Livelihood resilience of riverine island dwellers in the face of natural disasters: Empirical evidence from Bangladesh

摘要

Livelihood resilience is becoming a popular research and policy agenda in the context of development as well as climate change adaptation. In Bangladesh, riverine island (char) dwellers are isolated from the mainland and most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. This study intends to explore the livelihood resilience of vulnerable char dwellers by employing Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis (RIMA) model. Survey data were obtained from 374 char households using semi-structured questionnaire to know their resilience capacities (adaptive, absorptive and transformative capacity). This study reveals that char dwellers have a poor level of resilience which made them unable to withstand against any adverse effect of natural disasters. Char dwellers however, residing near to the mainland area displayed relatively more resilience (0.353) than that of the distant char areas (0.347). The major limiting factors of livelihood resilience in the char areas include access to food, income and health facilities, agricultural and non-agricultural assets, and adoption of technology which need to be improved for the survival of the char dwellers. Capacity building program through activating local government, NGOs intervention and public-private partnership should be triggered to enhance the resilience of the char dwellers across Bangladesh.