书目名称 | Living on the Edge | 副标题 | Char Dwellers in Ban | 编辑 | Mohammad Zaman,Mustafa Alam | 视频video | http://file.papertrans.cn/588/587510/587510.mp4 | 概述 | Offers a major collection of articles on Bangladesh chars.Has a multidisciplinary, global team of authors.Examines potentials of chars from a development perspective | 丛书名称 | Springer Geography | 图书封面 |  | 描述 | In Bangladesh, the chars within the river channels are an important part of its landscape. However, these land masses continue to remain isolated, deprived of services, and pockets of poverty in the country. The char dwellers are vulnerable to natural hazards like flood and erosion. In addition to these hazards, the coastal chars are faced with the imminent problem of widespread inundation due to sea level rise resulting from climate change..Within this context, the book Living on the Edge: Char Dwellers in Bangladesh has brought together valuable scholarship on the diverse issues relating to the chars and the communities living in there. This comprehensive collection, with contribution of experts on the subject from across the globe, provides an understanding of the problems faced by the char dwellers and also comes up with policy prescriptions for ensuring overall welfare of char communities in the country.. | 出版日期 | Book 2021 | 关键词 | Bangladesh; Char dwellers; Displacement/migration; Livelihood; Climate change; Urban Geography and Urbani | 版次 | 1 | doi | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73592-0 | isbn_softcover | 978-3-030-73594-4 | isbn_ebook | 978-3-030-73592-0Series ISSN 2194-315X Series E-ISSN 2194-3168 | issn_series | 2194-315X | copyright | The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerl |
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Background, Approach, and Issues |
Mohammad Zaman,Mustafa Alam |
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Chars in Bangladesh, emerging from sandy and alluvial deposits across the floodplains and the estuary, constitute an important part of the landscape and ecology of the country, with significant marks in its history and heritage. An estimated 20 million people in Bangladesh live in these chars, which remain isolated and deprived of numerous essential services. Char dwellers are mostly poor and highly vulnerable to natural hazards of flood and erosion. In addition, the coastal chars are faced with the prospect of widespread inundation due to the impending sea level rise, consequent upon climate change in the region. The development prospects for floodplain and the delta, inclusive of the chars, have traditionally been considered more in terms of physical/infrastructural development, without adequate attention to the diverse socio-economic and institutional needs of char communities. It is hoped that this book, with its comprehensive coverage of the physical, ecological, socio-economic and institutional issues, would provide a better understanding of the complexity of char life, its constraints and development potential, thereby helping policy planners and implementers at different le
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The Delta Frontiers: History and Dynamics |
Mohammad Zaman,Mustafa Alam |
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This chapter examines human settlement of the Bengal delta in historical and contemporary contexts. A discussion is undertaken on the rise of agricultural “frontiers” and settlements in the delta on the ever-shifting chars within the context of agrarian/economic activities, migration, and demographic transition. Today, the alluvial chars in Bangladesh constitute sort of an “endless” agricultural frontier. The chapter briefly describes the socio-economic and political practices of settlement and access to the dynamic frontiers, and how people have traditionally made use of the newly accreted land. An attempt has been made to highlight the issues of management and administration of alluvial land through the colonial and post-colonial periods, which continue to influence the patterns of settlement, use, and access to alluvial land in contemporary Bangladesh.
