By John Geary and Nazneen Khan
Abstract
Bangladesh is one of the countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change due to a combination of geographical and socio-economic factors. One of the most vulnerable areas in the country is the southwestern coastal region adjacent to the Sundarbans mangrove forest. Here, most of the population depends on agriculture and fishing for their livelihoods with few other livelihood options as well as low adaptive capacity because of a lack of financial and human capital. The area has been suffering from increased salinisation due to a combination of the impact of cyclones, maladaptation and the promotion of shrimp aquaculture. The increased salinisation from maladaptation is partly a result of construction of embankments to protect against flooding and has led to a reduction in agricultural crop production and the loss of income for much of the local population. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the livelihoods of the local population has been impacted by the combination of climate change and maladaptation. Household surveys were carried out in two communities bordering the Sundarbans which found that the consequences included reducing livelihood options, low household income and high indebtedness, frequent experience of hunger, poor human health and widespread migration. It was found that most households had a high degree of reliance on the Sundarbans which creates increased pressures on the fragile ecosystem. It shows the need for future adaptation policies to integrate local knowledge in adaptation planning and natural resource management.
Science ⇒ Policy
Livelihoods are being impacted by climate change, especially among the poorest of the world’s population. In order to construct and implement policies that reduce their vulnerabilities, it is necessary to have an understanding of how vulnerability is distributed across space as well as how it manifests itself in terms of outcomes in health, income, food availability, and other important dimensions. It is also important to pay attention to how poorly constructed policies can lead to maladaptation. In order to avoid this, it is necessary for the needs of all stakeholders to be taken into account in the design of adaptation policies.
Key Words
Livelihoods, maladaptation, climate change, Bangladesh, vulnerability, resilience.
Introduction
Climate change is a major environmental threat to human security and well-being [1]. Poor people in developing countries are the most vulnerable, partly because their major livelihoods, such as agriculture or fishing, depend entirely on nature [2]. At the same time, a much higher percentage of their population lives below the poverty line and has little financial and human capital for livelihood adaptation.
Bangladesh is one of the countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change; in fact, according to the Global Climate Risk Index 2021 [3], it was the country in seventh place in terms of being at risk of extreme events caused by climate change [4]. This is partly because of its physical location with much of the land being flat and lying in between the Himalayas and the Bay of Bengal which makes the country subject to natural disasters. Climate change has increased both the intensity and the frequency of extreme events manifested through adverse conditions like salinity, drought and irregular rainfall, high temperature, and flash floods [5]. Among other factors contributing to the country’s climate change vulnerability are a high population density, widespread poverty, and reliance for many people’s livelihoods on crop agriculture and fisheries that are sensitive to climate [6]. As Bangladesh is to a large degree an agricultural country, food security is critical [7] and highly sensitive to climate change.
The coastal area in Bangladesh covers almost a third of the country’s territory [8] with approximately 35 million people living here [9]. Due to the scarcity of land in Bangladesh, many poor people end up settling in the low-lying coastal region; the majority of whom are dependent on fishing or agriculture for their livelihoods. The coastal region is poor by national standards; for instance, around a quarter of the population around the Sundarbans lives below the poverty line [10], and they are proportionally more dependent on natural resources for their likelihood [11] [12]. There is a very high population density in the region, with more than 800 people per km2 and more than half of the population being landless [13] defined as. people whose livelihoods depend on agricultural activities but do not possess agricultural land [14]. This makes it very difficult for the population to adapt to the loss of livelihoods caused by environmental factors which increases their vulnerability [15], especially. salinisation, which has partly been made worse by strong cyclones. The widespread poverty in the region and the increased vulnerability is exacerbated by the limited access to income not derived from harvesting of environmental resources, such as paid labour, which is also why poorer households tend to have greater dependence on forests for their livelihood [16].
In order to explore the complex relationship between climate change and socio-economic factors, we focus on the Sundarbans, the world’s largest contiguous mangrove forest [17] and an important ecological area in Bangladesh. Much of the southwest coast, where the Sundarbans is located, lies only about one metre above sea level [18]. Besides being the home of 35% of the fauna of Bangladesh [19], it is also an important source of livelihood, as more than 3.5 million people living around it to some degree depend on goods and services from the forest [20].
The functioning of the Sundarbans ecosystem is at risk from climate change with a number of impacts such as rising sea levels, increased water and air temperature, and a change in the intensity and frequency of storms [21]. At the same time, social and economic changes have also played a role as many people engaged in agriculture have been forced off the land and shrimp farming initially proved more profitable [22]. A contributing factor was waterlogging caused by the construction of polders along the coast which made farming difficult as [23] as soil quality has been degraded.
