Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Natural disasters and land-use/land-cover change in the southwest coastal areas of Bangladesh

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Regional Environmental Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Natural hazards and major land-use/land-cover change can have significant impacts on humans around the world. If these two concerns exist together in a coastal area, the consequences for people and the environment may be severe. This study investigated the combined effects of land-use changes and natural disasters in the southwest coastal area of Bangladesh. Satellite images were analyzed to detect changes in land cover in the study period of 13 years (1999–2012). Three areas were selected for ground data collection. Household surveys and focus groups were conducted to discover the type, level and effects of disasters. Probit regression analysis was performed to assess the relationship between various disasters with overall income, agricultural production and outward migration. Results from image analysis showed an overall 30 % increase in shrimp culture ponds in the past 13 years. Agricultural land and vegetation decreased by 48 and 3 %, respectively. Barren and built-up areas increased by 73 % due to both land-use activity and natural hazards. Analysis of household data showed cyclones and storm surges had important effects on income, agricultural production and migration. Sustainable management and enhancement of resilience capacity of this area will be crucial in the near future.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abedin MA, Habiba U, Shaw R (2012) Chapter 10 Health: impacts of salinity, arsenic and drought in South-western Bangladesh. In: Environment disaster linkages vol 9. Community, environment and disaster risk management. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, UK

  • ADB (1998) Project performance audit report on the Ganges-Kobadak irrigation rehabilitation project in Bangladesh. Asian Development Bank, PPA BAN 15052

  • Adger WN, Kelly PM, Nguyen HN (2001) Living with environmental change: social vulnerability, adaptation and resilience in Vietnam, 1st edn. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed AU, Hassan SR, Etzold B, Neelormi S (2012) Rainfall, food security and human mobility case study: Bangladesh. Institute for Environment and Human Security

  • Akter S, Mallick B (2013) The poverty-vulnerability-resilience nexus: evidence from Bangladesh. Ecol Econ 96:114–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ali AMS (2006) Rice to shrimp: land-use/land-cover changes and soil degradation in Southwestern Bangladesh land-use. Policy 23:421–435

    Google Scholar 

  • BBS (2012) Population and housing census 2011. Community Report Satkhira Zila. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Dhaka

    Google Scholar 

  • Black R, Adger WN, Arnell NW, Dercon S, Geddes A, TDS G (2011) The effect of environmental change on human migration. Glob Environ Change 21:S3–S11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryman A (2004) Social research methods, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Bush SR, van Zwieten P, Visser L, Van Dijk H, Bosma R, De Boer W (2010) Scenarios for resilient shrimp aquaculture in tropical coastal areas. Ecol Soc 15(2):15

  • Chase TN, Pielke RA, Kittel TGF, Nemani RR, Running SW (2000) Simulated impacts of historical land cover changes on global climate in northern winter. Clim Dyn 16:93–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dale VH (1997) The relationship between land-use change and climate change. Ecol Appl 7:753–769

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein PR (1999) Climate and health science 285:347–348

  • FAO (1999) The PRA toolkit. FAO. http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x5996e/x5996e06.htm. Accessed 15-01 2014

  • FAO (2005) National aquaculture sector overview Bangladesh. Food and Agriculture Organization Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Gain AK, Aryal KP, Sana P, Uddin MN (2007) Effect of river salinity on crop diversity: a case study of south west coastal region of Bangladesh. Nepal Agric Res 8:35–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Gain AK, Uddin MN, Sana P (2008) Impact of river salinity on fish diversity in the south-west coastal region of Bangladesh. Int J Ecol Environ Sci 34:49–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Haider MZ, Hossain MZ (2013) Impact of salinity on livelihood strategies of farmers. J Soil Sci Plant Nutr 13:417–431

    Google Scholar 

  • Haque S, Bhatta GD, Hoque N, Rony MH, Rahman M (2008) Environmental impacts and their socioeconomic consequences of shrimp farming in Bangladesh. Paper presented at the Competition for resources in a changing world: new drive for rural development, Stuttgart, Germany

  • Hoq ME (1999) Environmental and socio-economic impacts of shrimp culture in south-western Bangladesh. Trop Agric Res Ext 2(2):111–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Islam MR (2006) Managing diverse land-uses in coastal Bangladesh: institutional approaches. Program Development Office for Integrated Coastal Zone Management, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Google Scholar 

  • Islam MS, Ahmed SU (2001) By-catch mortality during collection of Penaeusmonodon (FAB) post larvae from the rivers of khulna Bangladesh. J Natl Sci Found 29:107–115

    Google Scholar 

  • Karim M (1986) Brackish water shrimp culture demonstration in Bangladesh. FAO, Madras

    Google Scholar 

  • Karim MR (2006) Brackish-water shrimp cultivation threatens permanent damage to coastal agriculture in Bangladesh. Paper presented at the Environment and Livelihoods in Tropical Coastal Zones: Managing Agriculture-Fishery-Aquaculture Conflicts, Newsworthy Way, Wallingford, Oxon OX108DE, UK

