When Rivers Erode, Lives Fall Apart

Have you ever watched a river eat away at its banks? From a distance, it may look as though only soil is disappearing, bit by bit. But if your home stands on that soil, if your paddy field lies there, if it contains the path your children take to school or the courtyard filled with childhood memories, the scene becomes much more than land being washed away. It feels as though your own life is slowly disappearing before your eyes.

When a home is destroyed, a family’s sense of security goes with it. When land disappears into a river, years of hard work, savings and hopes for the future disappear as well. When someone takes one last look at their ancestral home before leaving, they are not simply abandoning an address. They are leaving behind a part of the world they know.

River erosion is nothing new in Bangladesh. Yet we often treat its devastating impact as little more than a few days of monsoon news.

According to 2025 data from the United Nations office in Bangladesh, around 8,700 hectares of land are affected by river erosion every year, while more than 200,000 people are impacted. Citing government figures, the World Bank says an average of around 50,000 families are rendered homeless by river erosion annually.

Behind these numbers are lives being repeatedly disrupted.

When a farmer loses their land, they lose not only property but also their main source of income. When a family loses its home, it loses more than a structure; it loses security. When a small trader loses a shop, their capital disappears. Children may have to change schools or even abandon their education. Debt increases, people move elsewhere in search of work, and prolonged financial and emotional pressure builds within families.

The communities along the Jamuna, Padma and Meghna rivers are among the most familiar faces of this crisis. People living along the Jamuna in Kurigram, Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Sirajganj, Pabna and Tangail repeatedly face erosion. Families along the Padma in Rajbari, Faridpur, Manikganj, Shariatpur and Chandpur, and along the Meghna in Bhola and surrounding areas, are also forced to reshape their lives as the rivers change course.

The most painful reality is that many victims are displaced not once, but repeatedly.

A World Bank study of communities along the Jamuna found that more than one-third of surveyed households had relocated their homes three to five times because of river erosion. The study also highlighted the deep impact of such instability on income, education, housing, land ownership, livelihoods and food security.

Losing a home once is devastating. Losing it repeatedly can gradually strip a person of everything they own.

The first time, a family may be able to rebuild. The second time, its savings may run out. The third time, it may have to borrow. Eventually, there may be nothing left to lose.

This is where river erosion ceases to be merely a natural disaster and becomes a social and economic crisis.

The International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) first nationwide assessment, conducted in September and October 2025, identified approximately 4,955,527 people internally displaced by disasters in Bangladesh. The figure covers displacement caused by various disasters, including floods, cyclones and river erosion, and therefore cannot be attributed to river erosion alone. Yet it provides an important picture of the scale of disaster-induced displacement in the country.

The IOM found that around 63% of these displaced people had already been displaced before April 2020. For many, displacement is therefore not temporary. They have spent years living away from their former homes.

Four districts — Chattogram, Sirajganj, Bhola and Noakhali — account for nearly one-quarter of the country’s total disaster-displaced population.

We must also understand the relationship between river erosion and climate change carefully. Not every instance of erosion in Bangladesh is caused by climate change. Natural river dynamics, sediment, water flow and the composition of riverbanks are major factors.

But climate change is making the situation more difficult through heavier rainfall, flooding, changes in water flows, rising sea levels and other risks.

The World Bank estimates that various impacts of climate change could create around 13.3 million internal climate migrants in Bangladesh by 2050. This is not a figure for river erosion alone. Agriculture, water shortages, rising sea levels and other climate impacts will all contribute.

Still, the projection raises a difficult question: if millions are forced to move in search of livelihoods, where will they go?

If the answer is simply Dhaka or other major cities, the problem will become even more complex. Cities will face additional pressure on housing, employment, water, sanitation, healthcare and transport.

A farmer cannot easily remain a farmer after moving to a city. A fisherman who loses their river may also lose their livelihood. Environmental losses can therefore deepen social inequality.

What can be done?

First, scientifically based maps of erosion-prone areas should be developed and vulnerable communities warned in advance. Authorities and residents need information about where erosion is likely to occur and which schools, roads and settlements are at risk.

Early warning should mean more than informing people that a disaster is approaching. It should give families time to move essential belongings, livestock, documents and children to safety.

Second, long-term riverbank protection should be pursued wherever it is technically feasible. There can be no one-size-fits-all solution. River flow, sediment, bank composition and the local environment must all be considered.

A World Bank project for the Jamuna river system has set a target of protecting around 2,500 hectares of land. Such science-based and long-term river management should be expanded.

Third, rehabilitation after erosion must receive greater attention than short-term relief.

Giving a family some corrugated iron sheets and moving it elsewhere is not rehabilitation. Safe housing, employment, education, healthcare, water, sanitation and social protection must be ensured.

Farmers who lose their land need alternative livelihood opportunities. Small traders who lose their shops need support to restart their businesses. Above all, children must not be allowed to drop out of school because their homes have disappeared.

Fourth, river erosion needs to be more closely integrated into national climate adaptation and social protection policies. The World Bank has warned that climate change could place significant pressure on Bangladesh’s agricultural production and economy by 2050.

If we fail to invest now in addressing climate risks, the cost of future losses will be much higher.

We also have a responsibility.

There must be stronger monitoring of whether riverbank encroachment, unplanned sand extraction, environmental degradation and poorly planned development are making the natural dynamics of rivers more dangerous.

The media’s responsibility should not end with publishing pictures of erosion. It should also ask what happened to the family that lost its home a year later. Are the children still in school? Has the family regained its livelihood? Were promises of rehabilitation fulfilled?

People affected by river erosion do not want pity. They want opportunities.

They want to stand on their own feet again. They want to send their children to school. They want a home that will not leave them staring fearfully at the river every monsoon.

I believe the greatest test of a country’s development is not found in the high-rise buildings of its major cities. It is found where a person who has lost everything looks towards the state.

A river may take away a home. It may take away land. It may even take away years of savings.

But if the state stands beside affected people, protects their children’s education, creates new livelihood opportunities and provides safe rehabilitation, then the river may take away their past without taking away their future.

One day, perhaps, a new home will rise beside the river. Children will play in the courtyard. A mother will cook rice. A father will return from work in the evening.

That home may not stand on the family’s old homestead. But it can become a new address for a secure life.

Ensuring that new address is our responsibility.

We cannot always stop a river. But we can prevent people from repeatedly losing everything because of it. We can ensure that children do not lose their futures and that families do not spend their lives carrying the burden of displacement.

Rivers erode. Soil disappears. Homes are lost. Addresses change.

But people’s hopes must not be allowed to disappear.

Because ultimately, a river does not merely erode land; it tests our humanity.

The river erodes, and lives fall apart too. But it is our responsibility to help people stand again.

The writer is a journalist and human rights activist and a member of the France-Bangladesh Journalists Association