Bangladesh Confronts Climate Change

Keeping Our Heads above Water

By (author) Joseph Hanlon, Manoj Roy, David Hulme

Publication date:

21 November 2016

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781783086320

Living in a low-lying and densely populated country on the front line of climate change, Bangladeshis are taking a lead in adapting to rising temperatures and campaigning to limit climate change. Global warming will worsen this country's existing environmental problems – causing a rise in sea level, more flooding and stronger, more damaging cyclones.

Bangladeshis know what is coming, and how to respond, because they are already effectively combating environmental and social challenges. Cyclone shelters and warning systems have cut the fatality rate dramatically; new varieties of rice have raised nutrition levels; women's education has slowed population growth; land is being raised to respond to sea level rise. Bangladeshis will keep their heads above water, but at huge costs. Will the industrialised countries curb their greenhouse gas emissions and pay for the damage they have already done?

1. Actors, not victims; 2. How will climate change hit Bangladesh; 3. Taking the lead in negotiations – and moving forward; 4. Sea level rise and the vulnerable coast, where farmers know more than engineers; 5. Saving lives with cyclone shelters; 6. Living with floods; 7. Agronomists keeping ahead of climate change; 8. No climate change migrants – yet; 9. How can the privatised megacity cope with climate change?; 10. Is climate change only a problem for the urban poor?; 11. Power – political, financial and electrical; 12. The front line of climate change; Index.

‘A frank and engaging account of Bangladesh's environment and development past and present, this important new book challenges the passive portrayal of countries of the Global South and critiques the unhelpful ways they have been acted upon by international “experts”. A highly readable and carefully researched account for everyone interested in the local and global dilemmas posed by climate change.’ –David Lewis, Professor of Social Policy and Development, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK