Abstract
Social-ecological changes, brought about by the rapid growth of the aquaculture industry and the increased occurrence of climatic stressors, have significantly affected the livelihoods of coastal communities in Asian mega-deltas. This paper explores the livelihood adaptation responses of households of different wealth classes, the heterogeneous adaptation opportunities, barriers and limits (OBLs) faced by these households and the dynamic ways in which these factors interact to enhance or impede adaptive capacities. A mixed methods approach was used to collect empirical evidence from two villages in coastal Bangladesh. Findings reveal that households’ adaptive capacities largely depend on their wealth status, which not only determine their availability of productive resources, but also empower them to navigate social-ecological change in desirable ways. Households operate within a shared response space, which is shaped by the broader socio-economic and political landscape, as well as their previous decisions that can lock them in to particular pathways. While an adaptive response may be effective for one social group, it may cause negative externalities that can undermine the adaptation options and outcomes of another group. Adaptation OBLs interact in complex ways; the extent to which these OBLs affect different households depend on the specific livelihood activities being considered and the differential values and interests they hold. To ensure more equitable and environmentally sustainable livelihoods in future, policies and programs should aim to expand households’ adaptation space by accounting for the heterogeneous needs and complex interdependencies between response processes of different groups.
Highlights
Coastal communities in Asian mega-deltas have experienced significant social-ecological changes in the past few decades, due to the rapid growth of the aquaculture industry and increased occurrence of natural shocks and stresses (Abdullah et al 2016; Orchard et al 2016)
We aim to provide an empirical analysis of heterogeneous adaptation opportunities, barriers and limits faced by households of different wealth classes and present the dynamic ways in which these factors interact to enhance or impede adaptive capacities
In the sections that follow, we describe the socialecological changes in two selected villages that have undergone differential transformations in farming systems over the past few decades, and explore the livelihood adaptation responses of households disaggregated by wealth class
Summary
Coastal communities in Asian mega-deltas have experienced significant social-ecological changes in the past few decades, due to the rapid growth of the aquaculture industry and increased occurrence of natural shocks and stresses (Abdullah et al 2016; Orchard et al 2016). Some of the commonly reported barriers are bio-physical or natural (Sallu et al 2010), socio-cultural (Curry et al 2015; Jones and Boyd 2011), financial or economic (Bryan et al 2009; Deressa et al 2009), technological (Islam et al 2014), institutional (Quinn et al 2011) and psychological (Gifford 2011; Grothmann and Patt 2005) Studies in this genre have generally considered barriers as having a uniform adverse effect on all actors, largely overlooking the particular nature and impact of such barriers on different actors (Mersha and Van Laerhoven 2016). It is necessary to understand the trade-offs involved, identifying the impacts of adaptation strategies undertaken by one group on the adaptive capacity of another (Shackleton et al 2015)
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