Community Vulnerability and Adaptation to the Impact of Climate Change in the Coastal Areas of Bangladesh

Aims: Inhabitants of the Sundarbans impact zone are frequently affected by natural hazards such as salinity, cyclones, tidal surge, water logging, etc. In addition, limited asset, livelihood options, low agricultural production and inadequate access to productive resources and services are increasing the vulnerability of communities in the coastal region. This paper presents the climate change trends and possible impact of climate change and climatic vulnerabilities. It also presents the adaptive capacity of the climate change affected communities of the south-western part of Bangladesh.

Study Design: It is a qualitative and quantitative research based on primary and secondary data.

Place and Duration of Study: Sutarkhali union, Dacope, Khulna, Bangladesh, between January to August 2014.

Methodology: Participatory and qualitative research methods, including focus group discussion (FGD) for climate vulnerability and capacity analysis (CVCA) and the individual household survey were applied among different vulnerable livelihood groups of the study area.

Results: The result of the study shows that the changing pattern of climate drastically influenced the livelihood of community, natural resource degradation and increasing social inequalities. In this study, the positive role of government programs such as cash for work, test relief, vulnerable group feeding, vulnerable group development and the active role of NGOs through training on different income generating activities, cash support, commodity support, disaster related training for reducing effect of past disaster and the vulnerability of the existing climate change effect were found.

Conclusion: Climate change has become a supplementary burden to the community who are already vulnerable and struggling with poverty.