New Project on Regional Climate Change and Security in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) , in association with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation based in Chicago, Illinois, USA, has launched a major new research project on The Security Impact of Climate Change on Bangladesh and its Regional  Neighborhood, specifically India, Nepal and the Maldives. The seminal project will examine the latest scientifically acceptable prognostications of climate change affecting Bangladesh, focusing on asset losses - especially loss of land and livelihood to rising sea levels, saline intrusions, periodic surge flooding, environmental damage, and the extent and intensity of resultant internal displacement and potential migration.

The project will ascertain the status and adequacy of national, regional and local planning and administrative provisions in place to cope with the consequences of climate change, evaluate the stresses born of large-scale IDP movement on national productive capacities and processes, economic infrastructure, public-administrative institutions, services provision, and societal cohesion and order, and examine coping mechanisms. It will assess the need for modifying policy and resource-allocation priorities, identifying what advantages might accrue from diplomatic endeavors to seek assistance from India and OECD donors.

The Project will establish critical linkages between Bangladesh, India and Nepal in addressing systemic challenges flowing from climate change, assessing the merit of the 'river basin' framework for triangular collaboration in mitigating and managing the consequences of climate change. It will conduct a comparative study of the threat faced by the Maldives, examining the latter's policy-response to ascertain if lessons can be derived from the Maldivian experience. On the bases of the above exercises, the project will establish the nature and scale of the threats to the security of the Bangladeshi state and society emanating from climate change, posit realistic approaches to mitigating the most adverse outcomes, and generate appropriate policy-recommendations for Bangladesh, its neighbors, and development partners. 

The project's findings and recommendations will be launched at an international conference at the conclusion of the study.

For more information see the BIPPS website.