  • Khalequzzaman M (1989) Environmental hazards in the coastal areas of Bangladesh: a geologic approach (summary). Paper presented at the 3rd International Conference on Natural and Man-made Coastal Hazards, Baja California, Mexico

  • Khan IA, Ali Z, Asaduzzaman M, Bhuyan MHR (2010) The social dimensions of adaptation to climate change in Bangladesh. The World Bank, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar U, Baten MA, Masud AA, Osman KS, Rahman MM (2010) Natural disaster to human suffering, cyclone aila: One year on. Unnayan Onnesan-the innovators, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Google Scholar 

  • Mallick B, Vogt J (2012) Cyclone, coastal society and migration: empirical evidence from Bangladesh. Int Dev Plan Rev 34(3):217–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Metzger MJ, Rounsevell M, Acosta-Michlik L, Leemans R, Schroter D (2006) The vulnerability of ecosystem services to land use change Agriculture. Ecosyst Environ 114:69–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miah MMU (2010) Assessing long-term impacts of vulnerabilities on crop production due to climate change in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies

  • Milly PCD, Wetherald RT, Dunne KA, Delworth TL (2002) Increasing risk of great floods in a changing climate. Nature 415:514–517

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mirza MMQ (1997) Hydrological changes in the Ganges system in Bangladesh in the post-Farakka period. Hydrol Sci J 42:613–631

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • MOFL Report of the National Workshop on Fisheries Development in Bangladesh. In: Proceedings of the National Workshop on Fisheries Development in Bangladesh, Dhaka, 29 Octobere to 1 November 1995. Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock

  • MWR (2005) Coastal zone policy vol Dhaka. Government of Bangladesh

  • Pouliotte J, Smit B, Westerhoff (2009) Adaptation and development: livelihoods and climate change in Subarnabad Bangladesh. Clim Chang Dev 1:31–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahman MH, Lund T, Bryceson I (2011) Salinity impacts on agro-biodiversity in three coastal, rural villages of Bangladesh. Ocean Coast Manag 54(6):455–468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahman MR, Andob K, Takedaa S (2013) Development of shrimp-based cropping systems in the coastal area of Bangladesh: a village-level study in Satkhira district. Journal of Land-use Science

  • Rowsell ECP, Sultana P, Thompson P (2013) The ‘last resort’? Population movement in response to climate-related hazards in Bangladesh. Environ Sci Policy 27:S44–S59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimdt O (1969) East Pakistan coastal embankment project. Prof Geogr 21:252–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shampa M, Paramanik M (2012) Tidal river management (TRM) for selected coastal area of Bangladesh to mitigate drainage congestion. International Journal of scientific and Technology Research 1

  • Tutu A-U-A (2004) Commercial shrimp farming in Bangladesh in perspective of environment, land rights and labour rights. Coastal Development Partnership (CDP), Khulna

  • UNEP (2001) Bangladesh state of the environment. United Nations Development Programmes (UNEP), Thailand

  • UN-HABITAT (2010) Land and natural disasters: guidance for practitioners. United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)

  • Wisner B, Piers B, Cannon T, Davis I (2004) At risk: natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters, 2nd edn. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu J et al (2005) Land-use and land-cover change and farmer vulnerability in Xishuangbanna prefecture in southwestern China. Environ Manag 36:404–413

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The work leading to this study was supported by a research Grant from Noragric, UMB, Norway. Ubydul Haque is supported by the Yggdrasil Mobility Grant from the Research Council of Norway (project no. 211232/F11) and by an A. Ralph and Sylvia E. Barr Fellowship from the W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA. The authors greatly acknowledge and thanks Md Akhtaruzzaman Khan, Emily Fisher and Md. Hafizur Rahman for insightful comments, timely input in the development of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432, Ås, Norway

    Md Modasser Hossain Khan & Ian Bryceson

  2. Department of Geography, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Korine N. Kolivras

  3. GIS and Remote Sensing Program, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 N. State St., Jackson, MS, 39216, USA

    Fazlay Faruque

  4. Center for Natural Resource Studies, Banani, Dhaka, 1213, Bangladesh

    M. Mokhlesur Rahman

  5. W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Ubydul Haque

  6. Department of Mathematical Sciences and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway

    Ubydul Haque

Authors
  1. Md Modasser Hossain Khan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ian Bryceson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Korine N. Kolivras
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Fazlay Faruque
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. M. Mokhlesur Rahman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Ubydul Haque
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Md Modasser Hossain Khan.

Additional information

Editor: Will Steffen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Khan, M.M.H., Bryceson, I., Kolivras, K.N. et al. Natural disasters and land-use/land-cover change in the southwest coastal areas of Bangladesh. Reg Environ Change 15, 241–250 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-014-0642-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-014-0642-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation