Roy, B., Lourenço, T.C., Lisboa, F., Penha-Lopes, G. & Santos, F.D. (2021) Impacts of Climate and Land Use Change on Surface Water Content and Quality in Low-Lying Coastal Areas of Bangladesh. Handbook of Climate Change Management (ed. by Leal Filho, W., Luetz, J., Ayal, D.), 1-28. Springer. DOI:10.1007/978-3-030-22759-3_243-1.
Low-lying countries like Bangladesh experience the adverse impact of climate change and sea level rise to a greater scale. The main objective of this study is to analyze surface water change dynamics between 1984 and 2015 for two Bangladeshi coastal areas – Satkhira and Bagerhat. Additionally, it aims to identify whether there is an interrelationship between these changes and the impacts caused by climate hazards and anthropogenic factors such as agricultural activities.
The methodology developed by Pekel et al. (Nature 540:418–422, 2016) was applied in the analysis of surface water by using the Google Earth Engine code editor to identify the surface water dynamics in the case study areas. The impacts of the climate hazards and anthropogenic influences were explored through literature reviews in order to better understand the relationships between surface water changes and the different impacts caused by and on agricultural activities. For the analyzed period, results show that there is a higher extent of surface water occurrence in Satkhira than in Bagerhat. Regarding the signal of surface water transitions, Satkhira presents more flooded or inundated areas, while Bagerhat shows considerably higher extent of surface water loss.
Regarding impacts, both areas are experiencing problems in agricultural activities such as declining crop production, reducing soil fertility, damage to farm infrastructures, shrinkage of farmland areas due to salinity intrusion, water logging, and different extreme climatic events and anthropogenic activities. There is a cross-cutting relationship between the surface water dynamics and climate-related impacts in both case study areas.
Further studies should be conducted at the microlevel to better understand the socio-economic implications of these surface water dynamics and land use changes on the Bangladeshi population’s livelihoods and activities, as well as to clarify how different levels of exposure and vulnerability to different climatic hazards may evolve in the future.
Bishwajit Roy Ecology of Environmental Change - eChanges
Gil Penha-Lopes Plant-Soil Ecology - PSE
Tiago Capela Lourenço Ecology of Environmental Change - eChanges