Social components of climate change vulnerability in Bangladesh are evident. For instance, gender is a strong component. Not only are women more likely to be poor, but their options for livelihood adaptation are also more likely to be restricted due to gender roles and gender division of labour while they tend to be more dependent on nature for their livelihoods [24]. Women traditionally collect food and fodder for their families, but these activities are threatened as natural hazards exacerbated by climate change destroys natural resources [25].
The main purpose of this paper has been to carry out household surveys in order to understand how the livelihoods around the Sundarbans are affected by salinisation. The paper also looks at the role that maladaptation plays in reducing livelihood options with maladaptation being a consequence of the political order that exists in Bangladesh and that seeks to limit the opportunities for non-elites.
The results of the surveys clearly show that most people depend on fishing for much of their income, in some cases combined with income from labourers. The dependence is greater for female-led households. This lack of ability to diversify livelihoods has had negative consequences for households, including low income, large amounts of debt, hunger and medical problems.
In other words, the population in Sundarbans faces a perfect storm due to the combination of exposure to natural disasters and impacts of climate change combined with vulnerability due to the dependence on natural resources for their livelihoods. The vulnerability is increased because of their limited ability to adapt due to lack of financial and other types of capital as well as limited alternative livelihood options. To design policies helping the local population make livelihood adaptations, it is necessary to more closely study their socio-economic situation as well as better understand their reliance on the Sundarbans for their livelihoods. This paper will begin by providing a background through a literature review which will be followed by a brief description of the study area in section 3. As maladaptation is essential for this analysis, an explanation of the concept and its relevance for Bangladesh is included in the Methodology part in section 4. The results of the household survey are presented in section 5 including a brief discussion of their meaning. This is followed by an analytical discussion in part 6 that will examine more in-depth the results of the household survey and place them in the context of the relationship between livelihood vulnerability and maladaptation. Finally, the conclusion will outline some policy options for Bangladesh that can help reduce the risk of maladaptation.
Literature Review
Despite it being subject to floods and cyclones that put their lives at risk, coastal Bangladesh is heavily populated as the alluvial land is fertile and very productive for agriculture [26]. Traditionally, the area had been characterised by agriculture dependent on rain cultivating local rice varieties [27]. However, in the 1960s Bangladesh, which was at that time part of Pakistan, began an ambitious process of constructing embankments, channels for drainage, and sluices in the coastal areas [28]. This facilitated the emergence of commercial agriculture and rice sorts that produced a higher yield [29]. However, the construction of embankments did not consider hydrological flows which led landowners to pump water from the rivers onto the rice fields creating favourable conditions for aquaculture while small-land agriculturalists and landless farmers with a seasonal lease saw their livelihoods suffer. In addition, this also had a detrimental impact on fish stocks and deposited silt on agricultural lands [30].
During the 1980s, shrimp farming started to replace agriculture and today the region is primarily characterised by aquaculture [31]. This transition was encouraged by the World Bank which saw the creation of a frozen shrimp industry aimed at exports as being more productive than agriculture and thus important for the country’s development [32]. The lack of local planning made it easier for powerful interests to take over land in the coastal area, though it ran contrary to the Land Reform Act of 1989 [33]. What began as a government-led policy with international support has intensified, partly due to climate change-enhanced extreme weather events. The increased salinisation partly resulting from cyclones such as Aila has made the land less productive [34]. However, the monsoon rain washes out much of the salinity in the soil which means that agriculture is still possible during the rainy season. This has created conflicting interests between shrimp farmers and agriculturalists, as shrimp cultivators wanted saline water inside the embankments while agriculturalists wanted to keep it out. The former constructed illegal sluice gates and water pipes were inserted to lead in water from the river; unfortunately, it also helped weaken the embankments which were breached by Cyclone Aila.
Shrimp farming has made many people jobless (and has reduced the livelihood opportunities for small smallholders around the Sundarbans [35]. The loss of agricultural livelihoods has led to a migration from rural to urban areas; indeed, one estimate concluded that agriculture in Southwestern Bangladesh required 54% more labour than shrimp farming [36]. It is partly because of this that the vision of migration as a strategy for climate change adaptation has come to be promoted [37]. Migration will be an ever more appealing coping mechanism as people around the Sundarbans see their livelihood assets eroded, such as their livestock.
