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Does the perception of climate change vary with the socio-demographic dimensions? A study on vulnerable populations in Bangladesh

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Abstract

This study tried to explore the perception of climate change by considering the socio-demographic dimensions of vulnerable populations in Bangladesh. This study included 158 respondents from an extremely flood affected area of Sylhet by using multistage sampling. This study used both quantitative and qualitative method to analyze data. Using several statistical tools and doing paraphrased translation of key information, this study find that the perception of climate change varies depending on the different socio-demographic dimensions such as gender, marital status, religion and age. Findings also show that the concern about climate change and the reasons for it as well as the prospective solutions and pathways to reduce its impacts are present in different socio-demographic dimensions. This study particularly reveals that the majority of the populations consider the reason of climate change from sinful activities of the individuals and wish of God. Other, however, considers that deforestation and river dredging are the reasons of climate change. And most people perceive that increasing education on the environment, changing human behavior and community level participation, can lead to reduce the adverse situations of climate change in developing countries like Bangladesh.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, 3114, Bangladesh

    Shah Md. Atiqul Haq & Khandaker Jafor Ahmed

Authors
  1. Shah Md. Atiqul Haq
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  2. Khandaker Jafor Ahmed
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shah Md. Atiqul Haq.

Appendix

Appendix

Interview Questionnaire

  1. 1.

    Gender: (a) Male (b) Female

  2. 2.

    Age:

  3. 3.

    Religion: (a) Islam (b) Hindu

  4. 4.

    Marital status: (a) Unmarried (b) Married

  5. 5.

    Education (Years of Schooling):

  6. 6.

    Do you know about climate change? (a) Yes (b) No

  7. 7.

    Do you find any changes in temperature last ten years? (a) Yes (b) No

  8. 8.

    What changes do you find in temperature?

    (a) very hot (b) very hot and very cold (c) Frequent fluctuation in temperature (d) Very cold (e) very hot and decrease cold (f) do not find any changes

  9. 9.

    Which month do you usually know as the hottest in a year? (a) falgun (b) chiotro (c) boishak (d) josto (e) asar (f) srabon (g) bhadro (h) do not know

  10. 10.

    Can you tell the hottest year and month during last ten years?

  11. 11.

    Do you find any changes in precipitation during last ten years? (a) Yes (b) No

  12. 12.

    What changes do you find in precipitation? (a) irregular raining (b) increase raining (c) decrease raining (d) do not observe

  13. 13.

    Which month do you usually know as the heavy raining? (a) falgun (b) chiotro (c) boishak (d) josto (e) asar (f) srabon (g) bhadro (h) do not know

  14. 14.

    Can you tell the most rainy years and months during last ten years?

  15. 15.

    Do you know what cause the climate changes? (a) Yes (b) No

    a) If yes, can you name some factors that cause climate changes?

  16. 16.

    According to your experience, how climate change impacted in your life during last ten years?

  17. 17.

    How many climate change events did you face during last ten years?

  18. 18.

    Please mention the climate change events.

  19. 19.

    Which one was the most severest to tackle and when?

  20. 20.

    Do you know why the climate changes events such as cyclones, flooding, drought etc. occur?

  21. 21.

    Why do the climate change events occur?

  22. 22.

    According to your experience, how do you tackle the extreme event?

  23. 23.

    Climate change is happenging in Bangladesh.

    (a) Strongly agree (b) Agree (c) Unsure (d) Disagree (e) Strongly disagree

  24. 24.

    Climate change is an important issue in Bangladesh.

    (a) Strongly agree (b) Agree (c) Unsure (d) Disagree (e) Strongly disagree

  25. 25.

    Climate change is the result of human activities.

    (a) Strongly agree (b) Agree (c) Unsure (d) Disagree (e) Strongly disagree

  26. 26.

    Climate change isn’t natural.

    (a) Strongly agree (b) Agree (c) Unsure (d) Disagree (e) Strongly disagree

  27. 27.

    Environmental education can minimize the adverse impacts of climate change.

    (a) Strongly agree (b) Agree (c) Unsure (d) Disagree (e) Strongly disagree

  28. 28.

    Changing human behavior can contribute to tackle adverse impacts of climate change.

    (a) Strongly agree (b) Agree (c) Unsure (d) Disagree (e) Strongly disagree

  29. 29.

    Community level participation is needed to tackle with the climate change.

    (a) Strongly agree (b) Agree (c) Unsure (d) Disagree (e) Strongly disagree

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Haq, S.M.A., Ahmed, K.J. Does the perception of climate change vary with the socio-demographic dimensions? A study on vulnerable populations in Bangladesh. Nat Hazards 85, 1759–1785 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-016-2664-7

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