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Mapping the within-field variability of crop status is of great importance in precision agriculture, which seeks to balance agronomic inputs with spatial crop demands. Satellite imagery and the delineation of management zones based on remote sensing plays a key role. However, satellite imagery is dependent on a cloud-free view, which is especially challenging in temperate regions such as Northern Europe. This disadvantage can be overcome with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), which provide an alternative to satellites. An investigation was conducted to establish whether UAV imagery can generate similar crop heterogeneity maps to satellites (Sentinel 2) and the extent to which crop heterogeneity and management zones can be reproduced by repeated data collection within short time intervals. Three winter wheat fields were monitored during the growing season. Two vegetation indices (NDVI and MSAVI2) based on red and near-infrared (NIR) reflectance were calculated to delineate fields into five management zones based on NDVI raster maps using quintiles. The Pearson correlation coefficient, the Nash–Sutcliffe agreement coefficient and the smallest real difference coefficient (SRD), also called the reproducibility coefficient were used to evaluate the reproducibility. NDVI and MSAVI2 gave similar results, but NDVI was a slightly better descriptor of crop heterogeneity after canopy closure and NDVI was used for the remainder of the study. The results showed that substitution of satellite data with UAV data resulted in an average reclassification of 10 m by 10 m management zones corresponding to 58% of the total field area. Reclassification means that management pixels were classified differently according to origin of images. Repeated satellite and UAV imagery resulted in 39% and 47% reclassification, respectively. The results showed that the reproduction of remote sensing data with different sensor systems added more measurement error to measurements than was the case with repeated measurements using the same sensor systems. In this study, SRD averaged 2.5 management zones, which means that differences up to 2.5 management zones were within the measurement error. This paper discusses the practical aspects of these findings and clarifies that the reclassification of management zones is depending on the heterogeneity of the studied fields. Therefore, the achieved results may not be generalized but the presented methodology can be used in future studies.

This article explores how the asset-based community development approach has improved the living conditions of the urban slum communities and have also addressed the house level poverty through direct asset transfer that can have positive co-benefits for community resilience to climate change. A broader and less restrictive design, which is qualitative in nature, has been adopted to produce arguments using the experiences of the members of Community Development Committees (CDCs) of slums of Khulna city. Considering the great flexibility nature of open-ended interview data, thematic analysis has been applied to identify and interpret the patterns (themes) related to the activities of CDCs. The findings of the aggregated thematic data show that while community-driven actions might not be taken with climate change adaptation specifically in mind, local community-based actions initiated by the CDCs of slums such as community-driven slum upgrading and collective savings schemes to reduce asset erosion directly contribute to broader resilience to climate change, by reducing exposure to climatic risk and also addressing internal drivers of vulnerability. The findings of capacity-decision-making matrix show that the CDC members do not possess equal capacity while managing the vulnerability through transferring the asset both at household and community level.

Understanding the complex dynamics of a household’s livelihood and potential vulnerabilities in the face of climate change is challenging. This research paper considers the Shyamnagar sub-district in the southern part of Bangladesh to analyze the complex issues of the vulnerability of livelihoods in the face of climate change. We conducted a questionnaire survey (n = 156) of approximately 15.6% of households in the study area. Consequently, we collected Geographical Information System (GIS) data and satellite imagery to demonstrate the land-use changes concerning vulnerabilities. A total of 54 indicators were selected to assess the livelihood vulnerability index, considering the demographic profiles, livelihood strategies, social networks, food security, water security, income, physical infrastructures, access to health services, and impacts of natural disasters. The results of the study demonstrate that only 21% of the people in the studied regions are less vulnerable to livelihood impacts in the face of climate change, while 23% of the households remain the most vulnerable. Moreover, inadequate social networks and inefficient livelihood strategies are contributing the most to the household vulnerability indices. Interestingly, the impacts of natural disasters remain the same for the whole study area and endure similarly when assessing household vulnerability. Finally, the study reveals that decision-makers may formulate effective adaptation policies to safeguard people and their livelihoods in the time of unprecedented climatic conditions in this unique area of Bangladesh.

This chapter attempts to explore the role of rural–urban linkages in local economic development by comparing two diverse rural settlements; one is close to urban centres in terms of road connectivity and the other is located distant from urban centres. Exploring the rural–urban linkages, this research has identified flow of peoples’ movement, flow of products, flow of information, natural resources, flow of money and governance. Therefore, market interaction stimulates economic activities, more economic activities imply more transactions of money, and thus, economic development takes place in the region. At the same time, it compares rural–urban linkages in the case of two diverse rural settlements to show whether the aforementioned linkages foster rural development and livelihood. The findings reveal that the rural centre which is geographically close to urban centres is less developed in comparison to the rural centre which is located distant from urban centres. One of the main reasons for this lower development in the rural centre which is geographically close to urban centres is that money flows out of the country, as people have the tendency to travel outside Bangladesh, especially to India, and also they are willing to invest and deposit money there. As a result, money for further investment or new investment has not been mobilized, which might limit creating employment at local level. In addition to this, a number of problems that also undermine the scope of economic development in rural settlements that are close to urban settlements, including water-logging combined with natural calamities, limited public transport, inadequate physical infrastructure along with incapacity of local government in the region, have made rural settlements economically poor compared to others. In contrast, in a better developed rural area, the flow of people within the region directs the flow of money within this region. Thus, the money is reinvested in the region and generates opportunities for employment, although the generated jobs might be very informal. Moreover, this chapter explores a number of social attributes that play an important role in building rural–urban linkages, which could be useful in theorization of rural–urban interaction.