By Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
NARAYANGANJ, Bangladesh, Jul 23 2025 – Nikli Upazila, located in the Kishoreganj district of Bangladesh, is part of the haor region, a vast wetland ecosystem characterized by bowl-shaped depressions. This unique geography subjects the area to significant climatic challenges, particularly recurrent flooding. The haor region, including Nikli, experiences a subtropical monsoon climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. During the monsoon season, heavy rainfall often leads to extensive flooding. Flash floods have become increasingly unpredictable and severe in recent years, causing substantial damage to agricultural lands and affecting the livelihoods of local communities. These people, trapped by water and driven by poverty, journey from the Haor to brickfields, where their lives become an endless cycle of hardship.
Agriculture, especially boro rice (a kind of a rice) cultivation, is the primary livelihood for many residents of Nikli. However, the unpredictability of flash floods poses a significant threat to crop yields. The high seasonality of the haor-based economy forces local people to remain out of work for a considerable period, leading to food insecurity. Faced with these challenges, many families from Nikli engage in seasonal migration to urban and peri-urban areas such as Dhaka, Savar, Narayanganj, and Munshiganj. They seek employment opportunities in sectors like brickfields, where both adults and children often work under strenuous conditions. The city is expanding and this migration is not just a means of income but a survival strategy to cope with the economic hardships imposed by environmental vulnerabilities.
The migration of entire families, including children, to work in brickfields highlights the severe socioeconomic pressures faced by communities in Nikli. While this migration provides temporary financial relief, it also exposes individuals, especially women and children, to exploitative labor practices and adverse living conditions. Moreover, the absence of family members during significant portions of the year disrupts community cohesion and affects the social fabric of the region.
The cyclical nature of flooding in Nikli Upazila, compounded by the lack of local employment opportunities, necessitates seasonal migration as a coping mechanism for many families. Addressing these challenges requires a multifaceted approach, including improved flood management, diversification of local livelihoods, and the implementation of social protection measures to reduce the necessity for distress-driven migration.
Migrants from the flood-prone haor region, like her, seek survival in the hazardous conditions of brick kilns after recurrent flash floods devastate their agricultural lands. Their journey from waterlogged villages to smoke-filled industrial landscapes is one of resilience and hardship.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
An elderly migrant laborer from the flood-prone haor region of Nikli, Kishoreganj, stacks bricks in a kiln in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. Recurrent flash floods have destroyed his agricultural livelihood, forcing him into the backbreaking work of the brickfields. Cloaked in dust and framed by the smoke of industrial chimneys, his presence reflects the quiet resilience and enduring hardship of climate-displaced communities.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
Amid smoke-belching chimneys, migrant workers women and men from the flood-devastated haor region pass sunbaked bricks down a human chain in a brickfield in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. Climate-induced displacement has driven these families from their waterlogged farmlands into the grueling labor of the kilns. Their synchronized movements, though born of necessity, reflect both survival and solidarity under harsh industrial skies.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
A laborer, his face and body cloaked in red dust, balances a heavy stack of baked bricks on his head inside a brick kiln in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. Originally from the climate-stricken haor region, he is one of many who migrate seasonally in search of survival. The symmetry of his burden mirrors the unyielding weight of economic desperation and environmental displacement.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
Surrounded by dust and decay inside a brick kiln in Narayanganj, two children—siblings of migrant workers from the flood-hit haor region lean into each other, their foreheads touching in quiet connection. In a world shaped by displacement and labor, their moment of tenderness stands in stark contrast to the harshness around them, echoing a fragile sense of care and continuity amidst upheaval.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
A young man leans against the scorched walls of a brick kiln in Narayanganj, his face marked by dust and determination. Wearing a football jersey far from any field of play, he is among the thousands who migrate each year from Bangladesh’s flood-prone haor region, where the intensifying impacts of climate change rising temperatures, erratic monsoon patterns, and recurring flash floods have made agriculture increasingly untenable. Once a farmer’s son, he now survives by toiling in the suffocating heat of the kilns, his gaze a quiet reminder of the futures being reshaped by a warming world.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
A young girl flashes a radiant smile while helping her mother push a heavy cart of raw bricks in a kiln in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. Behind the smile lies a story shaped by climate catastrophe her family, once farmers in the flood-ravaged haor region, was displaced by unpredictable monsoon floods worsened by climate change. Now, in the dusty heat of the brickfields, survival is a collective effort where even childhood is burdened with labor.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
