In July DMU co-hosted a Stakeholders Workshop on remittance and climate change adaptability in Bangladesh, joint with the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. The workshop was held as part of a GCRF project led by Dr Samsul Alam, Dr Godwin Okafor, Dr Oluwasoye Mafimisebi and colleagues in Bangladesh. Presenters at the workshop included representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bank, United Nations Development Program and International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries subject to catastrophic climate change. The agriculture sector is considered the mainstay of the economy, which is adversely affected by climate change in the form of droughts, floods, cyclones, sea-level rises, and other forms of natural disasters leading to the destruction of agriculture land. It is also evident that remittance is the major source of income for many families, which is predominantly used for asset accumulation, consumption, agriculture, and other poverty reduction measures. While the growth of remittances has been viewed favourably, little is known of how individuals in rural and poor communities have adapted against the consequences of climate change by using remittance. Given this backdrop, this project aims at investigating the
impact of remittance on the adaptability of these households living in the coastal and the most vulnerable areas toward climate change.
By analysing household data from 2000 respondents across 19 coastal districts in Bangladesh, the project teams find that remittance is positively associated with climate change adaptability. In this workshop, the team shared the details of their findings for valuable comments and feedback to determine the next steps forward. The project contributes to strengthening multidisciplinary knowledge transfer and cross-country research collaborations. Specifically, the empirical evidence generated by the project provides necessary
implications for future policy formulation in Bangladesh.