Human security and climate change induced disaster management: Bangladesh perspective

Abstract

‘Human Security’, a new buzz-word, is being heard increasingly these days, which is generally focused on people and not on states. On natural perspective, it encompasses a wide range of concerns and issues. The growing frequency of climate change induced disaster is a big concern of human security in the globe now. Bangladesh has a very unique approach to human security, as the country is a disaster prone; so disaster management here has a direct connotation to human security. The geophysical position along with high density of population and climate change makes Bangladesh prone to different types of disasters. So the importance of human security in disaster management cannot be over emphasized. Though the integration of human security with climate change induced disaster management is a must, but effective interaction among these two elements is yet to be observed so far. This proposal is aimed to critically examine the climate change induced disaster management challenges in Bangladesh and assesses the implications of those challenges for that country’s economic, political and security environments. The broad objective of this study is to examine the relevance and significance of a human security framework in preparing for, reacting to, and understanding the impacts of climate change induced disasters involving the government institutions, NGOs and other agencies for response and recovery. However, one of the specific objectives will be to analyze the National Disaster Management Framework of the country with respect to human security aspects. This study used both qualitative and quantitative techniques with relying mainly on the critical analysis of both primary and secondary data. In addition, a small questionnaire survey using a semi-structured questionnaire among the people of disaster-prone area has been conducted based on purposive sampling. Multiple methodologies were used for obtaining qualitative data. The primary data were gathered from the targeted respondents and for doing so different tools of participatory research were used in order to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Information from secondary sources were mostly books, websites, grey literature, journal articles related to disaster management and media. It is recommended that examination of available secondary data was complete before collection of primary data. Therefore, the research was planned to proceed to primary data only when secondary data sources have been exhausted or yield marginal returns. The data collected from the population were analyzed both in the qualitative and quantitative manner. Analysis began immediately on collection of data and continued throughout the research process. The collected data were processed in a scientific manner, then analyzed and summarized according to content and context of the study. Various statistical tools were used to analyze the quantitative data and for the analysis of the qualitative data this research mostly relied on discourse analysis. This thesis is the outcome of the research work, which I undertook as a part of Ph.D program at the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies of the University of Dhaka. The issues of human security for climate change induced disasters in Bangladesh have not yet been explored by academic research. I undertook this research with the objective of generating some basic data about human security perspective that I hoped would facilitate an informed debate in climate change induced disaster in Bangladesh. An attempt for this has been made to contain originality in terms of methodology, analysis and theoretical inference of the study. ‘Human Security’, a new buzz-word, is being heard increasingly these days. It is generally focused on people and not on states. On natural perspective, it encompasses a wide range of concerns and issues. The growing frequency of any disaster, natural or manmade, is a big concern of human security in the globe now. Bangladesh has a very unique approach to human security, as it is a disaster prone country; so disaster management here has a direct connotation to human security. The geophysical position along with high density of population and climate change makes Bangladesh prone to different types of disasters. So, the importance of human security in disaster management cannot be over emphasized. Though the integration of human security with disaster management is a must, but effective interaction among these two elements is yet to be observed so far. Efforts are mainly concentrated on response and recovery measures of environmental disasters but least concentrated on long term adaptation strategy. Despite the complexity of risk assessment and human security, they must be assessed to improve knowledge about the risk and its potential human consequences in order to help society to better understand the risks which it faces. This thesis aimed to improve understanding of climate change induced disaster causative factors, risk profile of the affected community and human security issues in Bangladesh. In doing so a comprehensive analysis of risk profile of the affected community and human insecurity dimension related to it has been made through more of a qualitative study. The result indicates that people living especially in the coastal area of Bangladesh are highly exposed to climate change induced disaster. All physical, economic, social and vulnerability indicators chosen in the framework of this study show that they are highly vulnerable. The combination of any hazard event, the exposure and the vulnerabilities to disaster yield in high disaster risks such as deaths, injuries, diseases, building collapses, disruption of socioeconomic activities, environmental pollution, biodiversity losses etc. As such more theorization is required through generating critical scholarship on the issue. The study critically examined the disaster management challenges in Bangladesh and assesses the implications of those challenges for that country’s economic, political and security environments. Based on these issues a conclusion has been drawn as disasters generate human insecurity.