Abstract
Rural communities inhabited on riverbank areas are frequently facing the ever-increasing psychological, social and economic distress due to negative effects of riverbank erosion. This study focused to investigate the impact of climate-based hazards particularly riverbank erosion on human displacement, food security and livelihood of rural riverine households and how vulnerable households act in response. The survey data of 398 households of erosion-prone riverbank area were collected, and group discussions connecting household heads from this area were also used for this study. In human displacement scenario of the last ten years due to riverbank erosion, almost 60% households lost their homestead once while 38% more than three times and forced to displaced. Empirical estimates of households’ food security status indicated the value of Food Security Index 2.11, highlighting households face issue of food security all over the year. Food security issue of vulnerable households is highly related with migration because these households have insufficient employment chances, and coupled with limited or no farming land, they are highly prone to migration. In conclusion, this study estimated that riverbank erosion risk is a co-exist reason of population displacement, increasing rural environmental vulnerability and obstacles to psychological, cultural and socioeconomic development. Implications of local-based proper policy interventions such as developing advance research regarding infusion of agro-based technology packages for emerging Bait areas for developing resilience, human capital development, credit access and institution service are necessary for improving livelihood and food security of these riverbank erosion households. State-based institutions and local community mutually need to focus increasing forestry specifically in riverbank areas to save fertile land from riverbank erosion and reducing environmental pollution. Convalescing livelihood and food security for erosion riverbank households, more employment opportunity needs to provided, investing more in training and education programmes to promoting income-generating activities that subsequently will develop livelihood and food security of households.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Abbas G, Ahmad S, Ahmad A, Nasim W, Fatima Z, Hussain S et al (2017) Quantification the impacts of climate change and crop management on phenology of maize-based cropping system in Punjab, Pakistan. Agric For Meteorol 247:42–55
Abid M, Schilling J, Scheffran J, Zulfiqar F (2016) Climate change vulnerability, adaptation and risk perceptions at farm level in Punjab, Pakistan. Sci Total Environ 547:447–460
Afifi T (2011) Economic or environmental migration? The push factors in Niger. Int Migr 49:e95–e124
Ahmad D, Afzal M (2019) Household vulnerability and resilience in flood hazards from disaster-prone areas of Punjab, Pakistan. Nat Hazards 99(1):337–354
Ahmad D, Afzal M (2020) Flood hazards and factors influencing household flood perception and mitigation strategies in Pakistan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(13):15375–15387
Ahmad D, Afzal M, Rauf A (2019) Analysis of wheat farmers’ risk perceptions and attitudes: evidence from Punjab, Pakistan. Nat Hazards 95(3):845–861
Ahmad D, Afzal M, Rauf A (2020) Flood hazards adaptation strategies: a gender-based disaggregated analysis of farm-dependent Bait community in Punjab, Pakistan. Environ Dev Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-020-00612-5
Ahmed K, Shahbaz M, Qasim A, Long W (2015) The linkages between deforestation, energy and growth for environmental degradation in Pakistan. Ecol Indic 49:95–103
Akhtar AS (2011) Patronage and class in urban Pakistan: modes of labor control in the contractor economy. Crit Asian Stud 43(2):159–184
Alam GM (2016) An assessment of the livelihood vulnerability of the riverbank erosion hazard and its impact on food security for rural households in Bangladesh (Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern Queensland)
Alam GM (2018) Determinants of and barriers to adaptation: evidence from hazard-prone rural households in Bangladesh. Bangladesh J Pol Econ 34(2):307–330
