Abstract:
Water logging has been disrupting livelihoods of about one million people in
Bangladesh during the past two decades. South-west region of the country is prone to
water logging due to its vulnerable geographical setting and climate change. The
worst hydro-geophysical vulnembility has been observed in Keshabpur Thana under
Jessorc district where over 85 percent of land has been water logged for over seven
years. Study area of this research includes Trimohini, Sagardari, Bidyanandakathi and
Sufolakathi Unions ofKeshabput Thana.
This thesis attempts to a~sess the social and environmental vulnerability of people in
Keshabpur Thana along with people's coping practices. These objectives have been
achieved mainly through Participatory Vulnerability Assessment (PVA) method. The
research also assessed the effectiveness of ongoing Government and Non Government
projects in the area through questionnaire survey,
Marginal fanners and poor wom",n have been identified as the most vulnerable
groups. Their limited bounce back capacity makes them more vulnemble in
waterlogged condition. It has lJet,n found that these two groups response differently
during water logging as they are differently vulnerable. Access to instinllioll5,
institutional affiliation, coping related training tacilitics etc. largely contribme in
developing their self esteem and developing their ability to bounce back from
vulnenlble state.
The major fmdings of the research revealed that agricultural livelihood, housing, food
security and education are some socially vulnerable areas of Keshabpur Thana.
Environmentally the area is also vulnerable due to the poor performance of drinking
water, sanitation and health care facilities. People pmctice indigenous coping to
survive in ,vater logging, though there is a limited institutional dlbrl in strengthening
coping mechanism in the study area. Migration, unfortunately, is a new phenomenon
in the Thana due to water logging induced livelihood loss.
m
The research identified some effective programs of Government Organizations and
NGOs in context of water logging such as Kabodak reexcavation, canal excavation,
eommWlitybased embankment construction, reducing livelihood risk project (llldring
based vegetable gardening etc. Constraints towards reducing people's vulnerability
havc been identified as climate change, poor coordination between stakeholders,
limited institutional coping, lack of gender sensitive initiative etc.
Finally, Keshabpur should be brought under a national regional plan 10 order to
remove water logging. Facilitating drainage of water is the greatest perceivable
coping, which is far beyond the capacity of individual person or a small water logged
community. Only the authority can plan and execute an emergency water
removal/drainage program. Finally, a gendered approach of integrated planning is
necessary at all level for the actual henefit of the vulnerable population in Keshabpur.