Covered in dust and sweat, laborers in a Narayanganj brickfield balance stacks of bricks on their heads, their bodies bearing the weight of both labor and survival. These workers, many of whom migrated from flood-stricken haor regions, endure grueling conditions to earn a living. The reddish haze of dust fills the air, a testament to the relentless toil in this harsh, unforgiving landscape.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
Under the shadow of a towering chimney, men, women, and even children pass bricks hand to hand in a relentless chain of labor at a brickfield in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. These workers, many displaced by climate-induced floods in the haor region, endure extreme conditions in search of survival. The unity in their movements reflects both resilience and struggle, as smoke billows above, symbolizing the cost of their toil.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
In the sweltering heart of a brick kiln in Narayanganj, Bangladesh, a chain of men and women many displaced by climate-induced flooding in the haor region pass bricks hand to hand, cart to cart, with rhythmic precision. Their synchronized labor sustains a city’s expansion while their own homes sink under water year after year. The smoke rising from the chimney behind them mirrors the slow burn of environmental injustice that forces thousands into this grinding cycle of survival.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
Displaced men and women from Bangladesh’s climate-hit haor region haul carts overloaded with raw bricks inside a kiln in Narayanganj. With their farmlands submerged season after season due to erratic flash floods, they have no choice but to migrate for survival. In this tightly choreographed world of labor, the boundary between exhaustion and endurance fades—brick by brick, they build not just cities, but the story of a nation navigating climate crisis.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
A woman pushes a heavily loaded cart of bricks with all her strength as her male counterpart pulls from behind in a kiln in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. Once farmers in the haor wetlands, now rendered uninhabitable by intensified monsoon flooding and erratic climate patterns, they have become climate migrants trading green fields for red dust. In this unrelenting choreography of labor, survival is carved into every gesture, every step forward in the sweltering heat.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
A woman, her face covered in dust, offers a resilient smile amid the harsh realities of brickfield labor in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. Behind her, another woman strains to push a heavy cart loaded with bricks. Like many migrant workers from the flood-ravaged haor region, they endure backbreaking work under the sun to support their families. Their strength and determination shine through, even in the toughest conditions.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
A woman strains to push a heavy cart loaded with bricks, her hands gripping the worn metal frame as dust clings to her skin in a brickfield in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. Behind her, men balance stacks of bricks on their heads, while a young child, her face marked by dirt and exhaustion, watches the scene unfold. This is the reality for many families who migrate from flood-ravaged haor regions, where survival means enduring relentless labor in the burning sun.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
Kneeling on sunbaked earth, a migrant laborer from Bangladesh’s haor wetlands balances a stack of bricks on his head inside a kiln in Narayanganj. Once dependent on farming, he was forced to abandon his village after repeated flash floods amplified by climate change wiped out his crops and home. Now, in a world built of dust and survival, he carries the burden of a collapsing environment on his shoulders, one brick at a time.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
Mohammad Saown, a teenage boy from the flood-affected haor region of Bangladesh, pauses for a moment atop a stack of bricks in a kiln in Narayanganj. Like many children of climate-displaced families, Saown now spends his days working instead of attending school. Seasonal flash floods, worsened by climate change, forced his family to leave behind their village and seek survival in the unforgiving world of brickfields. His quiet smile belies a childhood shaped by hardship and resilience.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
Children from flood-affected families in Bangladesh’s haor region find moments of joy while living near a brickfield in Narayanganj. Displaced by climate-induced flooding that devastates their agricultural livelihoods, these families migrate annually to brickfields, where life is defined by hardship and strenuous labor. Despite their circumstances, the children’s play reflects resilience and hope amidst challenging conditions.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
After hours of relentless labor under the blazing sun, a young brickfield worker washes away the dust and fatigue with a splash of cold water. Behind him, the worn concrete wall bears silent witness to the daily rituals of survival. Originally from the climate-ravaged haor region of Bangladesh, he is among thousands who now endure punishing heat, poor sanitation, and long hours in kilns like this one in Narayanganj pushed by floods, held by necessity.
Narayanganj, Bangladesh – 17 February 2025
Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
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