Exploring the process of adaptation to climate change in the coastal regions of Bangladesh

The natural resource dependent societies of the coastal areas in Bangladesh have long been dealing with their vulnerabilities to extreme weather events. Marked changes in the coastal hydro-climatic environment are exacerbating the existing situation, with serious impacts on the environment, food production systems and freshwater resources. As a result, coastal communities face the challenge of managing immediate livelihood threats and maintaining livelihood security in the long term. This study aims to empirically explore the processes by which rural households in coastal areas of Bangladesh adapt their livelihoods to climate variability and change within the context of a vulnerable setting. Empirical data were explored from a union (lowest local administrative unit) of a southwest coastal district in Bangladesh using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. This study shows that local people are aware of the changes in hydro-climatic parameters. As adaptations to hydro-climatic stressors, households have diversified their livelihoods, and have progressively changed their livelihood strategies – mostly by switching from agriculture to the commercial brackish water shrimp aquaculture and business, gaining access to agricultural land and diversifying the aquaculture sector through the adoption of innovative practices. Drawing on this case study, there are clear winners and losers in these adaptive strategies. Better-off households are only able to radically transform their livelihood strategies in order to exploit the opportunities resulting from a changing environment that provides ingredients to develop robust livelihood systems. This research suggests that to become effective, adaptations to climate change in the coastal area of Bangladesh need to be combined specific strategies to respond to the climate-related risks, with strategies addressing the underlying causes of vulnerability in order to enhance livelihood resilience in the face of multiple stressors.