One study in Sutarkhali Union found that high salinity levels impacted livelihood activities in a number of ways. Besides reduced crop growing, the lack of pasture made it more difficult to raise cattle and goats and the lack of natural food also made it difficult to raise ducks and chickens. Furthermore, the lack of fresh water for drinking and cooking became more acute while waterborne diseases became more prevalent, as did the extraction of mangroves for fuel wood as biomass sources became scarcer [38]. This also has a gender impact as women are forced to walk long distances to collect water.
The reduction of land available for agriculture due to salinization and the concentration of land as described above has had an impact on food security as people can no longer grow the traditional varieties of rice, the main food staple [39]. Most households interviewed in the two unions receive food assistance, mainly rice, from local NGOs. The food insecurity is partly due to a lack of disposable income, as many people had previously worked in agriculture but became jobless because of aquaculture [40]. Most rural poor in Bangladesh rely on natural resources for food security and livelihoods and there is now an increased reliance on harvesting of resources in the Sundarbans for livelihoods [41], including illegally [42].
Study Area
Figure 1: Sundarbans National Forest (Source Wikipedia)
The fieldwork was carried out in April 2023 in two villages in Dacope Upazila located in Khulna district in Southwestern Bangladesh near the Bay of Bengal. Of the total area of 991.56 km², roughly half of it is made up by the Sundarbans mangrove forest. It is situated between 22°12′ and 23°59′ north latitudes and between 89°14′ and 89°45′ east longitudes [43]. Dacope Upazila consists of 10 unions (the level above the village level in Bangladesh) with a total population of around 150,000 people, with Hindus constituting around 61% and Muslims 37% of the population [44]. It is one of the areas of Bangladesh most affected by disasters [45] as evidenced by the widespread destruction caused by cyclone Aila in 2009. The cyclone left much agricultural land under water as embankments broke and the land became flooded. Consequently, farmers whose land was flooded had to look for other livelihood options [46]. According to a study carried out by Soil Resource Development Institute in Bangladesh, the size of the areas affected by salinity increased from 8330 km² in 1973 to 10,560 km² in 2009 [47].
As the Sundarbans is a nature reserve, the local population is not allowed to reside within its boundaries. Instead, they live on its borders and enter the reserve to extract resources with permits from the Bangladesh Forest Department. The people deriving their livelihoods from the Sundarbans can be divided into four main occupational groups: (1) woodcutters (Bawali); (2) honey collectors (Mouali); (3) palm leaf collectors (Golpata collectors), and (4) fishermen (Jele). Previous studies in the Sundarbans impact zone have found that incomes are highly seasonal [48] which is why people can have more than one occupation depending on the season, while also being highly insecure.
The local population lives on polders, which are embankments created to protect coastal areas against storm surges and tidal waves [49]; altogether there are more than 140 of them in Bangladesh [50]. The consequences of the construction of the polders (i.e., polderisation) have been to reduce the amount of land available for agriculture while the amount of land dedicated to aquaculture has increased [51]. As marginal farmers have been pushed off their land [52], land available for income-generating activities has become more concentrated and livelihood options more limited [53].
In general, there is a lack of access to safe drinking water, health services, and sanitation. The poor infrastructure limits access to markets while lack of access to credit leads to dependence on money lenders and causes many to fall into debt bondage. The situation is worse for women due to a higher incidence of poverty, fewer livelihood options, and less education and health care [54].
Two villages were selected as sites for the household surveys, Kalabogi in Sutarkhali Union on polder 32 and Banishanta in Banishanta Union on polder 33. The two villages were selected because they are located on the polders that to different degrees have been affected by extreme weather, in the form of the cyclones Sidr and Aila (state the years these storms hit) that hit the two unions, resulting in loss of lives and livelihoods. In addition, they suffer greatly from salinization of the water, which makes it difficult to grow crops [55] and suffer from poor socio-economic conditions [56]. Sutharkhali has been little studied [57] [58] while Banishanta has been more researched, partly due to its proximity to the Mongla port [59] [60] [61].
Polder 32 was one of the hardest hit polders during Cyclone Aila in 2009 [62]. It consists of two unions, Kamarkhola and Sutarkhali [63], with the total population in Sutarkhali Union listed as 13,987, consisting of 7463 households living in four villages [64]. Polder 33 was less affected by Cyclone Aila in comparison, though it was also impacted [65]. The total population of Banishanta Union is distributed across approximately 3398 households in 23 villages [66].
