Managing climate variability and change remains a key development and food security issue in Bangladesh. Despite significant investments, floods, droughts, and cyclones during the last two decades continue to cause extensive economic damage and impair livelihoods. Climate change will pose additional risks to ongoing efforts to reduce poverty. This book examines the implications of climate change on food security in Bangladesh and identifies adaptation measures in the agriculture sector using a comprehensive integrated framework. First, the most recent science available is used to characterize current climate and hydrology and its potential changes. Second, country-specific survey and biophysical data is used to derive more realistic and accurate agricultural impact functions and simulations. A range of climate risks (i.e. warmer temperatures, higher carbon dioxide concentrations, changing characteristics of floods, droughts and potential sea level rise) is considered to gain a more complete picture of potential agriculture impacts. Third, while estimating changes in production is important, economic responses may to some degree buffer against the physical losses predicted, and an assessment is made of these. Food security is dependent not only on production, but also future food requirements, income levels and commodity prices. Finally, adaptation possibilities are identified for the sector. This book is the first to combine these multiple disciplines and analytical procedures to comprehensively address these impacts. The framework will serve as a useful guide to design policy intervention strategies and investments in adaptation measures.

Bangladesh’s vulnerability to the effects of climate change is well documented; the evidence on the direct relationship between climate change and health focusing on Bangladesh is less so. Global evidence suggests intensification of climate change will increase incidences and variations of infectious diseases. Climate Afflictions contributes to filling this important knowledge gap. It includes a systematic review of existing literature on the relationship between climate change and health, distinguishing between climate change and variability. It establishes the relationship between climate variability and infectious diseases and mental health using household-level data. It also documents changes in climate patterns in Bangladesh over the past 44 years using monthly meteorological data. Overall, the report finds a strong relationship between infectious diseases, mental health, and climate variability. Based on analyses of primary data, it concludes that the prevalence of vector-borne diseases is higher during the monsoon than dry seasons, while the opposite is true for waterborne illnesses. Meanwhile, rising humidity and mean temperature are positively associated with respiratory illnesses. In terms of mental health conditions, while temperature is negatively correlated to depression, anxiety among individuals is likely to increase with temperature and humidity. Irrespective of the season, morbidity and mental health issues are highest in densely populated urban hubs such as Dhaka and Chattogram compared to other areas. The mean temperature in Bangladesh has increased by 0.5°C between 1976 and 2019. Overall, summers are becoming hotter and longer, the monsoon season is extending, and winters are becoming warmer. Consequently, Bangladesh is on the path to losing its distinct seasonality. With global warming progressing faster than initially projected, stresses on human health may be elevated to an extent that can overburden the systems to a point at which adaptation will no longer be possible. Countries susceptible to climate change, like Bangladesh, need to be better prepared.

Women have experienced significant changes in various spheres of their lives during the last decades as Bangladesh made economic progress. Yet women’s economic engagement and empowerment are subdued, as they cannot make sufficient choices for themselves. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic developments in gender equality in Bangladesh. Through examining women’s participation in the labour force, ownership and control of household assets, use and control of financial assets, and opportunities for entrepreneurship, the authors have made concrete recommendations to overcome challenges that lie ahead for women’s economic empowerment. This book is an important contribution to the knowledge on interventions required by the policy makers and broader stakeholders towards narrowing gender gaps. --Fahmida Khatun, PhD, Executive Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh The women’s story is central to Bangladesh’s economic and social transformation. There is an urgent need to deepen researched understanding of the multidimensional pathways of women’s economic empowerment and extent of real progress made. Voices to Choices is an important contribution to this story. Surely, the journey of women’s economic empowerment remains a long and challenging one. Realizing the full benefits of new opportunities is often hampered by both new and entrenched insecurities. The task is as much one of empowering women’s agency as of dismantling barriers. The responsibility is as much women’s as society’s. --Hossain Zillur Rahman, PhD, Executive Chairman, Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) This book provides critical insights and is timely, as it outlines how girls and women in Bangladesh have gained more opportunities in labor force participation, control over household and financial assets, as well as greater prospects for entrepreneurship. The findings will greatly contribute to future policy and planning for government and key stakeholders working to advance women’s economic empowerment in the country. --Sabina Faiz Rashid, PhD, Dean and Professor, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health BRAC University