Climate Change Vulnerability And Responses Of Fisherfolk Communities In The South-Eastern Coast Of Bangladesh

Prabal Barua (), Syed Hafizur Rahman, Suman Barua and Ismail M.M. Rahman
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Prabal Barua: Department of Environmental Sciences, Jahagirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Syed Hafizur Rahman: Department of Environmental Sciences, Jahagirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Suman Barua: Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Chittagong Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh
Ismail M.M. Rahman: Institute of Environmental Radioactivity, Fukushima University, Kanayagawa, Fukushima 960-1296, Japan

Water Conservation & Management (WCM), 2020, vol. 4, issue 1, 20-31

Abstract: Climate change is an ongoing threat across the earth–especially those who depend on fishing. This study aims to understand how fishery-dependent communities in the South-Eastern coast of Bangladesh build resilience against environmental stresses, and in what ways their strategies sometimes fail. A composite index approach has been used to calculate livelihood vulnerability. Results reveal that exposure to floods and cyclones, sensitivity and lack of adaptive capacity concerning physical, natural, and financial capital and diverse livelihood strategies construe livelihood vulnerability in different ways depending on the context. The study reveals that over the last ten years, 20% household heads have changed their fishing profession, where dependency to non-fisheries livelihoods such as rickshaw pooling and small business is growing in the studied fishing villages. However, many of them are applying their traditional knowledge to cope with the changing climate stress and in conserving the biodiversity of the coast. In order to strengthen adaptive capacity and to build resilience, government and the external agencies need to facilitate the existing traditional knowledge and systems with which the fishermen communities have been historically responding to the environmental stresses.

Keywords: Fisherfolk community; Composite index approach; Vulnerability; Adaptive capacity; Environmental stress.Journal: Water Conservation & Management (WCM) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zib:zbnwcm:v:4:y:2020:i:1:p:20-31

DOI: 10.26480/wcm.01.2020.20.31

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