Living in a low-lying and densely populated country on the front line of climate change, Bangladeshis are taking a lead in adapting to rising temperatures and campaigning to limit climate change. Global warming will worsen this country's existing environmental problems - causing a rise in sea level, more flooding and stronger, more damaging cyclones. Bangladeshis know what is coming, and how to respond, because they are already effectively combating environmental and social challenges. Cyclone shelters and warning systems have cut the fatality rate dramatically; new varieties of rice have raised nutrition levels; women's education has slowed population growth; land is being raised to respond to sea level rise. Bangladeshis will keep their heads above water, but at huge costs. Will the industrialised countries curb their greenhouse gas emissions and pay for the damage they have already done?

Climate Change in Bangladesh: Confronting Impending Disasters is a comprehensive analysis of climate change impacts on Bangladesh, followed by a review of measures for confronting the manifested threats of climate change on the people and environment of Bangladesh. Using an integrative approach, the authors blend their own work on indigenous adjustments to climatic hazards in Bangladesh with an analysis of the role of modern engineering intervention and disaster management policies in alleviating these hazards. There is also an emphasis on the environment and people of coastal Bangladesh who are at risk of inundation due to global warming–induced sea level rise. Thus, in addition to analyzing main climatic disasters at some length—tropical cyclones (hurricanes), floods, droughts, and sea level rise—key topics of human dimensions of climate change include climate change victims, climate refugees, climate justice, public policies on climate change, and a sample of adaptation measures for living with the rising sea levels.

Due to its vulnerability to a wide variety of climate change impacts, Bangladesh has become a laboratory for adaptation and resilience strategies in the developing world. The knowledge shared by experienced practitioners who have a deep understanding of the complex context of this country is an invaluable resource. The International Centre for Climate Change and Development has brought together a host of experts across multiple disciplines to provide a detailed look at Bangladesh's ongoing struggle to prepare for the inevitable threats that climate change poses. This volume presents public policy-oriented strategies across numerous sectors, including agriculture, freshwater management, forests, finance, human rights, health systems, flood control, infrastructure, solar energy, and more. Successes and shortcomings both provide useful lessons for other countries grappling with similar climate threats. This book offers the latest research findings for a wider audience. - Showcasing the wealth of experience with adaptation and resilience in Bangladesh- Drawing from expert practitioners across the numerous sectors affected by climate change- Highlighting key lessons for other Least Developed Countries.

China is an integral actor in any movement that will stabilize the global climate at conditions suited to sustainable development for its own population and for people living around the world. Assessments of China’s climatic-system consequences, impact, and responsibilities need to take into account the strengths, weaknesses, and potential of subnational governments, non-governmental organizations, transnational non-state connections, and the urban populace in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. A multitude of recent local initiatives that have engaged subnational China in actions that mitigate emissions can be enhanced by powerful framings that appeal to citizen concerns about air pollution and health conditions. China Confronts Climate Change offers the first fully comprehensive account of China’s response to climate change, based on engagement with the global climate governance literature and current debates over responsibility along with specific insights into the Chinese context. Responsible implementation of any overarching climate agreement depends on expanding China’s subnational contributions. To remain fully informed about GHG-emissions mitigation, China watchers and climate-change monitors need to pay close attention to bottom-up developments. The book provides a valuable contemporary resource for students, scholars, and policy leaders at all levels of governance who are concerned with climate change, environmental politics, and sustainable urban development.

This book, focuses on South and Southeast Asia, upgrades our understanding of the influence of multiple sociopolitical and governance factors on climate change and risks. Moving beyond science and technology-oriented discussions on climate change, it argues that the real solutions to climate change problems lie in societies, governance systems, non-state actors, and the power and politics underpinning these systems. It presents a range of detailed conceptual, empirical, and policy-oriented insights from different nations of South and Southeast Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, Maldives, and Bhutan. The chapters bring forth critical discussions of climate change, covering a diverse range of topics including livelihoods, gender, community perspectives, relocation, resilience, local politics, climate change communication, governance, and policy responses. By investigating climate change vulnerabilities and as well as offering feasible solutions to the states and other non-state actors in responding to climate change and risks, this book deepens our existing knowledge of the social and political dimensions of climate change. With interdisciplinary perspectives, this book will appeal to all students, researchers, and scholars of environmental studies, geography, disaster studies, sociology, policy studies, development studies, and political science. It provides valuable reading to practitioners, policymakers, and professionals working in related fields.

This book addresses political knowledge of climate change and its relation to labelling people affected by climate change, either as ‘climate refugees’ or as ‘climate change-induced displaced people or migrants’. By questioning the knowledge of climate change and subsequent labelling of people, this book will spark debate in studies of global climate politics and transnational policy networks. Rather than considering the issue of climate change as a given phenomenon, the author explores how the politicized knowledge of climate change has been produced in international negotiations and how that knowledge is transmitted from global forums to local country levels via climate change action plans and resilience projects. This book introduces the concept of multi-scalar knowledge brokers (MKBs) – individual actors who work at multiple levels (local, national, and international) to transmit the knowledge of climate change from global level to local level. The author uses the primary case study of Bangladesh to demonstrate how the dominant actors in global climate politics – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the World Bank, as well as the USA and the UK – interact with the government and local NGOs in Bangladesh regarding transmitting the knowledge of climate change, labelling the uprooted people, and implementing resilience projects. This book will be of interest to students, scholars, and practitioners of international relations, environmental politics, climate change studies, political ecology, political geography, and migration and displacement studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched www.knowledgeunlatched.org