University of Applied Sciences in Eberswalde

1. Livelihood Resilience -
Adapting to a changing Climate?
Success Factors, Limitations & Transferability
Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Global Change Management (M.Sc.):
Shanjida Akter, Laura Maier,
Milton Sarkar, Janina Fago,
Maruf Hossain, Elena Klöttschen

2. Agenda
1. Definitions & Approaches
2. Two Case Studies
• Introduction
• Findings
• Analyses:
What are success factors?
What are limitations?
3. Transferability & Innovative Ideas
4. Conclusion
(Ullah 2009)
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015

3. Definition Livelihood Resilience
“A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and
recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance its
capabilities and assets both now and in the future, while not
undermining the natural resource base.”
(Chambers and Conway 1992)
(Ullah 2009)
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Resources for
Livelihood
Resilience
(Sadik and
Rahman 2009):
social, physical,
human,
financial,
natural
Osbahr et al. 2010

4. Environment
Society
Government
Non-
Gov.-
Actors
Business
Holistic Approach of Sustainability

5. Bangladesh – Introduction
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
(Nationsonline.org)
Districts:
Rangpur,
Kurigram,
Lalmonirhat
Village
Subarnabad
in Sundarban
area
• High population
density
• Low lying land
• Highly vulnerable
to climate change
effects

6. Subarnabad – Introduction
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
(Pouliette et al. 2009)
(Ahmed 2010)
Population 2.440 Area 3,2 km2

7. Subarnabad – Findings
Traditional livelihood:
Farming (rice & other land-based crops),
homestead gardening, cattle on common
grazing lands, fishing, gathering
Problems facing the area:
• Environmental: sea level rise, temperature
rise, storms, river flow changes
• Social: construction and poor maintenance
of Coastal Embarkment Program (CEP),
Farraka Barrage Dam, local water diversion
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
(Pouliette et al. 2009; Sadik and Rahman 2009)
decreased water and soil quality
 main hazards: salinity, flooding and waterlogged conditions
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Rice_Field.jpg

8. Subarnabad – Findings
Success of Shrimp farming:
• Gain for National Economy, good for large shrimp operators
Problems resulting from shrimp farming:
• Social: decreased access to common property renewable resources (for fuel,
fodder, building, food), loss of land, unemployment rise, dependancy on export
• Environmental: loss in crop production, decrease in fresh water, increase of health
problems, increase of mud home fragility, decrease in soil and water quality
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Activity not tailored to suit the poor but only wealthy farmers
Pouliette et al. 2009; Sadik and Rahman 2009
Livelihood shift due to shrimp farming (since 1980s)
drivers:
• flourishing export market,
• international donor support,
• governmental strategies
Small farmers either sold their land or started
producing shrimp; Farmers without clear land
titles were forced off the land
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Shrimp_pond.jpg

9. Subarnabad – Findings
LOCAL STRATEGIES
mainly reactive and autonomos; short-term and on
invididual/household level:
• Loans: most widely employed strategy
• Selling/leasing land/animals
• Increase no of family members in workforce
• Decrease food intake
• Work outside village
• Raise goats instead of cattle
• Theft
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Pouliette et al. 2009; Sadik and Rahman 2009

10. Subarnabad – Findings
NEW STRATEGIES
Trainings, Technical support, Acces to loans & savings bank
• Saline tolerant vegetable gardens: most widely adopted
• Goat rearing, Chicken farming, Hen egg production:
popular
• Crab fattening & Duck rearing: slightly less adopted
• Tree planting and Handicrafts
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Results:
• Strategies maintained when proofed successful and self-sustaining
• Adoption of more than only one strategy
• Adaptation of initial idea to suit own situation
 Minimal need for land requirements
 Meet immediate needs for food and income, enhance households capacity to
stresses, improves financial assets
Pouliette et al. 2009; Sadik and Rahman 2009
IDEAL CARE Bangladesh CIDA
http://ensia.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/01/article_sunderbans_inline4.jpg

11. Northern flooding area – Introduction
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Low land
Rural area
River: Brahmaputra and Tista
Tropical wet & dry climate:
monsoon, high temperature,
humidity & heavy rainfall
Three Districts: Rangpur, Kurigram and
Lalmonirhat

12. Northern flooding area – Findings
Main hazards: unpredictable droughts and flooding-land erosion: loss of fertile soil and
lack of safe drinking water
heavy monsoon high temperature Barrage in India
Additional stressors:
• Environmental: Invasive water species water hyacinth
• Social: Poverty, insufficient infrastructure
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Traditional livelihood:
• Historically, rural households used to depend on
weather sensitive agriculture
• Main income through farming activities
(tobacco, cauliflower, pumpkin), lower
percentage involved in fishing activities
• Houses build from natural materials (wood,
bamboo, mud)
Selvaraju et al. 2006
http://www.batbangladesh.com/grou
p/sites/bat_85djtr.nsf/vwPagesWebLiv
e/DO85DKEH/$FILE/medMD87YH6H.jp
g?openelement

13. LOCAL ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES: Floating beds
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Ullah 2009
Northern flooding area – Findings

14. Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Ullah 2009
Northern flooding area – Findings
LOCAL ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES: Floating beds

15. Additional LOCAL ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES
• Early warning system: Mosques, radio station, weather
forecasting center, red flag system, shelter rooms
• Raising public awareness, Community managed CLC
(Community Learning Center)
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Pouliette et al. 2009; Sadik and Rahman 2009
WRDS CARE IUCNPractical Action
Northern flooding area – Findings

16. Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
For floating cultivation:
• ducks and other animals may
cause damage on the crops
• large waves could damage the
seed
• Scarcity of certain materials
• Conflict with fisheries
Northern flooding area – Findings
Future risk
further increasingly high temperature and low rainfall
leading to drought condition due to climate change
Note: “Water hyacinths accumulate heavy metals to concentrations several hundred
times the initial levels” (Haq 2004)

17. Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Guideline – 5 Success Topics
Resources:
• social
• physical
• human
• financial
• natural
Are livelihoods independent from
external sources and actions?