Methodology
In each village, around 60 households were interviewed, based on stratified random sampling used to ensure that both male and female-led households were represented. The structured questionnaire included questions on household demographics, health, climate change impacts on livelihoods, and adaptation strategies. The presence of many female-led households is a consequence of widespread migration of male household members to search for work in areas with more livelihood possibilities. Gender was chosen as the criteria for sampling in Banishanta as gender has an impact on livelihood options; many livelihood activities are gender-specific with restrictions based on social mores. These inequities can become exacerbated during disasters [67]. While some studies have used occupational groups as criteria for comparison purposes, these are fluid and vary depending on the season. The main earner of the household (whether male or female) was interviewed using structured interviews. Prior to the initiation of the fieldwork, the questionnaire was examined by local experts with experience in working in the area and modified according to the suitability of the questions. Also, a local community organiser from HEED helped establish the original contact to households, as the organisation is active in both communities and was instrumental in choosing the field sites based on its knowledge of communities in the coastal areas.
Another contributing factor to livelihood insecurity in the Sundarbans area which functions as a barrier to adaptation is environmental governance where informal communities are excluded [68]. Maladaptation is essential to understanding the vulnerability of livelihoods to climate change in the Sundarbans. It can best be described as an adaptation measure whose outcome has negative consequences for either the targeted or other actors [69]. Often, when adaptation measures suffer from poor design or implementation, risks and vulnerabilities will be shifted to other peoples and places [70]. Sovacool et al. [71] have identified four mechanisms through which climate change adaptation can negatively affect some stakeholders, an outcome known in development literature as “maladaptation.” These four are enclosure, exclusion, encroachment, and entrenchment. Arguably all four are present in climate change adaptation in southwestern coastal Bangladesh and have been interrelated to some degree.
The construction of embankments is an example of encroachment focusing on the ecological dimension, which is defined as measures that damage the environment, interfere with ecosystem services, or contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. The embankments were originally constructed partly to protect agricultural lands against the inflow of saline water, but the construction has interfered with natural ecological processes resulting in sediments being trapped while floodplains are starved of sediments [72]. Waterlogging became more common as water drainage no longer takes place because water flow is blocked by embankments.
The emergence of shrimp farms has led to the economic process known as “enclosure” whereby public assets are transferred into private hands. Common areas such as forests, river islands known as “chars” and village property have been privatised (bamboo) and aquaculture is characterised by private property rights which has a greater environmental impact on other systems [73]. In the villages surveyed in this study, almost none of the residents own land which increases their dependence on the Sundarbans ecosystem for food and income and the ecological pressures on that habitat.
The loss of livelihood opportunities for people suffering the consequences of maladaptation results in greater inequality and concentration of wealth while also disempowering women. The coastal region in Bangladesh is characterised by high levels of poverty with around half of the population living in absolute poverty and a quarter living in extreme poverty [74], levels much higher than in other rural areas in Bangladesh [75]. The loss of livelihood opportunities due to the combination of maladaptation, switch to aquaculture and the impact of extreme weather events has disproportionately impacted women. As previously mentioned, approximately half of the households in the two unions have a member of the family, normally always a male, working in a different community during parts of the year. Migration puts an additional burden on female heads of households as they must assume more responsibilities in the absence of male household members while environmental degradation means that women will spend more time collecting firewood and water [76].
Finally, exclusion refers to the political dimension whereby climate change adaptation policies have the effect of marginalising stakeholders and not involving them in the decision-making process [77]. In Bangladesh, policy, including in climate change, is characterised by a top-down approach driven by bureaucrats and experts with little consultation with affected stakeholders in local communities while political influence and an unwillingness to upset power structures also play a part [78]. The technocratic approach also influences how climate change research does not integrate the knowledge of local people in fully understanding the impacts of climate change and what measures can be taken to alleviate them [79]. A number of studies examining barriers to adaptation in Bangladesh have identified how local knowledge of how to adapt to extreme weather events could play an important role in climate change adaptation if it is sought [80].
Results
Table 1. Average socio-economic background households interviewed in the two Unions
| Banishanta Union | Sutarkhali Union | |
| Average Mean size of household | 4.21 | 4.26 |
| Gender | 31 Men / 29 women | 60 Men / 1 women |
| Average age of head of household | 41.2 years | 45.8 years |
| Average years of formal schooling | 3.88 years (3.83 men, 3.93 women) | 4.14 years |
Table 1 presents some of the general socio-economic characteristics of the villages in the two unions. In total, among the head of household interviewed 75% were men while women made up 25%. It is noteworthy in Table 1 that the female heads of household interviewed in Banishanta Union had slightly higher average years of education compared to men, which is against the general trend in Bangladesh [81] where men tend to have higher levels of education. However, in Banishanta Union 28.3% of members of households reported having no education at all while the corresponding number for Sutarkhali Union was 32.8%.
