Have Bangladesh’s Polders Decreased Livelihood Vulnerability? A Comparative Case Study

Abstract

Communities living in coastal regions are vulnerable to flooding, salinity intrusion, and natural hazards. This is aggravated by climate change. In order to reduce this vulnerability, governments have invested heavily in developing coastal infrastructures. One type of infrastructure development regards polders (i.e., pieces of land previously subject to permanent or temporal overflow that are now surrounded by embankments that prevent inundation). The impact of polderization on livelihood vulnerability is not straightforward and is therefore still poorly understood. In order to analyze such impacts, we present a comparative case study of four polders in Bangladesh that are characterized by varying societal circumstances, hydrological conditions, hydrological interventions, and different levels of community response to polderization. How does livelihood vulnerability vary temporally and spatially in polders, and what explains such variation? We use data collected via 162 surveys, 40 semi-structured interviews, and secondary research to analyze trends in the scores of the livelihood vulnerability index. Based on our analysis, we argue that after accounting for interactions amongst variables like hydrological conditions, hydrological interventions, community response, and other societal factors, livelihood vulnerability is lower in polders characterized by higher community involvement in using hydrological interventions to control the flow of saline water.

Livelihood challenges of ‘double strike’ disasters: Evidence from rural communities of southwest coastal Bangladesh during the Covid-19 pandemic and cyclone Amphan

“…Households closer to the river, likelier to depend on extraction, generally experienced fewer losses; again, this may owe to the relative stability of natural resources under lockdown. Embankments and polders also remain an important buffer in vulnerable areas ( Nath et al, 2019 ). As they are built on higher ground than homesteads inland, this affirms the positive association between elevation and resilience as well.…”

“…In our study, shrimp-farming and agriculture emerged as the most resilient livelihood options overall. Shrimp-farming, while profitable, adversely impacts long term vulnerability ( Nath et al, 2019 ). However, investment in sustainable agriculture presents an avenue for diversification.…”

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

“…Here, Shiva's (2002) decentralized 'water democracies' could be a means of decolonising such institutional arrangements through a reversion back to traditional community approaches to better protect the freshwater ecosystem. Nath et al (2019) show how community hydrological interventions can reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities: a process that is already occurring in the study area. As a response to past waterlogging, local people cut some of the embankments and restored water ows to wetlands such as Beel Bhaina, Beel Tedbar and Beel Dakatia.…”

A Pragmatic Approach to Study Vulnerability Using Livelihood Vulnerability Index: A Case Study from Cold Desert of Nubra Valley, Ladakh (Himalaya)

“…In fact, one of the extreme vulnerabilities caused by the adverse impacts of natural disasters because of which the rural mountain communities become poorer and more vulnerable (Pandey & Jha, 2012). Thus, the extensive ground effective research on rural vulnerability could be helpful to the developmental planner to cope with the exposure of natural disasters, and its impacts, and to improve the adaptive capacity of the rural mountain peoples' (Nath et al, 2019).…”