Climate change effects cause major socioeconomic challenges for marginalized groups, particularly women, in Bangladesh. Specifically, drought increases resource scarcity, causing social problems that impact women, which can be described as the gendered sociocultural construction of vulnerabilities. Given this constructed dimension of gender-based vulnerability, this paper explores the effects of drought on marginalized women in one local case study, namely Badlagaree village in Gaibandha district, Bangladesh. To examine this linkage, we collected qualitative primary data using ethnographic research methods, primarily focus group discussions. Findings show that gender-based vulnerability is increasing due to growing drought effects, including agricultural production loss. Marginalized women, because of their gender identity, encounter these drought effects through unemployment, food insecurity, illiteracy, early marriage, dowry costs and violence. While further national-scale research is required, this paper argues that in order to overcome such gender-based vulnerability, current development policies, social programs, and adaptation strategies should better recognize such social dynamics. Further, a gender-specific understanding requires incorporation into adaptation policies through greater collaborative governance as an important prerequisite for sustainability.

Women are recognized as proactive catalysts for societal change in rural Bangladesh because of their significant socio-economic contributions to agricultural practices. Historically, they have been closely associated with various agricultural activities ranging from seed preservation to crop harvesting. Despite their vital role in the rural economy, women farmers have encountered a number of obstacles resulting from the adaptation of neoliberal agrarian policies. In recent decades, women’s participation in the agricultural sector has declined, which can be attributed to the influence of capitalist patriarchy on agricultural practices. Grounded on this argument, this present study aims to investigate a research question: What are the major challenges to women’s participation in agricultural practices in Bangladesh? In order to answer this question, data has been collected through in-depth interviews and household surveys from three villages of Jaldhaka Upazila in the Nilphamari district of northwestern Bangladesh. The findings of this paper argue that women’s participation in agriculture is challenged by the effects of the neoliberal policy perspective, such as the mechanization of agriculture, commercial land use, and land inequality, which continue to ratify patriarchy in agriculture. In such a situation, this study suggests women’s empowerment could be effectively facilitated by adopting agricultural policies that are specifically tailored to address gender dynamics, emphasizing the active engagement and meaningful representation of women in the processes of policy formulation and execution.

Rural agrarian societies, like Bangladesh, rely substantially on women as primary contributors to crop production. Their involvement covers a broad spectrum, from the first stage of seed sowing to the ultimate phase of marketing agricultural products. Information and communication technology (ICT) in agriculture could be a transformative tool for women’s agricultural involvement. Despite the inherent challenges associated with ICT adoption, it has emerged as an effective catalyst for improving the livelihoods of rural women in Bangladesh. This study investigates the impacts of ICT on the livelihoods of rural women. This study concurrently addresses the challenges that infringe upon its sustainability. The study was conducted within Oxfam Bangladesh’s ICT interventions implemented upon the women farmers in Dimla Upazila, Nilphamari, Bangladesh. We employed a mixed-methods research approach to examine the multilayered impacts of ICT on women farmers’ livelihoods. Our findings indicate that ICT support has improved the livelihoods of rural women through a comprehensive capital-building process encompassing human capital, social capital, financial capital, physical capital, and political capital, facilitated by creating an enabling environment. The study also unfolded several challenges stemming from aspects of ICT integration, including the disappearance of indigenous agroecological knowledge and the disruption of traditional multicropping practices. In light of the study’s outcomes, a key recommendation emerges, emphasizing the importance of integrating indigenous agroecological knowledge in the widescale implementation of ICT initiatives. Acknowledging and accommodating indigenous knowledge can enhance the sustainability of ICT-driven livelihood enhancements for rural women in Bangladesh.

Climate change has garnered widespread societal concern due to its yawning consequences on both the natural environment and human society. Consequently, the imperative for adaptation to climate change has become intensely entrenched in the collective psyche of humanity. Traditionally, women have played an indispensable role in climate adaptation processes, yet their invaluable contributions remain unfortunately disregarded and underrepresented. While contemporary financial assistance promotes women’s engagement in climate change adaptation, the coping strategies in real situations are widely varied and are significantly important to discuss. This study endeavors to rectify this gap by identifying and revealing the adaptive strategies of women in response to the vulnerabilities engendered by the multidimensional impacts of climate change. Thus, this study was conducted deploying a mixed research methodology combined with qualitative and quantitative approaches, particularly focus group discussions (FGD), household surveys, and key informant interviews (KII) across three villages in the Nilphamari district of Northwestern Bangladesh. The findings of this study reveal that women have made substantial contributions to adapting to the impacts of climate change through the execution of distinctive saving mechanisms. In facing adversities resulting from climate-induced losses, women exhibit a commendable capacity for adaptation by leveraging their accrued financial reserves as a robust and astute coping mechanism. This study suggests a broader replication of this approach to confront the impacts of climate change.

Climate change has become a major global concern, and it has severe consequences for all communities. Coastal areas of Bangladesh are vulnerable to climate change because of their geophysical condition and geographical position. Although climate change affects people’s sustainable livelihood strategies in coastal regions of Bangladesh, it has gained limited attention in academic discourse. This study, hence, aimed to investigate the impact of climate change on the sustainable livelihood strategies of coastal people. Utilizing an explanatory sequential mixed research approach, including stakeholders’ consultations, household surveys, in-depth interviews (IDIs), focus group discussions (FGDs), and key informant interviews (KIIs), the study was carried out in Char Kukrumukri union in Bhola District, one of the climate-vulnerable areas of the country. Our study findings revealed that climate change primarily affects natural and physical capital, which in turn impacts financial, human, social, and political capital, and in the end, creates different forms of vulnerabilities. The study also explored a significant association between increasing waterlogging areas and reducing arable lands ($X^2$ = 38.02; p < 0.001), and the reduction in fresh water sources and damages in agricultural production ($X^2$ = 80; p < 0.001). The study further highlighted that the government efforts, such as polderization, aimed at preventing salinity in coastal areas, have failed due to the lack of integration with the representation of local people. The lack of integration between the local community’s voices and government actions poses additional challenges to maintaining people’s sustainable livelihood strategies. Thus, the study suggests a successful integration of localized practices and government interventions to address the climate-induced livelihood challenges to coastal people.

Bangladesh is one of the emerging economies in the Global South, and rapid urbanization is the driving force behind its economic development. Urban growth and development are closely associated with land use/land cover changes in any area, which sometimes negatively affect the livelihood and wellbeing of local people. We investigated the impacts of urban land use changes on the local people of northwestern Bangladesh using Nilphamari Sadar as a case study site. In order to identify land use patterns and variations in land cover, a 10-year period of land use/land cover changes from 2000 to 2020 was monitored using satellite imagery and the supervised classification method. Primary data were collected through household surveys and focus group discussions. Our analysis suggests that land use has changed over the past 20 years in the study area. As a result, the land area under settlements has substantially increased from 19 square kilometers in 2000 to 48 square kilometers in 2020. Waterbodies were 24 square kilometers in 2010, dropping to 4 square kilometers in 2020, whereas croplands decreased to 218 square kilometers in 2020 from 259 square kilometers in 2000. These changes have proportionately and adversely affected the lives and livelihoods of the local people by altering their longstanding traditional livelihood options, limiting their access to common resources, failing to adapt to new environmental arrangements and economic structures, and creating new forms of vulnerability. We suggest that urban planning processes should consider local people’s interests with the entitlement of local and marginalized people to the benefits generated by urbanization.