Socioeconomic Impacts of Climate Change in the Sundarbans Area

Bangladesh is one of the most suffering countries in the world due to potential impacts of climate change. Recent climate change, including cyclones, coastal flooding, saline water intrusions, sea level rise and sea surface temperature has been severely affected the Sundarbans. The fishing communities adjacent to the Sundarbans are highly vulnerable to climate changes. The present study was concerned with socioeconomic impacts of climate change on the fishing communities in the Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira district near the Sundarbans. The unfavorable climate changes have brought about remarkable socioeconomic impacts on fishing communities in the Sundarbans area. Due to frequent natural disasters for the last five years, fishers have brought changes in occupation and livelihood pattern. Most of the fishers mentioned that uneven climate change has severely affected on fishing. The average fish catch was calculated at 1.9 kg/day/fisher. Because of poor catch, the socioeconomic conditions of fishing families have severely affected, including housing status, health and sanitation facilities, drinking water supply, food and nutrition.