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Critical climate stress moments may be defined as those moments when households, communities, and their livelihood systems are vulnerable to climate related risks and hazards. This working paper examines critical climate stress moments due to specific climatic and biophysical causes experienced by the people in the Teesta River basin in India and Bangladesh. The Teesta, like other river basins of the Himalaya, has a fragile geology, as well as complex climate, ecosystems and socio-economic conditions. Critical moments can serve as a tool for communicating vulnerabilities and the challenges to sustainable lives and livelihoods, and to link vulnerability assessments with adaptation policy and action.

Access to land is very important for socially and economically disadvantaged people, from the countries where agriculture is the main source of employment to improve their livelihoods. It brings an opportunity for producing their livelihoods reducing extreme poverty. Land management is a tool being employed by governments around the world to contribute in this respect. In Bangladesh, guchchogram/ cluster village projects are done for rehabilitating rural land less people to reduce poverty. Successful implementation of such projects will help in reducing poverty, migration and improving socio-economic condition of the rural poor. This paper focuses on evaluating cluster village projects whether they are improving the socio-economic status of the people.

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.

This article illustrates the critical findings of an empirical investigation of resilience, vulnerability, and livelihood nexus in one of the worst cyclone-affected sub-districts “Mongla” in Bangladesh. Results obtained from the survey conducted in 2018 and 2019 explore the co-existence of climate change vulnerability and resilience at the rural household level. Additionally, the study identifies the role of assets (e.g., land, cash, and livestock) in order to enhance the resilience of poor inhabitants. Quantitative data have been collected using structured and semi-structured interviews. The outcome of the study demonstrates that the relationships between vulnerability and resilience are very complex and exist in the study area. An exciting outcome has revealed that in some places, more vulnerable people exhibit higher resilience capacity and vice versa. Furthermore, this research emphasizes that local livelihood systems may be improved if appropriate policies are considered by local government organizations in collaboration with multiple stakeholders. Consequently, the local citizens have to play their critical role to assist government policies in order to enhance resilience at the community level. Moreover, local residents can have a better understanding of their livelihood issues in the face of climate change.