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Investigating critical relationships among vulnerability, livelihoods, and non-migration strategies at the fishing communities in the Sundarbans

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Abstract

This article investigates non-migration of fishermen communities living adjacent to the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. While analysing the regular livelihood patterns of these communities, this article explores a symbiotic relationship among livelihoods, risks, and natural resources in understanding fishermen’s choice of locations in the vulnerable areas. We have adopted a mixed method approach in conducting questionnaire survey, interviews, and focus group discussion at household level. We have employed a triangulation system in the study, i.e. collected data from different sources to compare and then used diverse methods to check whether the information was consistent. Upon analysing the data obtained from field investigation, it can be concluded that the critical relationships exist among livelihoods, risks, and immobility of fishermen community in the Sundarbans. Therefore, fishing households’ non-migration can be explained in-between voluntary and in-voluntary decision-making process. The study claims that the decision-making process depends on a symbiotic relationship between livelihoods, vulnerability, and natural resources management. The findings reveal that fishing households utilise assets and opportunities to build a blended livelihood strategies including natural resource extraction; diversifying income sources; borrowing and investment; asset pooling; and building social capital. Finally, this study concludes that this process of combining and transforming different assets for livelihood strategies can be explained as an autonomous adaptation process in the face of climate change. Particularly, the study accomplishes that this autonomous adaptation process defines the nature and dynamics of non-migration strategies of fishing communities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Urban and Rural Planning Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh

    Md. Zakir Hossain, Md. Ashiq Ur Rahman, Nur Mohammad Ha-Mim & Salman F. Haque

  2. Wicked Problems Lab and, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, St. Mary’s University, 923 Robie Street, Halifax, NS, B3H 3C3, Canada

    Khan Rubayet Rahaman

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  1. Md. Zakir Hossain
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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 5, 6, 7.

Table 5 Resilience capacities, components and indicators, and their interrelationship with livelihood resilience
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Table 6 Livelihood resilience index (LVI) sub-component values and minimum and maximum sub-component values for Chila and Banishanta Unions, Bangladesh
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Table 7 Indexed sub-components, major components, and overall LRI for Banishanta and Chila Unions, Bangladesh
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Hossain, M.Z., Rahman, M.A.U., Rahaman, K.R. et al. Investigating critical relationships among vulnerability, livelihoods, and non-migration strategies at the fishing communities in the Sundarbans. Environ Dev Sustain (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03857-y

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