Adaptation is a key strategy that can alleviate the severity of climate change impacts on agriculture and food production. Adaptation strategies are unlikely to be effective without an understanding of the farmers’ perceptions of climate change. This paper explores the local knowledge of adaptation in response to the perceived impacts of climate change and climatic hazards using a survey of 380 resource-poor riverbank erosion-prone households in Bangladesh. The results indicate that the respondents’ perceptions of changes in the climate and of extreme climatic events are similar to the observed climate data. Households have recognized the impacts on their livelihood and resources, resulting in an increased sense of vulnerability. To build resilience, households have undertaken a range of farming and non-farming adaptation strategies, which vary significantly among the farming groups. The important adaptation strategies include adopting new crop varieties, changing planting time, homestead gardening, planting trees and migration. Improved access to finance and to information about appropriate strategies appears to be crucial to support adaptation processes locally and thus to enhance the resilience of vulnerable households

Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. In particular, its riverine-island (char) dwellers face continuous riverbank erosion, frequent flooding, and other adverse effects of climate change that increase their vulnerability. This paper aims to assess the livelihood vulnerability of riverine communities by applying the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) vulnerability framework and the livelihood vulnerability index (LVI). Results indicate substantial variation in the vulnerability of char dwellers based on mainland proximity. The main drivers of livelihood vulnerability are char-dweller adaptation strategies and access to food and health services. The study further reveals that riverbank erosion, frequent flood inundation, and lack of employment and access to basic public services are the major social and natural drivers of livelihood vulnerability. Char-based policy focusing on short- and long-term strategy is required to reduce livelihood vulnerability and enhance char-dweller resilience.