Abstract
Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts and adaptation is the only viable option to deal with this phenomenon. This paper provides an overview of the climate change adaptations in the country which includes spatial and sectoral distribution, aims and timings, stresses and shocks addressed, etc. An inventory was prepared with documented climate change adaptations in Bangladesh. A first cut analysis was performed based on the inventory. The analyses found that most of the adaptations took place in coastal districts. Disaster risk reduction, water resource management, infrastructure and agriculture are the major sectors of adaptations in terms of number. Government of Bangladesh was the major provider (87%) followed by non-governmental organizations (11%). Chronic stresses like salinity, waterlogging, drought, etc., were the focus of majority of adaptations while sudden shocks like cyclone and large flood were addressed in community level as well as national level. Major trait has been reactive than anticipatory. Information on specific stress/shock factors addressed and the spatial/population coverage of adaptations were often lacking due to inadequate documentation. The inventory is a step towards improved documentation aiding evaluation of practiced adaptations that may inspire policy makers to devise effective adaptation measures to combat climate change in Bangladesh.
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Acknowledgements
This work is carried out under the ‘Deltas, vulnerability and Climate Change: Migration and Adaptation (DECCMA)’ project under the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) program with financial support from the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of DFID and IDRC or its Boards of Governors.
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Saha, D., Hossain, M.A., Hossain, M.S.S., Mondal, M.S., Rahman, R. (2017). Adaptations to Climate Change in Bangladesh: Development of a National Inventory. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Climate Change Research at Universities. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58214-6_11
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