Climate Change Vulnerability in Coastal and Urban Communities in Bangladesh
This summary highlights climate change–induced vulnerabilities faced by coastal and urban regions such as Dhaka, Cox’s Bazar, and Satkhira. These areas experience multiple climate hazards, including heat waves, flooding, coastal erosion, cyclones, storm surges, salinity intrusion, tidal flooding, and water scarcity. Climate change has intensified both the frequency and severity of these events, placing communities under constant environmental stress.
The impacts extend beyond the environment to directly affect infrastructure, livelihoods, health, education, and access to clean water. Poor housing conditions, weak health systems, unsafe drinking water, and declining income sources increase exposure to disease, malnutrition, and risks to life. Non-environmental factors such as poor governance, limited institutional and NGO support, inadequate infrastructure maintenance, gender-based harassment, and weak policy implementation further aggravate vulnerability.
Most affected populations fall within the high-vulnerability category due to limited adaptive capacity and insufficient timely support. The consequences include increased health risks, loss of livelihoods, low living standards, and an urgent need for medical and social assistance.
Overall, this case demonstrates that climate vulnerability is not only driven by natural hazards but is also shaped by socio-economic inequalities and governance gaps, underscoring the need for integrated climate adaptation and social protection strategies.