Alam GM, Alam K, Mushtaq S, Clarke ML (2017) Vulnerability to climatic change in riparian char and river-bank households in Bangladesh: implication for policy, livelihoods and social development. Ecol Indic 72:23–32
Alam GM, Alam K, Mushtaq S, Leal Filho W (2018a) How do climate change and associated hazards impact on the resilience of riparian rural communities in Bangladesh? Policy implications for livelihood development. Environ Sci Pol 84:7–18
Alam GM, Alam K, Mushtaq S, Khatun MN, Leal Filho W (2018b) Strategies and barriers to adaptation of hazard-prone rural households in Bangladesh. In: Limits to climate change adaptation. Springer, Cham, pp 11–24
Alam GM, Alam K, Mushtaq S, Sarker MNI, Hossain M (2020) Hazards, food insecurity and human displacement in rural riverine Bangladesh: implications for policy. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 43:101364
Ali KF, De Boer DH (2010) Spatially distributed erosion and sediment yield modeling in the upper Indus River basin. Water Resour Res 46(8). https://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008762
Ali A, Rahut DB (2020) Localized floods, poverty and food security: empirical evidence from rural Pakistan. Hydrology 7(1):2
Ashraf M, Shakir AS (2018) Prediction of river bank erosion and protection works in a reach of Chenab River, Pakistan. Arab J Geosci 11(7):145
Bahadar I, Shafique M, Khan T, Tabassum I, Ali MZ (2015) Flood hazard assessment using hydro-dynamic model and GIS/RS tools: a case study of Babuzai-Kabal tehsil Swat Basin, Pakistan. J Himal Earth Sci 48(2):129–138
Berman RJ, Quinn CH, Paavola J (2015) Identifying drivers of household coping strategies to multiple climatic hazards in Western Uganda: implications for adapting to future climate change. Clim Dev 7(1):71–84
Bradshaw CJ, Sodhi NS, PEH KSH, Brook BW (2007) Global evidence that deforestation amplifies flood risk and severity in the developing world. Glob Chang Biol 13(11):2379–2395
Brouwer R, Akter S, Brander L, Haque E (2007) Socioeconomic vulnerability and adaptation to environmental risk: a case study of climate change and flooding in Bangladesh. Risk Anal 27(2):313–326
Carling PA, Trieu H, Hornby DD, Huang HQ, Darby SE, Sear DA et al (2018) Are equilibrium multichannel networks predictable? The case of the regulated Indus River, Pakistan. Geomorphology 302:20–34
Chatterjee N, Fernandes G, Hernandez M (2012) Food insecurity in urban poor households in Mumbai, India. Food Secur 4(4):619–632
Cochran WG (1977) Double sampling. In: Cochran WG (ed) Sampling techniques, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York, pp 327–358
Daniell H, Lin CS, Yu M, Chang WJ (2016) Chloroplast genomes: diversity, evolution, and applications in genetic engineering. Genome Biol 17(1):134
Das BK (2012) Losing biodiversity, impoverishing forest villagers: analysing forest policies in the context of flood disaster in a National Park of Sub Himalayan Bengal, India. Institute of Development Studies
Das T, Dettinger MD, Cayan DR, Hidalgo HG (2011) Potential increase in floods in California’s Sierra Nevada under future climate projections. Clim Chang 109(1):71–94
Das S, Ho A, Kim PJ (2019) Role of microbes in climate-smart agriculture. Front Microbiol 10:2756
Doocy S, Daniels A, Packer C, Dick A, Kirsch TD (2013) The human impact of earthquakes: a historical review of events 1980-2009 and systematic literature review. PLoS Curr 5. https://doi.org/10.1371/currents.dis.67bd14fe457f1db0b5433a8ee20fb833
Ercan A, Younis BA (2009) Prediction of bank erosion in a reach of the Sacramento River and its mitigation with groynes. Water Resour Manag 23(15):3121–3147
Eregno FE, Xu CY, Kitterød NO (2013) Modeling hydrological impacts of climate change in different climatic zones. Int J Clim Chang Strateg Manag. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM-04-2012-0024
Esnard AM, Sapat A, Mitsova D (2011) An index of relative displacement risk to hurricanes. Nat Hazards 59(2):833–859
Etzold B, Ahmed AU, Hassan SR, Neelormi S (2014) Clouds gather in the sky, but no rain falls. Vulnerability to rainfall variability and food insecurity in Northern Bangladesh and its effects on migration. Clim Dev 6(1):18–27
FAO (2010) Agricultural Census, 2010, Pakistan Report
