Abstract
Shrimp aquaculture is the predominant farming practice in the southwest coastal region of Bangladesh and has been under increased pressure from environmental and climatic changes. To date, most of the studies examining farmer’s vulnerability and adaption to climate change have been agriculture-focused with little attention to the impacts on other livelihood systems. Based on a case study approach our study presents: i) how local people perceive climate change and whether it corresponds to meteorological records, ii) what climate change impacts people consider significant, and iii) what strategies the shrimp farmers employ to ameliorate perceived risks. This study was conducted using local climate data, focus groups and household survey in Mongla sub-district. This study shows that local people are aware of the changes in hydro-climatic parameters. Their accounts of climate change mostly diverge from the scientific evidence when long-term climate trends are considered, but on short-term variability, the correlation between scientific evidence and local perceptions is high. Repeated adverse impacts caused by climate stressors on livelihood activities shape people’s climate risk perceptions. In relation to perceived risks, farmers have made adjustments in their aquaculture practices. Yet, the level of responses clearly lags behind the extent to which concerns about climate disturbances are expressed. This is partly due to farmers’ efforts for managing transformation from agricultural livelihood system to aquaculture-based livelihood systems and partly associated with other social factors. This case study recommends governmental support for the shrimp aquaculture sector to facilitate the process of adaptation to changes in the hydro-climatic environment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Afroz T, Alam S (2013) Sustainable shrimp farming in Bangladesh: a quest for an integrated coastal zone management. Ocean Coast Manag 71:275–283
Alam SMN, Lin CK, Yakupitiyage A, Demaine H, Phillips MJ (2005) Compliance of Bangladesh shrimp culture with FAO code of conduct for responsible fisheries: a development challenge. Ocean Coast Manag 48:177–188
Arbuckle JG Jr, Morton LW, Hobbs J (2013) Farmer beliefs and concern about climate change and attitudes toward adaptation and mitigation: evidence from Iowa. Clim Chang 118:551–563
Belton B, Karim M, Thilster S, Jahan KM, Collis W, Phillips M (2011) Review of Aquaculture & Fish Consumption in Bangladesh. Studies and Reviews 2011–53. The World Fish Center. pp.25
BFRI (2011) Sustainable management of fisheries resources of the Bay of Bengal. Fisheries Research Institute, Bangladesh
Blennow K, Persson J (2009) Climate change: motivation for taking measures to adapt. Glob Environ Chang 19:100–104
Boissière M, Locatelli B, Shiil D, Padmanaba M, Sadjudin E (2013) Local perceptions of climate variability and change in tropical forests of Papua, Indonesia. Ecol Soc 18(4):13
Climate Change Cell (2009) Characterizing long-term changes of Bangladesh climate in context of agriculture and irrigation, climate change cell, department of environment, Bangladesh
Cubasch U, Wuebbles D, Chen D, Facchini MC, Frame D, Mahowald N, Winther J-G (2013) Introduction. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Stocker, TF, Qin D, Plattner G-K, Tignor M, Allen SK, Boschung J, Nauels A, Xia Y, Bex V, Midgley PM (eds.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA
EMDAT (2013) Disaster list: the international disaster database. Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. http://www.emdat.be/disaster-list Accessed 09 September 2013
Hedger M (2011) Climate finance in Bangladesh: lessons for development cooperation and climate finance at national level (Working Paper). Institute of Development Studies, UK
Iftekhar MS, Islam MR (2004) Degeneration of Bangladesh Sundarbans mangrove: a management issue. Int For Rev 6(2):123–135
Metcalfe I (2003) Environmental concerns for Bangladesh. South Asia J South Asian Stud XXVI(3):423–438
MOEF (2009) Bangladesh climate change strategy and action plan 2009. Ministry of Environment and Forest, Bangladesh
MOHFW (2012) Health Bulletin 2012: Mongla Upazilla Health Complex. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh. http://app.dghs.gov.bd/lhb/reportbyadmin.php?id=2012&lvl=1&om=mongla@uhfpo.dghs.gov.bd&oti=&organame=Mongla%20Upazila%20Health%20Complex. Accessed 12 March 2013
Mondal SM, Jalal MR, Khan MSA, Kumr U, Rahman R, Huq H (2013) Hydro-meteorological trends in southwest coastal Bangladesh: perspective of climate change and human interventions. Am J Clim Chang 2:62–70
Parry ML, Canziani OF, Palutikof JP, van der Linden PJ, Hanson CE (2007) Contribution of working group II to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Paul BG, Vogl CR (2011) Impacts of shrimp farming in Bangladesh: challenges and alternatives. Ocean Coast Manag 54:201–211
Rahman MH, Lund T, Bryceson I (2011) Salinity effects on food habits in three coastal, rural villages in Bangladesh. Renew Agric Food Syst 26(3):230–242
Rashid H (1991) Geography of Bangladesh. University Press, Dhaka
Sampling and Surveying Handbook (2002) Air University Sampling and Surveying Handbook: guidelines for planning, organizing and conducting surveys. Air University, USA
Shahid S (2009) Rainfall variability and the trends of wet and dry periods in Bangladesh. Int J Climatol 30:2299–2313
SRDI (2010) Saline soils of Bangladesh. Soil Resource Development Institute, Bangladesh
Swapan MSH, Gavin M (2011) A desert in the delta: participatory assessment of changing livelihoods induced by commercial shrimp farming in Southwest Bangladesh. Ocean Coast Manag 54:45–54
Thomas DSG, Twyman C, Osbahr H, Hewitson B (2007) Adaptation to climate change and variability: farmer responses to intera-seasonal precipitation trends in South Africa. Clim Chang 83:301–322
Tyagi A, Mohapatra M, Bandyopadhyaya BK, Kumar N (2009) Inter-annual variation of frequency of cyclonic disturbances landfalling over WMO/ESCAP panel member countries. In: Al-Hatrushi S, Yassine C (eds) 1st WMO International Conference on Tropical Cyclones and Climate Change. Muscat, Oman, pp 1–7
UNEP (2006) Marine and coastal ecosystems and human well-being: a synthesis report based on the findings of the millennium ecosystem assessment. UNEP. 76 pp
USAID (2006) A pro-poor analysis of the shrimp sector in Bangladesh. U.S. Agency for International Development
WARPO (undated) Chronology of major cyclones and storm surges in Bangladesh. http://www.warpo.gov.bd/rep/knowledge_port/KPED/Process/Wind_Storm_Waves/Table_Cyclone_History.htm. Accessed 09 September 2013
Wasimi SA (2010) Statistical forecasting of tropical cyclones for Bangladesh. In: Charabi Y (ed) Indian ocean tropical cyclones and climate change. Springer, USA, pp 131–141
Weber EU (2010) What shapes perceptions of climate change? WIREs Clim Chang 1:332–342
West CT, Roncoli C, Ouattara F (2008) Local perceptions and regional climate trends on the central plateau of Burkina Faso. Land Degrad Dev 19:289–304
World Bank (2010) Bangladesh: Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change. The World Bank Group
Acknowledgments
The research work on which this article is based was conducted as part of the first author’s PhD programme at the University of Newcastle, Australia under Endeavour Postgraduate Award, funded by Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Government.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shameem, M.I.M., Momtaz, S. & Kiem, A.S. Local perceptions of and adaptation to climate variability and change: the case of shrimp farming communities in the coastal region of Bangladesh. Climatic Change 133, 253–266 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1470-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1470-7