Public Health Anthropology, Social Justice, and Environment
This is a book chapter of the book 'Environment,Migration and Adaptation: Evidence and Politics of ClimateChange in Bangladesh'. The authors of this chapter are Brooke A. Ackerly, Mujibul Anam, and Jonathan Gilligan. This book is edited byBishawjit Mallick and Benjamin Etzold.
Publisher: AHDPH, Dhaka, January 2015
Abstract of the chapter
Between the national and household factors, community or “meso-level” changesin political economy and livelihoods in southwestern Bangladesh illustrate that inorder to understand the impacts on people and nations of climate change-relatedenvironmental changes – changes that are expected to include rising sea level,saline inundation, and increased likelihood and intensity of cyclones in Bangla-desh – we need to understand the dynamics of the built and natural environmentand the political economies these sustain. Meso-level political economies affectthe sources of income and livelihood available in distressed environmental condi-tions, and therefore influence how well the people in them can adapt to changingenvironmental conditions. In this study we have seen the underlying politicaleconomies whose dynamics, and not slow onset environmental changes or disas-trous environmental events, are pushing Bangladeshis to incorporate migrationstrategies into their livelihood strategies.