Discussions of climate migration have recognized the need for probabilistic, systematic, and empirical analyses. We examine the importance of environmental stressors in migration using a multi-leveled analysis of a household survey of the climate-stressed rural communities of coastal Bangladesh. We find that a relatively small share (6.5%) of rural coastal people have migrated, overwhelmingly domestically and on a temporary basis. The main motives are better employment opportunities in urban areas, marriage/family reunification, and education. About a third are displaced by flooding that created loss of arable land. Being male, younger, and working outside of agriculture facilitate migration, and also those with greater human and horizontal social capital are more likely to migrate. Exposure to severe river erosion, residing closer to major waterways and in saltwater shrimp farming zones spur migration. Climate migration is in its first instance economic-induced with environmental stress contributing as a secondary factor.

The main objective of this paper is to measure the level of household resilience to cyclone and storm surges in the coastal area of Bangladesh. We draw on four general disaster frameworks in terms of addressing household-level resilience to cyclones and storm surges. We use a composite indicator approach organized around four components: (1) household infrastructure (HI); (2) household economic capacity (HEC); (3) household self-organization and learning (HSoL), and; (4) social safety nets (SSN). Drawing on a household survey (N = 1188) in nine coastal union parishads in coastal Bangladesh purposively selected as among the most vulnerable places in the world, we use principal components analysis applied to a standardized form of the survey data that identifies key household resilience features. These household index scores can be used for the assessment and monitoring of household capacities, training, and other efforts to improve household cyclone resilience. Our innovative methodological approach allows us to (a) identify patterns and reveal the underlying factors that accurately describe the variation in the data; (b) reduce a large number of variables to a much smaller number of core dimensions of household resilience, and (c) to detect spatial variations in resilience among communities. Aggregated to the community level, our new index reveals significant differences in community cyclone resilience in different areas of the coastal region. In this way, we can show that shoreline and island communities, in particular, have significant deficits in terms of household resilience, which seem to be mutually reinforcing one another and making for lower resilience.

Monitoring and tracing product and process qualities along global supply chains have become increasingly challenging tasks for companies at the downstream end of the chain. High levels of uncertainty in trade coordination arise among importing companies in the face of these developments. The conceptual aim of this paper is to show, by the example of organic food imports to Germany and Australia, how convention theory can contribute to the analysis of trade coordination in global value chains. Our empirical results affirm that industrial conventions such as standards and third-party certification have gained increasing significance over the past two decades. Simultaneously, however, we argue that industrial conventions are not enough to overcome uncertainties in trade. They do not necessarily lead to reduced differences in perceptions of product quality between suppliers and importers. Less tangible factors such as trust established through relationship management and reputation are likewise significant. Furthermore, not only companies with a certain ideological tradition, but also individual people with altruistic motives within other types of firms, can determine how ‘dedicated’ a firm is in pushing trade coordination according to civic and domestic conventions. Market conventions (ie, the importance of price and competitiveness) are stressed more by Australian firms reflecting the country's liberal market economy and low state subsidies especially in the area of agriculture. Finally, compromises between conventions are sometimes necessary to end a situation of conflict between buyer and supplier.

Until the Covid-19 pandemic, Bangladesh had reported consistent improvements regarding its food and nutrition security (FNS) status, and yet, the country still features poor FNS outcomes among parts of its population. In rural coastal regions of the Ganges–Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, farming households’ vulnerability is particularly exacerbated by a range of environmental hazards, increasing challenges for agriculture to contribute to higher FNS levels. In the context of existing literature on the trade-offs between subsistence agriculture and cash-earning livelihood activities, vis-à-vis food and nutrition security outcomes, this article assesses the relative contribution of crop diversification vis à vis other factors on the households’ Food Consumption Score (FCS) in specific livelihood contexts. We provide differentiated analyses between primarily export-oriented shrimp farming and non-shrimp farming households, so policy makers can better address FNS targets. Quantitative data from 1,188 sample households across the delta were analysed through descriptive and linear regression analyses. Results show that households cultivating shrimp have a significantly higher dietary diversity than households that do not. Among shrimp farmers, crop diversification has the relatively strongest significant positive effect on dietary diversity, suggesting part of the aquacultural crops are geared towards subsistence. By contrast, crop diversification seems to have a negative effect on dietary diversity among households that do not produce shrimp, especially when different agricultural crops are combined. Importantly, both for shrimp and non-shrimp farmers, crop diversification systems combining agriculture with aquaculture, and agroforestry seem to improve diverse diets among households. While by no means a panacea to solving FNS challenges among rural households, we suggest that promoting specific crop diversification systems could be a beneficial pathway to improved FNS outcomes.