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Climate change adaptation through local knowledge in the north eastern region of Bangladesh

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Abstract

Climate change adaptation in the low laying developing countries is becoming crucial at the present time. However, the local knowledge regarding climate change adaptation is not well focused. This study evaluates climate related perception and identifying various adaptation strategies in the low lying areas of North-Eastern Bangladesh. Six focus group discussions and 120 households’ survey were carried out to identify the major climate events in our study areas which were temperature change, drought, heavy rainfall and cyclone and storm surges. Furthermore, main livelihood problems arising from these events were lack of fish availability, scarcity of water in drought seasons and frequent flood in the rainy seasons. Results also revealed that a little portion (10%) of the respondents had well knowledge about the present climate change. However, seasonal livelihood and hazard calendar demonstrated that local people were increasingly changing their livelihood status with changing climatic hazards. At that situation local people tried to adapt themselves with the changing climate through changing their own behavior and introducing some adaptation strategies. We recognized total 16 adaptive measures in the study areas within which crop diversification, floating garden, duck rearing, cage aquaculture, wave protection walls, re-digging of canal and construction of embankments were popular. The present study revealed that local experiences in the face of climate change adaptation have merits which need special consideration. Continuous research and more incentives required for proper documentation and relegate the local adaptation knowledge in the tropic.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mr. Enamul Karim, Project coordinator, FRRAS (Flood Risk Reduction Activities in Sunamgonj) of CNRS (Centre for Natural Resource Studies) for his kind support during the field study. Finally, we are also grateful to the local people of our study areas for sharing their views related to climate change and their daily livelihood activities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, School of Agriculture and Mineral Sciences, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, 3114, Bangladesh

    Sawon Istiak Anik & Mohammed Abu Sayed Arfin Khan

  2. Department of Disturbance Ecology, University of Bayreuth, University Str. 30, 95447, Bayreuth, Germany

    Mohammed Abu Sayed Arfin Khan

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  1. Sawon Istiak Anik
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  2. Mohammed Abu Sayed Arfin Khan
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Correspondence to Mohammed Abu Sayed Arfin Khan.

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Anik, S.I., Khan, M.A.S.A. Climate change adaptation through local knowledge in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 17, 879–896 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-011-9350-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-011-9350-6

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