Vulnerability of the Charland Dwellers to Climate Change: Various Adaptation Practices in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a country of rivers and more than 230 rivers and their tributaries crisscross the country like a cobweb. Frequent shifting of the river courses due to periodic visits by natural disasters like floods, cyclones, drought and river erosion makes livelihood of the charland dwellers difficult. On top of that, climate change is taking its toll on the fragile environment of the floodplain. Over the years, the charland dwellers have developed many coping strategies to offset the natural disasters. Such strategies are well suited to the local environment. With the change in climate, natural disaster would increase both in frequency and in intensity. The local community is the storehouse of rich indigenous knowledge and practices, much of it has disappeared. People in disaster-prone areas in riverine charland still practice such knowledge in their stories and folklore. The purpose of this chapter was to look into the resilience and coping strategies of the charland dwellers in the face of climate change-induced disasters like floods, cyclones and river erosion. As they have been living in such a hostile environment over the years, this chapter would study their adaptation practices. The specific objectives of the study are to look into the community-based adaptation measures being followed by the river erosion-affected people, to review the challenges in promoting community-based adaptation practices and to suggest measures on how to overcome those challenges. The findings of this study showed that because of age-old indigenous knowledge and community-based adaptation practices, people of the charland area were able to lessen damages to lives and properties in the face of natural disaster.