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Climate variability and changes in the major cities of Bangladesh: observations, possible impacts and adaptation

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Abstract

High population density, inadequate infrastructure and low adaptive capacity have made the urban population of Bangladesh highly vulnerable to climate change. Trends in climate and climate-related extreme events in five major cities have been analyzed in this paper to decipher the variability and ongoing changes in urban Bangladesh. An analysis of 55 years (1958–2012) of daily rainfall and temperature data using nonparametric statistical methods shows a significant increase in annual and seasonal mean daily maximum and minimum temperatures in all five cities. A significant increase in climate-related extreme events, such as heavy rainfall events (>20 mm), hot days (>32 °C) and hot nights (>25 °C), is also observed. Climate model results suggest that these trends will continue through the twenty-first century. Vulnerability of urban livelihoods and physical structures to climate change is estimated by considering certainty and timing of impacts. It has been predicted that public health and urban infrastructures, viz. water and power supply, would be the imminent affected sectors in the urban areas of Bangladesh. Adaptation measures that can be adopted to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change are also discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Editor and anonymous reviewers for constructive feedback and insightful suggestions which greatly improved this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

    Shamsuddin Shahid, Sobri Bin Harun, Tarmizi Ismail & Anil Minhans

  2. State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Xiao-Jun Wang

  3. Research Center for Climate Change, Ministry of Water Resources, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Xiao-Jun Wang

  4. Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology (Razak School), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 54100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Supiah Binti Shamsudin

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  1. Shamsuddin Shahid
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  2. Xiao-Jun Wang
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Correspondence to Shamsuddin Shahid.

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Editor: Virginia R. Burkett

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Shahid, S., Wang, XJ., Harun, S.B. et al. Climate variability and changes in the major cities of Bangladesh: observations, possible impacts and adaptation. Reg Environ Change 16, 459–471 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-015-0757-6

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