Bangladeshis facing anxiety, hair loss as non-economic losses and damages due to climate change mount
Cyclones, flooding and salt water intrusion threatening cultural life and mental health.
People living in southern areas of Bangladesh are facing a raft of non-economic losses and damage due to climate change, including hair loss and anxiety, according to new research from IIED and the International Centre of Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD).
The increasing frequency of cyclones, flooding and salt water intrusion are also making it hard for people to grow flowers for religious festivals, and for men to find women to marry.
The issue of loss and damage – the impacts of climate change that are so severe humans cannot adapt to them – has risen up the agenda in recent months as multiple examples play out in real time, including the catastrophic floods in Pakistan and a crippling drought in the Horn of Africa. But there is a focus on the economic losses inflicted by climate change as the most vulnerable countries continue to call on the richer nations, who are most responsible for carbon emissions but suffer the least from climate change, to increase their financial commitments.
In 'Local responses to climate-related non-economic loss and damage', researchers set out to document the non-economic losses and damages being inflicted in two communities in Burigoalini and Gabura Union, Southwest Bangladesh.
Simon Anderson, a senior fellow at IIED, said: “People in this part of Bangladesh know only too well that it’s not just lives and livelihoods that are at risk from the effects of climate change. Centuries-old customs and traditions that underpin these societies are being threatened too. While it’s difficult to quantify what that means in economic terms, it is devastating to communities.”
Everyone is affected, no matter their background or beliefs. Interviewees told researchers that it’s getting harder to keep livestock as grassland declines even though cows are essential to some Hindu rites and rituals; rats, snails and frogs are cultural foods for the Munda people but are becoming scarcer as agricultural land shrinks; floods are preventing Muslims from travelling to the mosque to pray.
The research also shows how the two communities are responding to the impacts of climate change. Coping mechanisms include applying henna to restore hair, preparing for future disasters as a way to reduce anxiety, using fertilisers to ensure enough flowers are available for religious festivals and relocating away from the area to get married.
Douwe van Schie, a visiting researcher at ICCCAD, said: “We should celebrate the initiatives that these communities are devising to cope with loss and damage, but that shouldn’t distract from the urgent need to support and compensate people who are threatened with the annihilation of their way of life.”
Researchers suggest a number of measures that could be taken to start addressing non-economic loss and damage including helping with their basic needs and wellbeing so that they have more capacity to deal with these kinds of impacts, improving their access to public physical and mental health services, and financially compensating them for the costs they incur in responding to non-economic losses and damages.
For more information or to request an interview, contact Jon Sharman:
+44 7407 727 886, or [email protected]