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South Asian Chars as Destabilizers |
Jenia Mukherjee,Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt |
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Many researchers have studied chars as physical and geomorphological entities and have categorized them into various ‘types’. This chapter asks: ‘Can chars be seen also as symbols?’ ‘What do the chars symbolize?’ We investigate these questions in this chapter, in light of recent social science research that has critiqued the inherent scientism on which many such studies are founded. In particular, we argue that the small, unstable and impermanent chars are powerful because they are symbols of destabilization. By their very existence, chars demolish a number of dearly held scientific concepts and ideas. Of these, the idea of rivers as carriers of only water is one. Chars also subvert the notion of people as essentially sedentary and land as permanent and safe, and disrupt the view of land and water as two fundamentally separate physical elements of nature. Finally, and most crucially for their futures in the increasingly uncertain world, chars and the lives of people who live on them also dislocate the notion of ‘adaptation’, by showing that people on chars are continually adjusting on a daily basis to make the best out of their local environments. We deploy ‘chars as destabilizers’
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Dynamic Land and Adaptive People of Bengal Basin and Its Charland |
C. Emdad Haque,Mohammad Jakariya |
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This chapter presents an analysis of the dynamic geophysical character and human ecological system as found in the Bengal Basin. Characteristics of the Bengal deltaic geophysical and hydrological systems are briefly discussed,followed by a discussion on adaptive response of the inhabitants in view of the dynamic shifts of river channels in the delta building process. The analysis reveals how people living in the delta and the floodplains adapted to the historically unstable and dynamic shifts of the river channels; and thereby made their living and sustained their livelihood. This is further illustratedby case study evidences from the Brahmaputra–Jamuna and Ganges/Padma floodplains, dealing with contemporary coping strategies and adaptive behavior of floodplain residents toward risk management. This adaptive approach to displacement, migration and resettlement needs to be properly understood in formulating and implementing an effective char development policyin Bangladesh.
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Char Dwellers’ Right to Development in Bangladesh |
Indrani Sigamany,Jay Drydyk |
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This chapter examines life in the charlands of Bangladesh in the context of the 1986 . and the 1998 .. On the chars, the right to development remains starkly unfulfilled. Focusing on the poverty of the char communities, the broader components of equality, access to development and resources are used as a framework of analysis. The evidence reveals that underlying the poverty and high rate of inequality of the char communities are poor governance and a lack of structures, which facilitate self-determination. ‘Self-determination’ in this chapter means the power to make decisions and to have control and agency over one’s life, and . the legal right to self-government. These human rights concerns are compounded by the causes of people’s prior migration onto the chars. A principal driver of that migration has been exclusion from any benefits of development on the mainland, which also contravenes the Right to Development. From this perspective, the migrations that have populated the chars constitute displacement by human rights contravention, which is one of the grounds for recognizing char dwellers as Internally Displaced Persons. Accordingly, the Right to Development and the Guiding Pr
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Geographical Perspectives on Riverbank Erosion, Charlands, and Floodplains |
Harun Rashid,Munshi Khaledur Rahman |
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Based on two-dimensional planform data on channel area and distance, interpreted from non-sequential snapshots of the Google Earth satellite imagery, the main objective of this study is to analyze spatial variations in morphological instabilities in major rivers of Bangladesh. The results indicate that while riverbank erosion is a pervasive problem in all of the major rivers of Bangladesh, there are significant spatial variations in densities of channel bars from one river section to another. It further relates such channel instabilities to longer-term lateral channel migration responsible for successive bank erosion and accumulation of charlands and floodplains.
