Revisiting the Climate-Migration-Conflict Nexus: Community-Level evidence and contextual pathways in coastal Bangladesh

The relationships between climate change, migration and conflict are increasingly drawing scholarly attention, yet empirical evidence from the community level remains limited. This research examines how climate change, migration and local conflict dynamics intersect in two climate-vulnerable regions of Bangladesh – Khulna City Corporation and Koyra Upazila. Using a mixed methods approach combining household surveys (N = 300), focus group discussions and key informant interviews, we explore how communities perceive and experience the climate-migration-conflict (C-M−C) nexus. Our findings indicate that migration alone does not generate conflicts: tensions emerge when migration intersects with poverty, fragile infrastructure and weak governance. By grounding theoretical debates in lived experiences, our research advances the understanding of the C-M−C nexus as a context dependent and indirect process. It contributes to the literature by identifying stratified nexus experience and concrete conflict mechanisms. The results highlight the need for inclusive urban planning, improved public services, and the alignment of climate change adaptation strategies with conflict sensitive governance.