Table 2. Gender-based dependency on the Sundarbans for various livelihood activities
| Activity | Men | Women |
| Paid for access to forest | 82.4% | 89% |
| Catch shrimp fry | 81.3% | 96.7% |
| Catch fish | 87.9% | 96.7% |
| Collect food stuffs | 68.1% | 83.3% |
| Collect medicinal plants/herbs | 23% | 60% |
As can be seen from Table 2, women rely to a greater degree on the Sundarbans for their livelihoods compared to men, which is in line with the general trend of female-led households to have a greater dependence on natural resources, partly due to less diverse livelihood options [82]. There is a noticeable difference between the sexes regarding collecting medicinal plants and herbs.
Table 3: Dependence on the Sundarbans for different livelihood activities according to monthly income
| Jobs | 0-5000 Taka/month | >5000-10000 Taka/month | >10000 Taka/month |
| Catch baby shrimp | 89.7% | 66,6% | 100% |
| Catch fish and crabs | 93.8% | 76.2% | 100% |
| Collect foodstuff | 77.3% | 61.9% | 33% |
| Collects medicinal plants and herbs | 32% | 42.9% | 0% |
Table 3 shows the dependence on the Sundarbans for different livelihood activities according to monthly income strata. For the highest income group, the results are arguably skewed by the low number of households (3) in the income group. Comparing the two lowest income strata, we find that there is a higher reliance on collecting fish and crabs, shrimp fry, and foodstuffs (such as honey) among the lowest income group. This might partly be because people in the lowest income group have little disposable income to buy food and therefore depend on what they can catch for their diet. A lower percentage of both groups collect foodstuffs and medicinal plants/herbs compared to catching shrimp fry and fish and crabs, as the first two activities require buying a permit to enter the Sundarbans.
Table 4: Land use and animals raised.
| Banishanta Union | Sutarkhali Union | |
| Do you own land | 0% | 3.2% |
| Do you cultivate shrimp | 11.7% | 4.9% |
| Do your raise chicken | 40% | 34.4% |
| Do your raise ducks | 20% | 49.1% |
| Do your raise pigeons | 6.7% | 1.6% |
| Do you raise cows | 5% | 3.3% |
| Do your raise goats | 23.3% | 4.9% |
Almost none of the households’ own land which makes their livelihood more vulnerable as they do not have the option of growing crops to supplement the family diet or selling them on the market for a supplementary income. It can also weaken their health by forcing them to rely on a less nutritious diet mainly consisting of rice (handed out as food aid) and fish caught in the river. Not getting enough to eat is a fact that has a detrimental impact on the health and well-being of local communities in the Sundarbans. In both areas of study, people reported not getting enough to eat (in the sense of feeling hunger) more often than once every third day as seen in Table 5.
Poultry such as ducks and chickens are the most common livestock raised by families, more so in Sutarkhali while goats are held by a much larger percentage of households in Banishanta. This difference might be due to more land being available for grazing in Banishanta as the polder has been less damaged than polder 32 where Sutarkhali is located. With little land available for raising animals in Sutarkhali, poultry are preferred as they require less space for living while they also require less fodder.
Table 5: Income and migrated people
| Banishanta Union | Sutarkhali Union | |
| Mean monthly income in Bangladesh Taka | 4,081 | 3,720 |
| Days in past month with not enough to eat | 11.74 | 13.,07 |
| Days not working in the past month | 10.89 | 12.89 |
| Did you borrow money during the past year? | 52 Yes/ 8 No | 60 Yes/ 1 No |
| Mean amount of money borrowed per household | 40,050 | 54,606 |
| Has a member of your household migrated? | 37 yes/22 No | 31 yes/30 No |
The low income and the need to spend money on medical expenses force many households into debt. In Banishanta, the average amount of money borrowed during the past year is the equivalent of 10 months’ average monthly wages. For Sutarkhali, the amount corresponds to almost 15 monthly wages. Due to the precarious economic situation and the lack of local economic opportunities, many male members of households are forced to migrate to urban areas to look for work. In Banishanta more than 60% of household members have had at least one household member migrate to look for work while the number was slightly more than half in Sutarkhali.
