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Bamboo Beating Bandits: Conflict, Inequality, and Vulnerability in the Political Ecology of Climate Change Adaptation in Bangladesh

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  • Sovacool, Benjamin K.
Abstract
Bangladesh contributes little to global greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Based on semi-structured research interviews as a conduit to a literature review, this paper shows how the processes of enclosure, exclusion, encroachment, and entrenchment impede the vitality of its climate change adaptation efforts. Enclosure refers to when adaptation projects transfer public assets into private hands or expand the roles of private actors into the public sphere. Exclusion refers to when adaptation projects limit access to resources or marginalize particular stakeholders in decision-making activities. Encroachment refers to when adaptation projects intrude on biodiversity areas or contribute to other forms of environmental degradation. Entrenchment refers to when adaptation projects aggravate the disempowerment of women and minorities, or worsen concentrations of wealth and income inequality within a community. In the case of Bangladeshi, climate change policies implemented under the country’s National Adaptation Program of Action have enabled elites to capture land through public servants, the military, and even gangs carrying bamboo sticks. Exclusionary forms of adaptation planning exist at both the national and local scales. Climate protection measures have encroached upon village property, char (public) land, forests, farms, and other public commons. Most egregiously, community coping strategies for climate change have entrenched class and ethnic hierarchies ultimately trapping the poor, powerless, and displaced into a predatory patronage system that can aggravate human insecurity and intensify violent conflict. Planners and practitioners of adaptation need to become more cognizant of the potential for projects to harm others, or admit complicity in the processes of enclosure, exclusion, encroachment, and entrenchment, if they are ever to be eliminated.

Suggested Citation

  • Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2018. "Bamboo Beating Bandits: Conflict, Inequality, and Vulnerability in the Political Ecology of Climate Change Adaptation in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 183-194.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:102:y:2018:i:c:p:183-194
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.10.014
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    2. Omukuti, Jessica, 2020. "Challenging the obsession with local level institutions in country ownership of climate change adaptation," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
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    4. Shafiqul Islam & Khondker Mohammad Zobair & Cordia Chu & James C. R. Smart & Md Samsul Alam, 2021. "Do Political Economy Factors Influence Funding Allocations for Disaster Risk Reduction?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-20, February.
    5. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Tan-Mullins, May & Abrahamse, Wokje, 2018. "Bloated bodies and broken bricks: Power, ecology, and inequality in the political economy of natural disaster recovery," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 243-255.
    6. Cappelli, Federica, 2020. "Investigating the Origins of Differentiated Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and their Effects on Wellbeing," FACTS: Firms And Cities Towards Sustainability 307987, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) > FACTS: Firms And Cities Towards Sustainability.
    7. Angela Ujunwa & Chinwe Okoyeuzu & Nelson Nkwor & Augustine Ujunwa, 2021. "Potential Impact of Climate Change and Armed Conflict on Inequality in Sub‐Saharan Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 89(4), pages 480-498, December.
    8. Domenico Dentoni & Carlo Cucchi & Marija Roglić & Rob Lubberink & Rahmin Bender & Timothy Manyise, 2023. "Systems Thinking, Mapping and Change in Food and Agriculture," Post-Print hal-04002011, HAL.
    9. Ryan Stock & Sumit Vij & Asif Ishtiaque, 2021. "Powering and puzzling: climate change adaptation policies in Bangladesh and India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 2314-2336, February.
    10. Yukyan Lam & Peter J. Winch & Fosiul Alam Nizame & Elena T. Broaddus-Shea & Md. Golam Dostogir Harun & Pamela J. Surkan, 2022. "Salinity and food security in southwest coastal Bangladesh: impacts on household food production and strategies for adaptation," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(1), pages 229-248, February.
    11. Shiraishi, Kenji & Shirley, Rebekah G. & Kammen, Daniel M., 2019. "Geospatial multi-criteria analysis for identifying high priority clean energy investment opportunities: A case study on land-use conflict in Bangladesh," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1457-1467.
    12. Masud-All-Kamal, Md. & Nursey-Bray, Melissa, 2024. "Feminisation of adaptation interventions in Bangladesh: An intersectional analysis," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).

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