Climate Change Impacts in Agricultural Communities in Rural Areas of Coastal Bangladesh: A Tale of Many Stories
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Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), United Nations University, Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1, D-53113 Bonn, Germany
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Systems Ecology & Resource Management Research Unit, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 50, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
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Department of Public Health, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 103, B-1090 Brussels, Belgium
4
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 5.4 Hydrology, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Marc A. Rosen
Sustainability 2015, 7(7), 8437-8460; https://doi.org/10.3390/su7078437
Received: 25 March 2015
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Revised: 16 June 2015
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Accepted: 19 June 2015
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Published: 30 June 2015
This paper identifies and analyses climate change impacts, their cascading consequences and the livelihood implications of these impacts on smallholder agricultural communities of coastal Bangladesh. Six physically and socio-economically vulnerable communities of south-western coastal regions were studied. Primary data was collected through focus group discussions, a seasonal calendar, and historical transect analysis. Three orders of impacts of climate change on smallholder farmers are identified and described. The first order impacts involve increasing erosion of the capacity of local communities to mitigate vulnerability to climate change impacts. This situation led to the second order impacts, which significantly transformed the agricultural landscape and production patterns. The cumulative effects of the first and second order impacts sparked the third order impacts in the form of worsening community livelihood assets and conditions. The findings of this paper can contribute to the formulation of sustainable adaptation policies and programs to manage the vulnerability of local communities to climate change impacts in the country effectively.
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Keywords:
adaptation; agriculture; Bangladesh; climate change; vulnerability
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MDPI and ACS Style
Huq, N.; Hugé, J.; Boon, E.; Gain, A.K. Climate Change Impacts in Agricultural Communities in Rural Areas of Coastal Bangladesh: A Tale of Many Stories. Sustainability 2015, 7, 8437-8460. https://doi.org/10.3390/su7078437
AMA Style
Huq N, Hugé J, Boon E, Gain AK. Climate Change Impacts in Agricultural Communities in Rural Areas of Coastal Bangladesh: A Tale of Many Stories. Sustainability. 2015; 7(7):8437-8460. https://doi.org/10.3390/su7078437
Chicago/Turabian StyleHuq, Nazmul, Jean Hugé, Emmanuel Boon, and Animesh K. Gain. 2015. "Climate Change Impacts in Agricultural Communities in Rural Areas of Coastal Bangladesh: A Tale of Many Stories" Sustainability 7, no. 7: 8437-8460. https://doi.org/10.3390/su7078437
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