Table 6: Income sources
| Income source | Banishanta Union | Sutarkhali Union |
| Fishing | 48.3% | 73.8% |
| Fishing + labourer | 13.3% | 3.3% |
| Labourer | 13.3% | 6.6% |
| Fishing + farming | 6.7% | 0% |
| Other | 18.3% | 6.6% |
| No occupation | 0% | 9% |
Most of the interviewees in Banishanta Union and a large majority are engaged in fishing, either as the sole occupation or in combination with other activities. Polder 33, where Sutarkhali Union is located, was heavily damaged by Cyclone Alia [83]. As much of the land is still waterlogged, farming has become impossible as an occupation. Almost 10% of the interviewees in Sutarkhali Union listed not having any occupation, and a comparison of the two unions illustrates how extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change reduce livelihood options compared to areas sharing the same socio-economic characteristics but suffering less damage from extreme weather. Although the lack of livelihood options would seem to make migration a preferable option, a lower percentage of households in Sutarkhali Union reported having a family member working outside the community.
Table 7: Health condition of the households
| Banishanta Union | Sutarkhali Union | |
| Households with at least one member chronically sick | 55%Male 64.5%Female 48.3% | 37.7% |
| Average medical expenses in taka/household past year | 34,675Male 51,210Female 17,000 | 30,739 |
Table 7 highlights the poor health status among the communities: More than half of the households in Banishanta Union and more than a third in Sutarkhali report having at least one family member who is chronically ill. This reduces the number of people in the household who can work and provide an income. At the same time, it forces the households to spend very limited resources on medical care and as Table 7 shows, the average amount spent on medical care per household was more than 30,000 Taka during the past year in both Unions. As households have limited income, this has forced them to borrow money and as seen in Table 5, 86.7% of households in Banishanta and 98.3% in Sutarkhali were forced to borrow money during the past year.
Discussion
As the household survey showed, the population living around the Sundarbans have seen their livelihoods and well-being damaged by the salinisation, which is partly a consequence of cyclones made worse by climate change. It is however important to understand that, as previously explained, the impacts of climate change have been made worse by maladaptation resulting from policies and projects aimed at reducing the impact of climate change. At the same time, this maladaptation created economic opportunities for outside actors in the form of aquaculture which has exacerbated the problem of salinisation in the region.
Politically, Bangladesh is characterised by a political system called “limited access order” where the state does not possess a de-facto monopoly on violence. This makes it necessary to organise society in a way that limits violence between elite groups. This is partly achieved by having factions of the political elites divide up rents derived from their control of the economy. In order to ensure that rents accumulate, it is necessary to limit access and competition [84]. Maladaptation is the consequence of this limited access order as encroachment, exclusion, enclosure and entrenchment can be seen as different dimensions of limiting the access of non-elite actors to profitable income-gathering activities. This is also the case for the loss of livelihoods and increased vulnerability for most people living in the coastal region.
As income-generating opportunities in agriculture have disappeared, poor people have instead come to increasingly rely on harvesting resources from the Sundarbans. This has led to unsustainable fishing practices in the Sundarbans relying on destructive practices such as catching undersized crabs and using chemicals to kill fish, according to a professor at Khulna University. As households see their incomes reduced and health expenses increase, they are increasingly forced to borrow money. One study found that debt bondage was one of the reasons for the unsustainable harvesting of fish and baby shrimp [85]. In addition to being environmentally unsustainable, much of the resource harvesting is also in violation of environmental laws. Among the illegal activities are catching shrimp fry or wood cutting inside the Sundarbans [86]. The problem is partly rooted in how forests are managed in Bangladesh, which is still done by the Forest Department in a bureaucratic fashion where informal communities are excluded from environmental governance [87]. This is an example of the political nature of climate change adaptation policies as they are partly created through a process characterised by competition for influence within a hierarchy of knowledge, where authority allows some stakeholders to assert their way of perceiving something (knowledge) over others [88].
