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.

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.

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?

Confronting Climate Change is a guide to the risks, dilemmas, and opportunities of the emerging political era, in which the impacts of a global warming could affect all regional, public and even individual decisions. Written by a renowned group of scientists, political analysts and economists, all with direct experience in climate change related deliberations, Confronting Climate Change is a survey of the best available answers to three vital questions: What do we know so far about the foreseeable dangers of climate change? How reliable is our knowledge? What are the most rewarding ways to respond? The book begins by exploring the key linkages and feedbacks that connect the risks of rapid climate change to other important environmental, economic and political problems of our time. Recognizing persistent uncertainties in the scientific understanding of climate change, the book draws attention to those areas of research which may reveal surprises which could change the sense of political urgency surrounding the climate problem - as did the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole. It explores the geological record of climate change over the Earth's history, seeking a better understanding of how the climate has changed rapidly in countries while minimizing the long-term environmental damages which otherwise will result from continuing the current patterns of energy supply and use. The book is written to cross discipline boundaries, so that policy makers, economists, scientists, risk assessors, environmentalists and development advocates may understand each other's concerns. It shows how the international debate on managing the risks of rapid climate change may be re-shaped for the benfit of people in every nation on the planet.

Without significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, climate change will cause substantial damage to the environment and the economy. The scope of the threat demands a close look at the policies capable of reducing the harm. Confronting the Climate Challenge presents a unique framework for evaluating the impacts of a range of U.S. climate-policy options, both for the economy overall and for particular household groups, industries, and regions. Lawrence Goulder and Marc Hafstead focus on four alternative approaches for reducing carbon dioxide emissions: a revenue-neutral carbon tax, a cap-and-trade program, a clean energy standard, and an increase in the federal gasoline tax. They demonstrate that these policies—if designed correctly—not only can achieve emissions reductions at low cost but also can avoid placing undesirable burdens on low-income household groups or especially vulnerable industries. Goulder and Hafstead apply a multiperiod, economy-wide general equilibrium model that is distinct in its attention to investment dynamics and to interactions between climate policy and the tax system. Exploiting the unique features of the model, they contrast the shorter- and longer-term policy impacts and focus on alternative ways of feeding back—or “recycling”—policy-generated revenues to the private sector. Their work shows how careful policy design, including the judicious use of policy-generated revenues, can achieve desired reductions in carbon dioxide emissions at low cost, avoid uneven impacts across household income groups, and prevent losses of profit in the most vulnerable U.S. industries. The urgency of the climate problem demands comprehensive action, and Confronting the Climate Challenge offers important insights that can help elevate policy discussions and spur needed efforts on the climate front.

Climate change poses serious threats to inclusive economic progress and poverty reduction. Strong countermeasures are required to increase the capacity of low-income people to mitigate their risk exposure to the impacts of climate change. Central pillars in planning for sustainable development and poverty alleviation must include vulnerability assessments, appropriate adaptation measures, and resilience-smart investments. This means placing climate change adaptation and resilience at the center of overall development policy. Coping with Climate Change in the Sundarbans contributes to this effort by synthesizing multiyear, multidisciplinary climate change studies on the Sundarbans—the world’s largest remaining contiguous mangrove forest and wetland of international importance, as well as home to some of South Asia’s poorest and most vulnerable communities. The studies’ findings indicate that, in a changing climate, sea-level rise, storm-surge intensification, and water salinization will alter the Sundarbans ecosystem significantly. The ripple effect of these changes will have multifaceted adverse impacts on the nature-dependent livelihoods, health, and nutrition of nearby communities. Elevated health risks, reduced land and labor productivity, and increased exposure to storms, floods, droughts, and other extreme events will make escape from poverty more difficult. Families in the Sundarbans are on the front line of these changes. Their experience and adaptation signal future decisions by hundreds of millions of families worldwide who will face similar threats from progressive sea-level rise. This research lays the technical foundation for developing a better understanding of the changes the Sundarbans currently faces, including responses of the ecosystem and human communities. Based on field research, location-specific, resilience-smart adaptation measures are recommended for reducing climate change vulnerability. Beyond the Sundarbans, the studies’ methods and findings will be of interest to development practitioners, policy makers, and researchers focused on island nations and countries worldwide that feature high-density populations and economic activity in low-lying coastal regions vulnerable to sea-level rise.

This document reviews actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from a group of 14 developing countries in Asia, Africa, Latin and Central America, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. For each region, at least one large, medium-sized and small country is profiled to demonstrate the range of characteristics of energy use and energy policy in the region. The report highlights the creativity and commitment to locally based solutions to climate change on the part of developing countries.