Doctoral Thesis
Social protection and climate change: what’s at stake in Bangladesh?
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Murdoch University
2022
Abstract
Social protection is regarded a strategic tool for addressing climate-induced vulnerability, building resilience capacities, and achieving wellbeing outcomes. Specifically, the social protection literature advocates for a shift away from just using conventional social assistance instruments (e.g., cash or asset transfers) towards an adaptive approach that calls for linking climate-related objectives (e.g., disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation) with social protection. This adaptive approach prompts critical questions: how can climate concerns be effectively linked with social protection; what are the opportunities and challenges of such linking; and whether and how does an adaptive social protection afford greater resilience and wellbeing outcomes over a conventional approach?
This thesis by publication, comprises four articles and an exegesis, addresses these issues employing qualitative methods to investigate two social protection programmes in two climate hot-spot regions in Bangladesh. The study interrogates what progress has been made in linking climate change concerns with social protection in Bangladesh, and it explores how do these two forms of social protection (conventional and adaptive) contribute to resilience and wellbeing of marginalised people in the face of escalating climate risks?
The research finds that: (1) though Bangladesh’s dominant ruling party shows strong political will for such linking, this is not translated into practice. Dominant elites prefer siloed post-disaster relief measures over the adaptive approach, as the former serve to maintain a clientelist structure through managing subsistence crises; (2) the adaptive approach performs better than the conventional programme in enhancing absorptive, anticipatory and adaptive resilience capacities of the most vulnerable people; and (3) neither approach contributes significantly to transformative resilience and wellbeing outcomes because they fail to address the prevailing structural causes of climate vulnerability. The findings underscore the imperative for social protection to be reframed with a stronger focus on social justice and the rights of vulnerable people to help build enhanced resilience to mounting climate risks.
Details
- Title
- Social protection and climate change: what’s at stake in Bangladesh?
- Authors/Creators
- Krisna K Kundo
- Contributors
- Martin Brueckner (Supervisor) - Murdoch University, Indo-Pacific Research CentreRochelle Spencer (Supervisor) - Murdoch University, Indo-Pacific Research CentreJohn K. Davis (Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Murdoch University; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Identifiers
- 991005593868307891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Centre for Responsible Citizenship and Sustainability; College of Law, Arts and Social Sciences
- Resource Type
- Doctoral Thesis
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