One of the policies pursued in Bangladesh as part of climate change adaptation and mitigation is coastal afforestation which has meant that no timber extraction from reserve forests is now allowed. When access to the Sundarbans were restricted, no compensation scheme or programs to develop alternative livelihoods were offered to the people who had previously depended on the area for their income [89]. The consequences of maladaptation thus are not only the loss of livelihood opportunities but also people being forced to engage in unlawful behaviour. The government contributes to the local people’s vulnerability by burning their nets or imprisoning them. In order to gain access to the income-gathering activities they have been excluded from, poor people are often forced to pay bribes; one study found that a clear majority of forest users paid a substantial bribe to access the forest, for instance in order to harvest more resources than what is permitted; many of them buy the permit through middlemen [90]. This is a clear case of the rent-seeking that is part of the limited access order. As the government does not have a monopoly on violence in Bangladesh as previously argued, informal gangs operate in the forest and are connected to powerful outside non-governmental actors, a de-facto example of what is termed “enclosure” [91]. These gangs extort money from forest users, such as honey collectors, partly through threats and use of violence while also forcing fishermen to share their catch [92].
Table 5 in the previous section showed the high levels of debt that households have taken on. In Banishanta Union, the mean amount of money borrowed during the past year corresponds to ten times the mean monthly income. In Sutarkhali Union, the corresponding ratio was almost 15 times the mean monthly income. One of the reasons for this high level of debt is the high level of expenditure for medical care. For households in both unions, spending on medical care (shown in Table 7) amounts to more than half of the mean amount of money borrowed during the past year. In addition, many households are forced to borrow money to pay bribes and extortion in order to access the Sundarbans but also for climate emergencies. In fact, the need to pay bribery and extortion not only reduces the adaptive capacity of the local population but also creates the need for more income which leads to increased extraction of the Sundarbans. As such, the way in which access to the Sundarbans is managed by the Forest Department effectively leads to maladaptation as the unsustainable use of the ecosystem increases.
As with other dimensions, the limited access orders provide the opportunity for some to benefit from the exclusion of others, which is one of the consequences of maladaptation. Some villagers have access to credit from ngos but many others are forced to take private loans, known as dadon. This system is an informal credit system used by people who do not have access to other sources of credit. It typically involves fishermen and the money lenders in which fishermen promise to sell back the loan in fish caught but at a price lower than the market price for the catch, in addition to interest paid in cash [93]. During our research at the two sites, most of the people listing fishing as their primary source of income reported selling their fish through the dadon system. This system effectively creates debt-bondage which makes it difficult for fishermen to be able to make the investments necessary to diversify their livelihoods and make them less vulnerable [94].
One of the coping strategies employed by many families is migration, in most cases temporary. Migration is not a new phenomenon but has arguably become more important for households, as a way to diversify income as livelihood diversification options have been reduced. At the same time, the climate change impact has facilitated the emergence of what has been labelled an “adaptation regime” [95]. This adaptation regime is built on an ideological vision focusing on economic development through the promotion of growth led by exports as well as urbanisation. Climate change policies set out in Bangladesh’s National Adaptation Program of Action [96] have enabled elites to capture land with status as public commons in the name of climate protection. This has entrenched already established hierarchies based on class and ethnicity and is aided by parts of the development industry, which perceives migration in the name of climate change adaptation as necessary to promote economic growth and development [97].
Seen from this perspective, salinisation and the loss of livelihoods leading to migration is not an unfortunate consequence of maladaptation but rather as part of a strategy with the loss of rural livelihoods and urban migration being turned into opportunities [98]. All of this creates ideological reasons for continuing to employ a technocratic, top-down adaptation approach that ignores how ecosystems function as well as the reliance of poor, rural households on them.
This process of increased migration also puts an additional burden on female heads of households as they must assume more responsibilities in the absence of male household members while environmental degradation means that women will spend more time collecting firewood and water [99]. These gender norms significantly slow down women’s capacity to access and oversee productive resources, assert independence in income generation, and exercise the essential freedom of movement vital for meaningful involvement in the fisheries sector [100], with an estimated 37 million people depending on coastal resources for their livelihoods [101]. Women face restricted access to finance, control over income utilisation, involvement in decision-making processes, and mobility in public spaces without male members. These gender norms also restrict women’s financial independence, their ability to access resources, make decisions, exercise their rights and move freely about, all of which have a detrimental impact on their economic empowerment and general welfare. The status of women in the fishing communities in the study areas is characterised by restricted involvement in important decisions, limited control over resources, and a lack of leadership roles, all contributing to a heightened sense of disempowerment [102].
