Adopt environment-friendly, resilient means: Researchers

Researchers at the flagship academic event of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) on Sunday suggested adopting environment-friendly and resilient means to address the country's climate impacts.
The Annual BIDS Conference on Development was held in the capital in a number of academic sessions, including one titled "Environment and climate change: resilience and adaptation".
A paper titled "Clean Cooking Fuel adoption in Bangladesh: The success story of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)" and presented by BIDS Researcher Muntasir Murshed said clean cooking fuel adoption had a greater positive effect on the environment and public health.
Its benefits were across health, environmental, and socio-economic dimensions, said Murshed.
Clean cooking fuel adoption was a target mentioned under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-7. However, about 72 per cent of the population of Bangladesh did not have access to clean cooking fuels, according to the World Bank, he said.
He said in South Asia, Bangladesh ranked the lowest in terms of clean cooking fuel accessibility.
Murshed suggested a consolidated policymaking approach, considering both the supply and demand side drivers of clean energy, including Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), in the country.
In another paper titled "Living with floods: assessing livelihood vulnerability and adaptation in the wetlands of Bangladesh", the researchers showed that haor households were more vulnerable than the adjacent ones, with higher exposure and sensitivity and lower adaptive capacity levels.
Another presentation by BIDS Researcher Azreen Karim showed how farm and non-farm occupational experiences influenced responses to climate events with evidence from full, partial, and mixed migrant households in Bangladesh.
Irrespective of the types of migration, migrant households were found to face economic challenges, forcing women members to get involved in income-generating activities, Azreen added.
BIDS Researcher Taznoore Samina Khanam presented another paper titled "Adoption Gaps and Implications for Scaling Climate-Resilient Rice: Panel Evidence from Climate-Prone Areas of Bangladesh".
The paper showed that climate stress in the previous year significantly increased the likelihood of the adoption of submergence-tolerant rice varieties.
Households exposed to recent climate stress were less likely to adopt drought- or salinity-tolerant varieties. This might reflect low confidence in newer varieties, especially where market preferences or seed availability were weak, the study said.

nsrafsanju@gmail.com