18. Natural Social Physical Human Financial
Limitations No active ecosystem
management to
improve
environmental
conditions
No governmental
support
no strategies for
fresh water
supply
no training on
problem solving
No micro-credit
system, no health-
insurance
building
infrastructure is
not sufficient
lack of doctor and
medicine
No compensation
for land loss
Successes Assistance in
diversification of
livelihoods
growing of more
diverse crops (salt
tolerant plants)
risk behavior
improved by
experience
diversification in
income sources
effective
interrelation
between NGO and
community
less dependency
on land
Subarnabad study
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Success & Limitation

19. Northern flooding area
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Natural Social Physical Human Financial
Limitations no ecosystem
management
effective
interrelation
between GO and
community
Drinking water
availability is not
included in
adaptive strategie
lack of doctor and
medicine
No micro-credit
system
No health insurance
Successes clear the water from
invasive plant species
(and reuse)
effective
interrelation
between NGO and
community
Advantage for the
people who dont
have (much) land
Traditional
knowledge is
revitalised
Community
Learning Centers
Protecting people
and animal from
direct floods
Success & Limitation

20. Case study– Transferability?
Approaches will require local awareness raising
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
It is most important to...
• organise small-scale and poor farmers at grass-roots level
• build up their entrepreneurial capacity for running small businesses
• incorporate in all decision making, that human well-being depends
on nature well-being

21. Innovative ideas
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Freshwater ponds
Integrated fish-farming Bio-rights (Wetland International)

22. Conclusion
• Conduct participatory research to analyse existing strategies, main hazards
and local needs (e.g. Shared Learning Dialogue; Sustainable Livelihood
Assessment Framework)
• Mainstream climate change into existing development approaches
• Offer resources to diversify livelihoods (educational, financial, technical)
• Create local ownership and support use of traditional knowledge
• Support or help implement community networks & self-organization
• Offer incentives for nature protection & enhancement
• Promote the process of sharing new and existing knowledge
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Approach for formal institutions enhancing livelihood resilience

23. Livelihood Resilience
Adapting to a changing Climate?
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015
Thanks for your attention!
Global Change Management (M.Sc.):
Shanjida Akter, Laura Maier,
Milton Sarkar, Janina Fago,
Maruf Hossain, Elena Klöttschen
Success Factors, Limitations & Transferability

24. Sources
Ahmed, Asib (2010): Some of the major environmental problems relating to land use changes in the coastal areas of Bangladesh: A review.
Journal of Geography and Regional Planning Vol. 4(1), pp. 1-8, January 2011 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/JGRP.
University of Dhaka
HAHN, M.B., RIEDERER, A.M. & FOSTER, S.O.. (2009): The Livelihood Vulnerability Index: A Pragmatic Approach to Assessing Risks From
Climate Variability and Change - A Case Study in Mozambique. Global Environment Change, 19: 74–88.
Osbahr, H., C. Twyman, W. N. Adger, and D. S. G. Thomas (2010): Evaluating successful livelihood
adaptation to climate variability and change in southern Africa. Ecology and Society vol. 15. [online]
URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/volXX/issYY/artZZ/
Pouliotte, Jennifer; Smit, Barry And Lisa Westerhoff (2009): Adaptation And Development: Livelihoods And Climate Change In Subarnabad,
Bangladesh. In: Climate And Development 1 (2009), Pp. 31–46. Doi:10.3763/Cdev.2009.0001. Earthscan
Sadik, Shibly; Rahman, Rezaur: INDICATOR FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING LIVELIHOOD RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE FOR VULNERABLE
COMMUNITIES DEPENDENT ON SUNDARBAN MANGROVE SYSTEM: 4th South Asia Water Research Conference on “Interfacing Poverty,
Livelihood and Climate Change in Water Resources Development: Lessons in South Asia” May 4-6, 2009, Kathmandu, Nepal (218-230)
Kumar, Shantanu SAHA (2010): Soilless Cultivation for Landless People: An Alternative Livelihood Practice through Indigenous Hydroponic
Agriculture in Flood-prone Bangladesh. Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. p 139-152
Nambi, A. Arivudai; Bahinipati, Chandra Sekhar: Water Scarcity in Bangladesh (Ashild Kolas, Line Barkved, 2013): Regional Program Strategy
Document, 2013-2017
Haq, A. H. M. R., T.K. Ghosal and P. Ghosh.(2004): Cultivating Wetlands in Bangladesh. India: LEISA.
Ullah et al. (2009): Good practices for community resilience. Mainstreaming Livelihood centered Approaches to desaster Management
Project. Practical Action Bangladesh. Dhaka Bangladesh
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015

25. Sources
Image source:
Image Mosque wikipedia.org
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Mosque-port_said-egypt.jpg
Image (modified) : Map Bangladesh
http://i.infoplease.com/images/mbanglad.gif
Image : Fresh Water pond wikipedia.org
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/IMTA_in_Freshwater_Pond.JPG
Image: building on water (ramsar.org 2007)
http://archive.ramsar.org/pictures/screen12-po-sm.jpg
Shrimp pond: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Shrimp_pond.jpg
Sunderbans: http://ensia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/article_sunderbans_inline4.jpg
Bangladesh:http://www.batbangladesh.com/group/sites/bat_85djtr.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO85DKEH/$FILE/
medMD87YH6H.jpg?openelement
Nationsonline.org
Livelihood Resilience – Adapting to a changing Climate? Munich Re, 17th April 2015