can't stop them. Even if
I wanted to, they'd still come.

In September 2022, a new urban planning project for sustainable development was launched to prevent a total collapse.

It's run by the government, several NGOs, and a research foundation.

It began by interviewing many of the climate migrants.

What problems do you face?

We are struggling for water.

The street is very low, so
the house floods during rain.

We have to leave.

The main problems are water,
roads, and electricity.

So, for example, people don't have drinking water.

You can think about how is always rainwater harvesting.

You can think about community based.

So for example, a reverse osmosis plant so that they can get safe drinking water access.

There are the smaller scale intervention which cannot be managed, which can be managed by a community,

which can be easily constructed by the community itself with the help of the municipality.

If the town's infrastructure fails and living conditions worsen,

tens of thousands of climate migrants will leave Mongla and head to the big cities.

The community wants to prevent that.

It's spearheading efforts to turn Mongla into a climate resilient, migrant-friendly town.

Allowing everybody to come to the city, it's a problem.

Because providing good facility for livings and also for job in city.

There is a limit.

It cannot be continue as it is.

So we thought, why don't we choose a secondary town?

So if you can hold them there,

so there will be less pressure in Dhaka City and Chittagong city and other city for a big cities.

Mongla and three other towns will complete new climate migration projects by 2025.

If they succeed, the initiative could expend to a further 25 towns.

Once Mehedi finds employment, he will live with his relatives.

You were in the village,
the town is different.

You have to work hard.
Life is hard here, it's different.

It's harder to meet people
and make friends.

It takes money to survive here
and you need to earn it yourself.

Here, you have more responsibility.

As his family's primary earner, Mehedi carries a heavy weight on his 14-year-old shoulders.

I'm young so I can't get high-paid work.

My salary will disappear on rent
and food. That'll be the challenge.

Will you stay here?
It's a big challenge.

Yes, but I have to try.

Bangladesh's climate migrants have no choice but to leave their familiar homes.

It's predicted that a further 13 million will join their ranks in the next 30 years.