University of Sussex
Browse
10.1007_s11625-016-0379-z.pdf (1.32 MB)

A people-centred perspective on climate change, environmental stress, and livelihood resilience in Bangladesh

Download (1.32 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 01:48 authored by Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, Kees van der Geest, Istiakh Ahmed, Saleemul Huq, Koko Warner
The Ganges–Brahmaputra delta enables Bangladesh to sustain a dense population, but it also exposes people to natural hazards. This article presents findings from the Gibika project, which researches livelihood resilience in seven study sites across Bangladesh. This study aims to understand how people in the study sites build resilience against environmental stresses, such as cyclones, floods, riverbank erosion, and drought, and in what ways their strategies sometimes fail. The article applies a new methodology for studying people’s decision making in risk-prone environments: the personal Livelihood History interviews (N = 28). The findings show how environmental stress, shocks, and disturbances affect people’s livelihood resilience and why adaptation measures can be unsuccessful. Floods, riverbank erosion, and droughts cause damage to agricultural lands, crops, houses, and properties. People manage to adapt by modifying their agricultural practices, switching to alternative livelihoods, or using migration as an adaptive strategy. In the coastal study sites, cyclones are a severe hazard. The study reveals that when a cyclone approaches, people sometimes choose not to evacuate: they put their lives at risk to protect their livelihoods and properties. Future policy and adaptation planning must use lessons learned from people currently facing environmental stress and shocks.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Sustainability Science

ISSN

1862-4065

Publisher

Springer

Issue

4

Volume

11

Page range

679-694

Department affiliated with

  • International Development Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-06-21

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-06-21

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-06-21

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC