Donor climate coloniality, ecological debt and vulnerabilities in coastal Bangladesh: redesigning institutions for recognition justice

Abstract

Climate change impacts create survival challenges for local people in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. Government responses are typically exercised through top-down adaptation governance structures reflecting a neo-colonial perspective, evident in externally funded water development projects such as the Flood Control, Drainage and Irrigation (FCDI) scheme. Problematically, this form of donor ‘climate coloniality’ creates novel ecological debts that in turn increase localised socio-economic vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are concentrated within marginalised, poorer groups, although the attendant impacts of one climate-related ecological debt, waterlogging, are not widely understood. Two critical research questions emerge from this context: (i) in what ways does waterlogging impact marginalised groups in coastal regions?; (ii) how could adaptation institutions be decolonised to reduce resultant vulnerabilities? Primary data from research conducted in Jessore District in south western Bangladesh is utilised in answering these questions. The findings show that marginalised groups disproportionately endure the impacts of historically path dependent, climate-related ecological debts through multiple vulnerabilities such as declining crop production, loss of domestic animals and income, unemployment, price hikes for daily essentials, gendered inequalities and increasing crime, primarily resulting from their exclusion from adaptation decision-making. In response to this neo-colonial perspective, such structural domination needs to be challenged by decolonizing adaptation institutions through the integration of recognition and procedural justice interventions. Decolonized institutions based on this justice perspective could provide a governance space for recognizing local community voices related to coastal ecosystems and agricultural practices.