Feleke ST, Kilmer RL, Gladwin CH (2005) Determinants of food security in Southern Ethiopia at the household level. Agric Econ 33(3):351–363
Field CB, Barros V, Stocker TF, Dahe Q (eds) (2012) Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation: special report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press
Ford JD, Keskitalo ECH, Smith T, Pearce T, Berrang-Ford L, Duerden F, Smit B (2010) Case study and analogue methodologies in climate change vulnerability research. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Chang 1(3):374–392
GOP (2018) Economic Survey of Pakistan 2017-18, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Finance Government of Pakistan. http://www.finance.gov.pk/survey_1718.html
GOP (2019a) Economic Survey of Pakistan 2018-19, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Finance Government of Pakistan. http://www.finance.gov.pk/survey_1819.html
GOP (2019b) Pakistan Planning Commission Report, 2018. https://www.pc.gov.pk/web/report
GOP (2020) Economic Survey of Pakistan 2019-20, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Finance Government of Pakistan. http://www.finance.gov.pk/survey_1920.html
Hashmi HN, Siddiqui QTM, Ghumman AR, Kamal MA, Mughal H (2012) A critical analysis of 2010 floods in Pakistan. Afr J Agric Res 7(7):1054–1067
Haysom G, Tawodzera G (2018) “Measurement drives diagnosis and response”: gaps in transferring food security assessment to the urban scale. Food Policy 74:117–125
Headey D, Ecker O (2013) Rethinking the measurement of food security: from first principles to best practice. Food Secur 5(3):327–343
Hirabayashi Y, Mahendran R, Koirala S, Konoshima L, Yamazaki D, Watanabe S, Kim H, Kanae S (2013) Global flood risk under climate change. Nat Clim Chang 3(9):816–821
Hossain MA, Reza MI, Rahman S, Kayes I (2012) Climate change and its impacts on the livelihoods of the vulnerable people in the southwestern coastal zone in Bangladesh. In: Climate change and the sustainable use of water resources. Springer, Berlin, pp 237–259 http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/ess/ess_test_folder/World_Census_Agriculture/Country_info_2010/Reports/Reports_5/PAK_ENG_REP_2010.pdfhttp://www.pdma.gov.pk/sites/default/files/Monsoon_Contingency_Plan_PP_2014.pdfhttp://www.pdma.gov.pk/sites/default/files/Monsoon_Contingency_Plan_PP_2014.pdf
Hussain A, Rasul G, Mahapatra B, Tuladhar S (2016) Household food security in the face of climate change in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region. Food Secur 8(5):921–937
IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, Fourth Assessment Report, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2007
IPCC (2014) “Summary for Policymakers”, in C.B. Field (eds), Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects, Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, pp 1-32
IPCC (2019) IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land, 2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Geneva Switzerland
Iqbal S (2010) Flood and erosion induced population displacements: a socio-economic case study in the Gangetic riverine tract at Malda district, West Bengal, India. J Hum Ecol 30(3):201–211
Islam MR (2018) Climate change, natural disasters and socioeconomic livelihood vulnerabilities: migration decision among the Char land people in Bangladesh. Soc Indic Res 136(2):575–593
Islam MF, Rashid AB (2011) Riverbank erosion displacees in Bangladesh: need for institutional response and policy intervention. Bangladesh J Bioeth 2(2):4–19
Kazal MMH, Villinueva CC, Hossain MZ, Das TK (2010) Food security strategies of the people living in haor areas: status and prospects. American International University, Dhaka
Kellens W, Terpstra T, De Maeyer P (2013) Perception and communication of flood risks: a systematic review of empirical research. Risk Anal 33(1):24–49
Khan AN (2011) Analysis of flood causes and associated socio-economic damages in the Hindukush region. Nat Hazards 59(3):1239
Khan AA, Ali SB (2003) Effects of erosion on Indus River bio-diversity in Pakistan. Pak J Biol Sci 6(12):1035–1040
Khan IA, Seema N, Raza S, Yasmine S, Bibi S (2013) Environmental interactions of sugarcane genotypes and yield stability analysis of sugarcane. Pak J Bot 45(5):1617–1622