Fishing and shrimp catching activities are predominantly male dominated, resulting in the under recognition and undervaluation of the contributions made by women in the fishing community. This lack of acknowledgment and involvement in day-to-day fishing operations further exacerbates the vulnerability of women in coastal areas. Consequently, the empowerment of fisherwomen is not only a matter of social justice but also a crucial factor in creating more livelihood opportunities for them and enhancing the overall wellbeing of the community. Conducting gender-differentiated studies is essential to comprehend the vulnerabilities of women and gain a comprehensive understanding of the coping mechanisms within the coastal fishing community. Notably, the limited financial and social resources available to coastal inhabitants have a direct impact on their food security, poverty status, and overall livelihoods. It is concerning that approximately 35% of Bangladesh’s coastal rural population lives below the “Cost of Basic Needs” poverty line, with 21% below the lower poverty line [103]. Moreover, women’s empowerment can be regarded as the promotion of women’s perception of self-worth, their capacity of making their own choices, and their courage to challenge gender norms for themselves and others. However, the maladaptation that is the outcome of the technocratic approach to adaptation only serves to increase the particular vulnerability of women by limiting their livelihood options.
Conclusion
In the context of climate change, maladaptation can occur when adaptation interventions have unintended negative consequences or when they fail to address the underlying causes of vulnerability. Maladaptation refers to actions or strategies that may lead to an increased risk of adverse climate-related outcomes, increased vulnerability to climate change, or diminished welfare and well-being.
The concept of “maladaptation” is evident in the climate change adaptation efforts in coastal Bangladesh. The consequences of maladaptation in coastal Bangladesh have had severe implications for livelihoods. The levels of poverty, exacerbated by the loss of livelihood opportunities due to maladaptation, aquaculture practices, and extreme weather events, have resulted in greater inequality and concentration of wealth. Women, who often bear the burden of household responsibilities in the absence of male members due to migration, are further disadvantaged by the increased demands of environmental degradation.
Moreover, the political dimension of climate change adaptation policies in Bangladesh has led to the exclusion and marginalisation of local stakeholders. The top-down approach driven by bureaucrats and experts has limited consultation with affected communities, hindering their participation in decision-making processes. This lack of involvement prevents the integration of valuable local knowledge into climate change research and hampers the development of effective adaptation measures.
To address these challenges, it is crucial to seek and incorporate local knowledge in climate change adaptation efforts. Empowering stakeholders, particularly women, and involving them in decision-making processes can lead to more inclusive and effective policies. By recognizing and valuing the expertise and experiences of local communities, the adverse impacts of climate change can be better understood and mitigated, ultimately promoting sustainable and equitable development in Bangladesh.
Additionally, environmental governance in the Sundarbans area further exacerbates livelihood insecurity by excluding informal communities. Elites, under the guise of climate protection, exploit climate change policies to capture public land, reinforcing existing hierarchies based on class and ethnicity. In order to address these issues, we provide a number of recommendations aimed at helping women in coastal communities overcome the systemic barriers that help from fully participating in the decision-making process and enhance their livelihood options.
★ Recognise the importance of local fisher women’s perspectives and narratives in identifying systemic challenges and promoting sustainable livelihood opportunities. Co-designing interventions based on their insights can help in breaking barriers to fisher women’s inclusion and empowerment.
★ Promote initiatives that provide fisherwomen with access to and control over productive resources, as well as opportunities for sources of income. This includes supporting microfinance programs and skill development training, etc.
★ Awareness campaigns and community dialogues can be initiated which challenge patrilineal norms and promote women’s agencies within households and communities.
★ Strengthen community-based organisations and support networks that provide a platform for fisherwomen to voice their concerns, access resources, and engage in collective decision-making processes within the community.
Implementing these recommendations will help mitigate some of the negative impacts on women in coastal communities resulting from maladaptation and the dominant political order.
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About the Authors
John Geary
John Geary is a PhD student in Hamburg University’s Climate Change and Security Research Group. His dissertation is focusing on Livelihood adaptation to Climate Change and its impact on conflict in Bangladesh and Myanmar. He holds a M.Sc. in Environmental Management from University of Nottingham, an M.Sc. in Economics from University of Copenhagen and an MA in International Affairs from George Washington University.
Dr Nazneen I. Khan
Dr Nazneen I. Khan is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, UK. Her research is broad and interdisciplinary with a particular focus on policy, intersectionality, development and their intersections with gender, climate change and SRHR, non- economic loss and damage, local governance and women empowerment. Her research also focuses on the way institutions (re)produce social stratification based on culture, sex, race, class or nationality by drawing from interdisciplinary fields such as reproductive justice and rights, SDG agenda, gender studies and environmental studies. She is based at the International Center for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) at the Independent University, Bangladesh, where she serves as the Lead of Climate Change and Health.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6371-863X
Corresponding address: jbg8250@yahoo.com
Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.