Fourteenth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

Climate variability and extreme weather events both impose multifarious challenges within Bangladesh, such as freshwater scarcity, sea level rise, riverbank erosion, floods, drought, and salinity. While these challenges have a multidimensional impact on human lives, health, and environment; access to safe drinking water is a grave concern that requires urgent attention. Although multiple projects have been implemented to address communities’ water vulnerability and reduce health impacts, the effectiveness of those water supply projects ensuring safe water and reduction in vulnerability remains yet unknown. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has adopted and utilised a tool prepared by UNDP known as Vulnerability Reduction Assessment (VRA) tool to assess climate change vulnerability as well as water vulnerabilities. This tool is useful for identifying baseline risk and vulnerability, identifying adaptive capacity. Moreover, it generates vulnerability scores based on the perception of the participant, and by involving a wide range of people, which is the speciality and strength of this tool. Thus, the overall objective of this study is to assess the practical applicability of the VRA tool to know water supply and sanitation vulnerabilities. The speciality of this study is the quantitative determination of vulnerabilities from qualitative information. Findings indicate that the tool and workshop framework effectively determines the vulnerability of communities quantitatively.

Presenters

Mohammad Zahirul Islam
Associate Professor, Environment Health and Climate Change, James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka zila, Bangladesh

Alauddin Ahmed
University of Queensland

Ahammadul Kabir
University of Queensland