Khan HUA, Khalil SFA, Kazmi SJH, Umar M, Shahzad A, Farhan SB (2017) Identification of river bank erosion and inundation hazard zones using geospatial techniques—a case study of Indus River near Layyah District, Punjab, Pakistan. Geoplanning 4(2):121–130
Khandker SR, Khalily MB, Samad HA (2012) Seasonal migration to mitigate income seasonality: evidence from Bangladesh. J Dev Stud 48(8):1063–1083
Kotrlik JWKJW, Higgins CCHCC (2001) Organizational research: determining appropriate sample size in survey research appropriate sample size in survey research. Inf Technol Learn Perform J 19(1):43
Krausmann E, Mushtaq F (2008) A qualitative Natech damage scale for the impact of floods on selected industrial facilities. Nat Hazards 46(2):179–197
Linsley RK (1986) Flood estimates: how good are they? Water Resour Res 22(9S):159S–164S
Martin M, Kang YH, Billah M, Siddiqui T, Black R, Kniveton D (2017) Climate-influenced migration in Bangladesh: the need for a policy realignment. Dev Policy Rev 35:O357–O379
Mirza MMQ (2003) Climate change and extreme weather events: can developing countries adapt? Clim Pol 3(3):233–248
Mondal MS, Rahman MA, Mukherjee N, Huq H, Rahman R (2015) Hydro-climatic hazards for crops and cropping system in the chars of the Jamuna River and potential adaptation options. Nat Hazards 76(3):1431–1455
Monirul Alam GM, Alam K, Mushtaq S (2018) Drivers of food security of vulnerable rural households in Bangladesh: implications for policy and development. South Asia Econ J 19(1):43–63
Mustafa D, Wrathall D (2011) Indus basin floods of 2010: souring of a Faustian bargain? Water Alternat 4(1)
Myers N (2002) Environmental refugees: a growing phenomenon of the 21st century. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 357(1420):609–613
NDMA (2014) Monsoon Weather Situation Report 2014. National Disaster Management Authority, Climate Change Division, Government of Pakistan. http://www.ndma.gov.pk/new/Documents/sitrep-7-9-2014.pdf
NDMA Pakistan (2016) Annual Report 2016, National Disaster Management Authority Pakistan. http://www.ndma.gov.pk/publications/Annual%20Report%202016.pdf
NDMA Pakistan (2018) Annual Report 2018, National Disaster Management Authority Pakistan. http://www.ndma.gov.pk/publications/Annual%20Report%202018.pdf
Nyarko AD, Kassai Z (2017) High rice import as a threat to food security and a hindrance to sustainable rice production in Ghana. Arch Curr Res Int:1–13
Paul BK (1998) Coping mechanisms practised by drought victims (1994/5) in North Bengal, Bangladesh. Appl Geogr 18(4):355–373
PBS (2017) 6th Population and Housing Census (2017) Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan
PDMA, Punjab (2014) Monsoon Contingency Plan Punjab 2014, Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA)
PDMA Punjab (2017) Annual Report 2017, Provincial Disaster Management Authority Punjab Pakistan. https://pdma.punjab.gov.pk/system/files/Annual%20Report%202017_0.pdf#overlay-context=node/438
Penning-Rowsell EC, Sultana P, Thompson PM (2013) The “last resort”? Population movement in response to climate-related hazards in Bangladesh. Environ Sci Pol 27:S44–S59
Pinstrup-Andersen P (2009) Food security: definition and measurement. Food Secur 1(1):5–7
Přívara A, Přívarová M (2019) Nexus between climate change, displacement and conflict: Afghanistan case. Sustainability 11(20):5586
Qamer FM, Shehzad K, Abbas S, Murthy MSR, Xi C, Gilani H, Bajracharya B (2016) Mapping deforestation and forest degradation patterns in western Himalaya, Pakistan. Remote Sens 8(5):385
Rahman MS, Gain A (2020) Adaptation to river bank erosion induced displacement in Koyra Upazila of Bangladesh. Progress Disaster Sci 5:100055
Rahman M, Ningsheng C, Islam MM, Dewan A, Iqbal J, Washakh RMA, Shufeng T (2019) Flood susceptibility assessment in Bangladesh using machine learning and multi-criteria decision analysis. Earth Syst Environ 3(3):585–601
Rana IA, Routray JK (2018) Integrated methodology for flood risk assessment and application in urban communities of Pakistan. Nat Hazards 91(1):239–266
Saleem Ashraf ML, Iftikhar M, Ashraf I, Hassan ZY (2017) Understanding flood risk management in Asia: concepts and challenges. Flood Risk Manag. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69139
