The Anthropogenic Aggravation of Landslide Disasters in Bangladesh: Key Informants’ Perspectives

Abstract

Landslide disasters in Bangladesh’s Chittagong hill districts (CHD) put lives, livelihood, and the ecosystem at risk. Therefore, understanding the causes of landslide events in CHD is crucial to preparing and implementing disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies. The causes of landslides are generally seen through the lenses of physical science. However, to better understand the landslide disaster mechanism, it is essential to explore the human activities that trigger and aggravate the events. This article uses qualitative social science tools and techniques to investigate CHD’s anthropogenic-induced landslide disasters. Forty key informants from diverse professions, ethnicities, communities, and backgrounds were interviewed between 9 June and 3 November 2020. The recorded interviews were translated, transcribed, and thematically analysed in NVivo software. The results show that human-induced landslides in CHD evolve around three broader areas: demography, climate change, and lack of coordination and regulation. First, increased population, hill cutting, deforestation, manipulated agricultural practices, and sand and stone extraction is the leading anthropogenic activities of landslides in CHD. Second, the influx of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh significantly increased landslide vulnerability. Third, climate change-induced erratic rainfall is leading to more rainfall-induced landslides. Finally, a lack of coordination and regulations among various institutions hinders the DRR process. The short, medium- and long-term recommendations include stopping illegal hill cutting and deforestation, regulating heavy vehicles, increasing coordination, institutionalising early warning systems, conducting massive awareness campaigns, conducting further research, addressing challenges such as lightning, climate migration and conflict, and creating a master plan exclusive for the entire region and coming up with a political consensus for better implementation of the plan.

Current State and Future Potential of Fisheries in the Mirsharai Coastal Areas of Chattogram for Enhancing Bangladesh’s Blue Economy

“…Additionally, the region is frequently battered by cyclones, and landslides become prevalent during the monsoon season [58,70]. The local populace attributes the rise in landslides to factors such as increasing siltation in rivers due to soil erosion, deforestation, and faulty agricultural practices [71,72]. Riverbank erosion further compounds the predicament, resulting in substantial losses to farmlands, homesteads, livelihoods, and assets [73,74].…”

Challenges and Institutional Barriers to Forest and Landscape Restoration in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

“…Various development approaches, such as teak wood plantations, horticulture, and rubber industries, have historically prioritized commercial activities at the expense of local livelihoods, culture, and forests [8]. These policies have also failed to recognize the CHT region's potential as a renewable resource hub, neglecting the socioeconomic and sociopolitical needs of its inhabitants [25,48]. The exclusive emphasis on economic growth has failed to account for inclusivity, resulting in the neglect of ethnic communities and environmental preservation.…”

“…The recent road construction projects involving hill cutting in the CHT have caused significant ecological damage and a noticeable rise in the frequency of natural disasters, such as landslides, which were previously less common [47,51]. It is crucial to highlight that such road expansion projects also favor illegal logging and unlawful stone extraction in the CHT by facilitating the movement of large vehicles potentially used for transporting logs and stones [25]. Other unplanned development activities, such as the operation of numerous brick kilns in recent years, have also led to hill cutting and disruption of ecological balance [52,53].…”

“…Historically, the CHT have experienced constant resource exploitation without proper consideration for their renewable nature [8,25]. The institutional arrangement in the CHT has failed to recognize the potential for sustainable forest and natural resource management, perpetuating a damaging cycle of environmental degradation and land disputes [26,27].…”

Enhancing landslide risk reduction strategies in Southeast Bangladesh

“…The burden of landslide effects is significant for lowincome groups, who live in landslide-prone areas and often become victims (Rahman et al 2022). The social dimensions of landslide risk, including land cover change, overpopulation, unplanned development activities and an increase in informal settlement along foothills, have been identified as causing the increased occurrence of landslides and associated deaths in southeast Bangladesh (Ahmed et al 2023;Alam 2020;Rabby et al 2022b) Disaster risk may be defined as:…”