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Application of Remote Sensing to Study the Behavior and Dynamics of Riverine and Coastal Chars |
Iffat Huque,Maminul Haque Sarker,Knut Oberhagemann |
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Bangladesh occupies a major part of the Bengal Delta which has an area in excess of 100,000 m.. The river systems that build up the delta are very dynamic in nature and govern the lives, livelihoods, and safety of the inhabitants of riverine chars and coastal islands/chars. To study the dynamics of these systems, traditional spatial data such as topographic, bathymetric, and hydrographic surveys are sparse in terms of both spatial and temporal coverage. Over the last four decades, the use of remotely sensed satellite images has proven to be effective in studying the dynamic systems. This paper shows how the analysis of satellite images supports the generation of relevant information and knowledge about both static and dynamic systems. It describes the processing and analyses of the satellite images and their corresponding outcomes. A single image can provide static information such as river bankline, width, braiding index, and char and island geometry. However, a time series of satellite images can provide information and understanding of the dynamics of the system such as erosion and accretion of rivers, chars, estuary and coastal islands, stability of chars and islands, widening
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The Morphology of Riverine Chars |
Knut Oberhagemann,Maminul Haque Sarker,Iffat Huque |
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This chapter provides an overview of the char dynamics of the Jamuna and Padma rivers in Bangladesh, which are part of the Lower Brahmaputra River. Riverine chars are major morphological elements and together with number and size of channels determine the river characteristics, for example, with respect to navigability, flooding, and riverbank erosion. The char dynamics have created a very distinct culture with the lives of the potentially two million char people being much different from the life on the stable floodplains. During the last half-century, chars became very short-lived, particularly in the Brahmaputra/Jamuna, which impacted the lives of the char dwellers. On the positive side, the overall widening of the river corridor increased the char area significantly, however at the cost of floodplain land and the population there. The systematic study of char dynamics became possible with the development of satellite imagery from the end of the 1960s. Increasing resolution and regular annual imagery helped much to understand the interaction between chars and river channels and how their vertical buildup above low water levels influences land use and eventually settlement patter
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Formation and Dynamics of Coastal Chars in Bangladesh |
Maminul Haque Sarker,Jakia Akter,Iffat Huque,Knut Oberhagemann,Md. Kamruzzaman Akand |
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The tide dominated Meghna estuary is characterized by a sequence of distributary channels and islands/chars. While there are a few studies on morphological processes of the Meghna estuary in general, studies on the physical processes of the islands/chars in the estuary are sparse. Close to two million people live on some of these fragile islands and chars. Given the lack of scientific literature on the formation and dynamic processes of the islands/chars, the chapter analyzes time-series historical maps and satellite images in an attempt to fill the knowledge gap. The study reconstructed the history of the Meghna estuary and islands and chars using maps and satellite images, recorded various noticeable events in the estuary and islands, and identified related drivers. Thereafter, the processes of formation of islands/chars and the time required for this in different physical environments were verified. The dynamics of the islands/char formation include the processes of erosion/accretion, increase/decrease in size, changes in shape, and migration of islands/chars.
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The Soils of Charlands in Bangladesh |
Hugh Brammer |
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There are significant differences in sediments and soils betweenthe five river and estuarine char regions of Bangladesh: Teesta–Brahmaputra–Jamuna, Ganges, Jamuna–Ganges, Lower Meghna river and Meghna estuarine. The Brahmaputra–Jamuna and Ganges river sediments are predominantly silty, but the two regions upstream from the confluence of the two rivers also include significant proportions of sand. Brahmaputra–Jamuna sediments are noncalcareous, whereas Ganges sediments and combined Jamuna–Ganges sediments are calcareous. Meghna estuarine sediments are slightly calcareous and to varying degrees saline. Between 10 and 59% of sediments in the different char regions have developed into soils. Despite exposure to serious hazards of seasonal floods, land erosion and burial of riverine charlands by new sediment, and of salinity, local bank erosion and exposure to cyclones and storm surges on estuarine charland, all the regions are widely settled and used for the cultivation of site-adapted crops. Possible methods to increase economic production are reviewed, and a brief look is taken at possible future developments.
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Evaluating Future Threats of Climate Change on Riverine and Coastal Chars |
Shampa,Anisul Haque,M. Ashiqur Rahman,Delowar Hossain,A. Alauddin Azad,Samsunnahar Mita |
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Climate-induced hazard is a global problem, which may disproportionately affect those living in riverine and coastal chars in the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) delta of Bangladesh, where people’s lives and livelihoods are largely dependent on nearby water bodies. By way of a two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation, effect of climate change has been assessed for riverine and coastal chars in terms of flood disasters. Based on a medium–high carbon emission scenario A1B, which corresponds to the rise of temperature by 2.7° (mid-century) and by 4.85° (end-century) from the present day, with the associated sea-level rise, a total of 14 scenarios has been generated and investigated in fluvial, fluvio-tidal, and storm surge flooding conditions. This study indicates that despite having morphological characteristics similar to the ones in the general area, chars are likely to face different hazard conditions resulting from climatic variables. Significant changes in flood hazards are visualized within the end-century time horizon for both riverine and coastal chars. Coastal polders are likely to play a strategic role in reducing the impacts of climate change-induced hazards.
