Building coastal agricultural resilience in Bangladesh: A systematic review of progress, gaps and implications

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review of climate change adaptation and resilience in coastal agriculture in Bangladesh. It explores the existing adaptation measures against climatic stresses. It investigates the extent of resilience-building by the use of these adaptation measures and identifies major challenges that hinder the adaptation process within the country. The review was conducted by following the systematic methods of the protocol of Preferred Items for Systematic Review Recommendations (PRISMA) to comprehensively synthesize, evaluate and track scientific literature on climate-resilient agriculture in coastal Bangladesh. It considered peer-reviewed English language articles from the databases Scopus, Web of Science and Science Direct between the years 2000 and 2018. A total of 54 articles were selected following the four major steps of a systematic review, i.e., identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion. Adaptation measures identified in the review were grouped into different themes: Agricultural adaptation, alternative livelihoods, infrastructure development, technological advancement, ecosystem management and policy development. The review revealed that within the adaptation and resilience literature for coastal Bangladesh, maladaptation, gender imbalance and the notable absence of studies of island communities were gaps that require future research.