Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change in Coastal Bangladesh by building Civil Society Alliances

摘要

Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest countries and is prone to a multitude of climate-related impacts such as floods, droughts, tropical cyclones and storm surges. The vulnerability of people living in the coastal zone has been demonstrated in numerous studies and is emphasised in the recent Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2001). The subsiding coastal zone in Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable as it is affected by more than twice the mean predicted global rate of sea-level rise. The consequences are saltwater intrusion into surface and groundwater systems, drainage congestion and water logging, and changes in morphodynamic processes resulting in increased riverbank erosion. In addition, sea-level rise has the potential to make cyclones and coastal inundation even more damaging than they are today. The cyclones of 1991, 1994 and 1998 have created great awareness of the need and opportunities to prepare for cyclones and to reduce vulnerability. The prospect of climate change and sea-level rise increases the need to prepare for cyclones, whilst the development of an international climate adaptation regime increases the opportunities to do so. The Government of Bangladesh (GoB), together with development funding partners such as the World Bank, UNDP and others, has embarked on preparing its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) as well as its National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA). Both the PRSP and the NAPA are likely to become key national planning documents, which will inform and guide investments in the coming years. Civil society organisations have made major contributions to poverty alleviation and disaster reduction in Bangladesh. However, despite the wealth of information available and the initiatives being taken by both the GoB and civil society organisations, effective adaptation, aimed at protecting vulnerable households and livelihoods in exposed coastal communities, is constrained by the limited exchange of information between and within the GoB and civil society organisations. There is clearly a disconnect between, on the one hand, the widely declared need to start planning for adaptation at local, regional and national levels and, on the other hand, the knowledge base available at these levels to support such planning.