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Floods, Charland Erosions and Settlement Displacement in the Ganges-Padma River Basin |
Shafi Noor Islam |
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Floods and river bank erosions in Bangladesh have historically impacted the society and economy of the country. The flood and erosion disasters in the Ganges-Padma River Basin have caused displacement, in many instances frequently, forcing people to migrate every now and then. The objective of the chapter is to map the process of out migration of char people to various locations within the region and to develop a comprehensive adaptive guideline for charlands settlement conducive to sustainable livelihood for households that are victims of the cyclic displacements due to natural hazards.
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Coping Strategies of People Displaced by Riverbank Erosion in the Lower Meghna Estuary |
Bimal Kanti Paul,Munshi Khaledur Rahman,Thomas Crawford,Scott Curtis,Md. Giasuddin Miah,Rafiqul Isla |
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Riverbank erosion is common as a disaster event in riverine Bangladesh. It not only affects people living in inland char areas and along the major braided rivers, but also the coastal areas. Charlands are characterized by both erosion and deposition. When the rate of deposition exceeds the rate of erosion, over time, some chars become attached to the mainland, particularly, in the coastal areas. While coping strategies of displaced people in inland areas have been widely studied, relatively little is known about such strategies for people displaced by riverbank erosion in coastal Bangladesh. This chapter addresses this gap via a questionnaire survey conducted among 413 households in 15 villages of Ramgati Upazila in the Lakshmipur District. The Survey was followed by Focus Group Meetings and Key Informant Interviews. All study villages are located along the eastern bank of the lower Meghna River, around the main outlet of the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna drainage basin. The survey revealed that people of the study area mitigated impacts of riverbank erosion by adopting various coping strategies, some similar to those adopted by erosion affected people of inland areas and others differ
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Role of NGOs in Post-Flood Rehabilitation in Chars |
Babul Hossain |
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This study seeks to investigate the role of non-governmental organizations in post-flood rehabilitation in some char areas in Bangladesh, for which relevant information has been collected from local people in the way of a case study. It was found that dependence on traditional agriculture and day labor, fishing, low level of education and income, fragile housing condition and sanitation facilities, small landholdings, etc. characterize the socioeconomic condition of the respondents. A number of NGOs played a significant role in improving living conditions and quality of life of the people living in the study area. These NGOs provided loans to the char people through a number of micro-credit programs and helped with developing housing and sanitation facilities, initiating various income-generating activities, supporting miscellaneous agricultural activities and participating in certain infrastructure development programs for the char communities. Although people within the study area reported in general to have benefited from NGO activities, they nevertheless considered the interest charged against loans to be relatively high.
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Flood Proofing to Reduce the Vulnerability of Char Communities: Experiences and Future Directions |
Ian Tod,Monzu Morshed |
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Char dwellers live in a harsh environment dominated by the double hazards of floods and erosion, as well as high tides and cyclones in the case of coastal chars. Historically, households have developed their own strategies to overcome these hazards as they receive little government support but their strategies are often ineffective for extreme events when households can suffer substantial losses and dislocation to their lives. Flood proofing comprises minor structural or a range of non-structural measures to mitigate the impacts of the major hazards of floods, erosion, high tides and cyclones. In this chapter, the development and effectiveness of flood proofing measures in riverine and coastal chars are discussed before describing a range of flood proofing measures that have been implemented on some of these chars. Finally, a discussion is undertaken on the potential for further application of flood proofing measures. The main finding is that flood proofing measures are economically sound investments and effective in reducing the vulnerability of char households.
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