Strategies and barriers to adaptation of hazard-prone rural households in Bangladesh

Abstract

The global farming communities have already experienced the impact of climate change in a range of ways and made their adaptation decision. Adaptation is, however, context-specific and varies across and within countries, which warrants location specific research. This chapter presents the strategies and barriers to adaptation of hazards-prone rural households in developing countries using Bangladesh as a case study. The cross-sectional survey data were collected from 380 riverbank erosion hazard prone rural households in Bangladesh. The results reveal that households have undertaken a range of farming and non-farming adaptation strategies, which vary significantly among farming groups. The large and medium farmers have adopted mainly agricultural adjustment, such as diversifying crops and tree plantation, whereas the small and landless farmers mostly adopted non-agricultural adjustments such as driving and migration. Access to credit and lack of information on appropriate adaptation strategies are among the important barriers to adaptation. Intervention by the government through planned adaptation, such as access to institutional and credit facilities, and new farming technologies and verities through agro-ecological based research are required to enhance the resilience of such vulnerable households.