Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation of Bangladesh: Mechanisms, Notions and Solutions

Md Younus,Md Kabir

doi:10.3390/su10114286

Abstract

The concept of household vulnerability along with sustainable livelihoods has currently emerged as a significant concept in the climate change vulnerability and adaptation (CCVA) literature. In this paper, the vulnerability of Bangladesh has been assessed by using multiple regression analysis where twenty two effective variables have been chosen from the surveyed data given by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. The vulnerability has been functioned by three main stream components: Exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, which have been adopted from the reports of Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other scientific literature. Based on the higher significance and coefficient values, the variables, which have direct relationships and impact on income and illness, have been identified and prioritized. Household income and illness are the known driving forces for assessing the vulnerability. The motion of centripetal and centrifugal forces in decision making mechanisms, which are the main driving contributions of this paper, have been dealt as a new way to envisioning vulnerability and adaptation decision. Based on the prioritized variables some actions along with solutions have been taken into consideration, which have enormous significance in addressing localized plans and actions in order to reduce potential households’ vulnerability under climate change regimes in Bangladesh.

Highlights

Vulnerability assessment and the notion of vulnerability in a localized system—both are important aspects in the climate change vulnerability and adaptation (CCVA) literature in recent years, in the context of Bangladesh—where the tipping points of climate change badly prevail
The vulnerability has been functioned by three main stream components: Exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, which have been adopted from the reports of Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other scientific literature
The analysis demonstrates how a household’s income and illness are affected by 22 different variables, which measure vulnerability through its three major components: exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity

Summary

Introduction

Vulnerability assessment and the notion of vulnerability in a localized system—both are important aspects in the CCVA literature in recent years, in the context of Bangladesh—where the tipping points of climate change badly prevail. The tipping point of this vulnerability can turn disastrous, as the country faces severe multiple and frequent natural calamities, such as cyclones and storm surges, erosion, various types of floods, landslides, severe salinity intrusion into agricultural land, droughts due to withdrawing water from up streams, rising water on the edge of coastal land due to sea level rise, extension of arsenic contamination, reducing soil fertility due to overuse of pesticides and so on On top of these calamities, the country faces severe corruption, political instability, weak democracy, severe mismanagement of donors’ development fund allocation, inability to imply climate adaptation planning due to poor economy and technology. Illness and income are the dependent factors for measuring the severity of vulnerability in Bangladesh—which has been dealt with in this paper

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Conclusion