The Costs of Living with Floods in the Jamuna Floodplain in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladeshi people use multiple strategies to live with flooding events and associated riverbank erosion. They relocate, evacuate their homes temporarily, change cropping patterns, and supplement their income from migrating household members. In this way, they can reduce the negative impact of floods on their livelihoods. However, these societal responses also have negative outcomes, such as impoverishment. This research collects quantitative household data and analyzes changes of livelihood conditions over recent decades in a large floodplain area in north-west Bangladesh. It is found that while residents cope with flooding events, they do not achieve successful adaptation. With every flooding, people lose income and assets, which they can only partially recover. As such, they are getting poorer, and therefore less able to make structural adjustments that would allow adaptation in the longer term.

Prevalence and determinants of malnutrition among primary school going children in the haor areas of Kishoreganj district of Bangladesh

“…Moreover, one important reason of malnutrition is prevalence of extreme poverty that is mostly common in the disadvantaged areas such as haor areas of Bangladesh (a swampy wetland located at the north eastern part) [ 14 , 15 ] Basically, due to poor economic condition even the least expensive balanced diet cannot be afforded by majority people [ 7 ]. Poverty, insufficient food production and food aid, less access to markets and natural disasters affect food security which are related to malnutrition [ 16 , 17 ]. Due to poverty and indebtedness people of low lying lands intake simpler food which increases levels of diseases and malnutrition.…”

Exploring the Drivers of Vulnerability Among Disadvantaged Internal Migrants in Riverbank Erosion Prone Areas in North-West Bangladesh

“…Some studies have also used quantitative or mixed-method approaches to capture not only biophysical loss, such as loss of lands (Bhuiyan et al, 2017) but also increased livelihood difficulties due to riverbank erosion. The latter strand of research informs us about the increased cost of living (Ferdous et al, 2019), loss of financial capital (Azam et al, 2019) and poor economic condition of people (Rahman & Gain, 2020) in the riverine areas of Bangladesh. A handful of studies also provide richer detail on coping strategies during the floods (Rahman et al, 2015) and on the impacts of riverbank erosion on rural women (Akter et al, 2019).…”

Toward a research agenda on climate‐related migration

“…Some 26% of the Bangladeshi population is vulnerable to cyclones (known elsewhere as typhoons or hurricanes) and 70% are vulnerable to floods (Cash et al, 2013(Cash et al, , p. 2094. Surveys in one vulnerable region, the Jamuna River floodplain, report that 49% of households found it necessary to relocate during the period 1962−2016 due to flooding, with the vast majority resettling within 5 km of their previous location (Ferdous et al, 2019). Durations of major flood events along the Brahmaputra-Janina River during 1988−2007 ranged from 16 to 67 days (Ali et al, 2019), so even those not permanently relocating experienced lengthy displacements, lost livelihoods, reduced food and clean water intake, and inadequate sanitation (Azad, Hossein & Nasreen, 2013;Dewan, 2015).…”