Climate Change and its Impacts on the Livelihoods of the Vulnerable People in the Southwestern Coastal Zone in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh is globally considered one of the most vulnerable and exposed countries to climate change (Climate change and Bangladesh Department of Environment, Government of People’ Republic of Bangladesh. Climate Change Cell, Dhaka, 2007). There is evidence of prominent increases in the intensity or frequency of many extreme events such as flood, land erosion, heat waves, tropical cyclones, intense rainfall, tornadoes, drought, storm surges, salinity intrusion, etc. which cause loss of livestock, damage to pasturelands, increase fodder scarcity, destroyed shelters, decreased production, increased management costs to incidence of diseases, etc. in Bangladesh. This paper therefore intends to do three things: (1) it shall identify the extreme climatic hazards, vulnerabilities and risks; (2) it shall find out the impacts of climatic hazards on the livelihood of the vulnerable people; and (3) it shall propose some possible strategies for reducing the vulnerability to the climatic hazards. The present paper is intended as a concept paper to deal with the impact level assessment on livelihoods due to climate change. The method has followed both qualitative and quantitative approaches in the southwestern coastal zone in Bangladesh and used secondary data and information. The livelihood and income of a large population depends on the natural resource base and most of the poor people often live in marginalized lands and areas more prone to natural disasters. Climate change means that many natural disaster-prone areas will become more prone due to increased frequency and intensity of disasters. Drought-prone areas will become hotter and drier, with less predictable rainfall; flood frequency and intensity along onset and recession will be changed in future; the nature of cyclone and storm surges will be different from the historical trend. All of these together will change crop yields and affect many poor people’s livelihoods. Agriculture yields have been decreased and cropping pattern has been changed in recent years. Adverse impacts of climate change are likely to reduce availability and deteriorate quality of water for domestic use. Moreover, climate change is likely to increase the prevalence and infection of vector- and water-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, cholera and dysentery, etc. Degradation of biodiversity will reduce the availability of many traditional medicines which may affect poor and rural people who depend more on natural resources for medicine as well as income and food. Sea level rise (SLR) will drastically affect the poor people who are in coastal area and flood plain zone in Bangladesh. However, many actions undertaken to address the baseline or contextual risks in Bangladesh are also synergistic with the so-called adaptations that might be required as climate change impacts manifest themselves.