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Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience pp 21–44Cite as

Assessing Loss and Damage of Low-Exposed Sudden-Onset Disasters: Evidence from the Marginal Salt Cultivators of Kutubdia Island, Bangladesh

Abstract

In recent years in Bangladesh, there has been regular cyclonic event, flooding and erratic pre-monsoon precipitation, that has hampered production greatly and forced Bangladesh to import salt from abroad to manage market deficiency. There is much uncertainty about the effects of climate change on the frequency and intensity of small-scale, sudden-onset weather phenomena such as heavy rainfall and subsequent loss and damage (L&D). But, several studies indicate that an obvious strong relationship exists between irregular rainfall and associated L&D. Nowadays, severe changing rainfall patterns are observed in Bangladesh, which is rapid onset in nature, but low exposed in terms of response. The current study explored a “double-exposed” burden combined of both climatic (e.g., uneven rainfall) and non-climatic governance factors (e.g., imperfect trade policy, the absence of risk transfer mechanisms) which are hindering salt production and pushing the country from the aspiration of salt exporting to the net buyer. This chapter mainly assesses the impacts of L&D due to climatic events that are causing overwhelming effects on the well-being of marginal salt farmers at Kutubdia Upazila of Bangladesh. Data were mainly collected through participatory vulnerability analysis (PVA), key informant interviews (KII), and sample surveys (SS). This study would provide insights for improved disaster management policy and an appropriate adaptive measure to address such extreme events as well as to initiate a further study for understanding the nexus of “nature and market” in building resilience among the marginal salt farmers.

Keywords

  • Climate change
  • Loss and damage
  • Human well-being
  • Marginal salt farmers
  • Adaptation
  • Vulnerability
  • Bangladesh

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The definition of “marginal farmer” refers to a farmer cultivating (as the owner, tenant, or shareholder) inland less than 0.049 acres, as stated by the Bangladesh Bureau for Statistics (BBS).

  2. 2.

    Unions (also known as Union Parishads or Union Councils) are the oldest and smallest administrative units in Bangladesh. There are nine wards in each union. Normally, one village is named as the ward.

  3. 3.

    A lac (also written as Lakh) is one hundred thousand (100,000) in the Bangladeshi numbering system.

  4. 4.

    A pond commonly dug into a rice field to use for fish farming.

  5. 5.

    A project runs by the government of Bangladesh to reduce poverty in rural areas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Network on Climate Change in Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman & Mizanur Rahman Bijoy

  2. Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman

Authors
  1. Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman
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  2. Mizanur Rahman Bijoy
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Correspondence to Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Water Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

    Saeid Eslamian

  2. McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Faezeh Eslamian

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Rahman, M.M., Bijoy, M.R. (2022). Assessing Loss and Damage of Low-Exposed Sudden-Onset Disasters: Evidence from the Marginal Salt Cultivators of Kutubdia Island, Bangladesh. In: Eslamian, S., Eslamian, F. (eds) Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08325-9_2

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