Ecosystem services linked to livelihoods and well-being in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta

Abstract

Deltas are dynamic and the relationships between ecosystem services, livelihoods and well-being within them are multi-scalar and often non-linear. Social mechanisms of access and management vary between different bundles of ecosystem services: a social-ecological system approach therefore identifies the trade-offs and interactions which occur across diverse temporal and spatial scales and communities. Although Bangladesh is moving towards a more urbanised future, access to ecosystem services continues to be critical to the well-being of populations in rural areas. However, rights to those services are available to a diminishing few. Current winners and losers from development processes are persistent, and ecosystem services are unlikely to lift the rural poor out of poverty without a complete restructuring of social and economic relations in rural areas.