Vulnerability of fishery-based livelihoods to the impacts of climate variability and change: insights from coastal Bangladesh

Globally, fisheries support livelihoods of over half a billion people who are exposed to multiple climatic stresses and shocks that affect their capacity to subsist. Yet, only limited research exists on the vulnerability of fishery-based livelihood systems to climate change. We assess the vulnerability of fishery-based livelihoods to the impacts of climate variability and change in two coastal fishing communities in Bangladesh. We use a composite index approach to calculate livelihood vulnerability and qualitative methods to understand how exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity measured by sub-indices produce vulnerability. Our results suggest that exposure to floods and cyclones, sensitivity (such as dependence on small-scale marine fisheries for livelihoods), and lack of adaptive capacity in terms of physical, natural, and financial capital and diverse livelihood strategies construe livelihood vulnerability in different ways depending on the context. The most exposed community is not necessarily the most sensitive or least able to adapt because livelihood vulnerability is a result of combined but unequal influences of bio-physical and socio-economic characteristics of communities and households. But within a fishing community, where households are similarly exposed, higher sensitivity and lower adaptive capacity combine to create higher vulnerability. Initiatives to reduce livelihood vulnerability should be correspondingly multifaceted.