Sarker MNI, Wu M, Alam GM, Shouse RC (2019) Livelihood vulnerability of riverine-island dwellers in the face of natural disasters in Bangladesh. Sustainability 11(6):1623
Sarker MNI, Wu M, Alam GM, Shouse RC (2020a) Livelihood diversification in rural Bangladesh: patterns and determinants in disaster prone riverine islands. Land Use Policy 96:104720
Sarker MNI, Wu M, Alam GM, Shouse RC (2020b) Life in riverine islands in Bangladesh: local adaptation strategies of climate vulnerable riverine island dwellers for livelihood resilience. Land Use Policy 94:104574
Sarker MNI, Wu M, Alam GM, Shouse RC (2020c) Livelihood resilience of riverine island dwellers in the face of natural disasters: empirical evidence from Bangladesh. Land Use Policy 95:104599
Shah AA, Ye J, Abid M, Ullah R (2017) Determinants of flood risk mitigation strategies at household level: a case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Pakistan. Nat Hazards 88(1):415–430
Shah AA, Ye J, Shaw R, Ullah R, Ali M (2020) Factors affecting flood-induced household vulnerability and health risks in Pakistan: the case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 42:101341
Smith K (2013) Environmental hazards: assessing risk and reducing disaster. Routledge
Tariq MAUR, Van De Giesen N (2012) Floods and flood management in Pakistan. Phys Chem Earth A/B/C 47:11–20
Teo M, Goonetilleke A, Ahankoob A, Deilami K, Lawie M (2018) Disaster awareness and information seeking behaviour among residents from low socio-economic backgrounds. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 31:1121–1131
Uddin AFMA, Basak JK (2012) Effects of riverbank erosion on livelihood. Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators, Dhaka
UNDP (2019) United Nations Development Programme in Pakistan Annual Report 2018. file:///C:/Users/ACS/Downloads/UNDPPakistan-AnnualReport2018.pdf
United Nations (2009) Policy options and stratgies for effective implementation of hyogo framework for action in Asia and the Pacific: innovative strategies for flood resilience cities an anlysis and systhesis report 2009. https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/Water_Resources_Series_No86.pdf
Week DA, Wizor CH (2020) Effects of flood on food security, livelihood and socio-economic characteristics in the flood-prone areas of the core Niger Delta, Nigeria. Asian J Geogr Res. https://doi.org/10.9734/ajgr/2020/v3i130096
WHO (2019) World Health Statistics report 2019. https://www.who.int/data/gho/publications/world-health-statistics
Wilkinson E, Brenes A (2014) Risk-informed decision-making: an agenda for improving risk assessments under HFA2. Produced for the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) Learning Network on the Use of Climate and Disaster Risk Assessments project, London
World Bank (2019) Pakistan Getting More from Water World Bank Report 2019. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/251191548275645649/pdf/133964-WP-PUBLIC-ADD-SERIES-22-1-2019-18-56-25-W.pdf
WWF (2010) Hydrology of the Northern Areas, Northern Areas of Pakistan. World Wide Fund for Nature
Yaqub M, Eren B, Doğan E (2015) Flood causes, consequences and protection measures in Pakistan. Disaster Sci Eng 1(1):8–16
Funding
This study has no funding from any institution or any donor agency.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
DA analyzed the data, methodology, results and discussion, conclusion and suggestions and wrote the manuscript, whereas both DA and MA finalized and proofread the manuscript and read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interest.
Ethical approval
Ethical approval was taken from the COMSATS University Vehari campus, ethical approval committee
Consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent to publish
Not applicable.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ahmad, D., Afzal, M. Flood hazards, human displacement and food insecurity in rural riverine areas of Punjab, Pakistan: policy implications. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 10125–10139 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11430-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11430-7