Abstract

Environment and sustainable development can go hand in  hand  and  are often analysed through the sustainable livelihood framework. This literature shows that shrimp production is not the only source of livelihood for south- western coastal people in Bangladesh. Diversifying into non-farm activities     is increasingly adopted as a viable livelihood strategy and its importance is profoundly growing daily. Recently, climate change and the recognition of its adverse socio-economic impacts on livelihoods remains a cornerstone in the developing world. Shrimp producers see a devastating fall in shrimp production due to natural disasters like floods and drought that leave thousands of people in this region unfed and malnutrition. Diversification seems like one of the main strategies by which coastal people can respond to the challenges of climate change. Fishers who rely on nature for food and income have minimal livelihood alternatives. Yet, natural resource-based tactics appear to be prevailing in the existing degree of diversification, which may not be sufficient to deal with the effects of current climate extremes and forecasted changes. This paper aims   to document local ways of responding to the impacts of climate change. Given this, the thesis aims to provide a theoretical and empirical analysis of non- farm diversification in climate change adaptation in south-western coastal regions in Bangladesh. The study also examines the impact of non-farm income diversification on income distribution. These analyses reveal that incomes  from other than fishing have a positive impact on coastal households” welfare and income distribution. This result strengthens the argument that non-fishing income diversification can be an excellent strategy to reduce risks in shrimp production and paves the way to sustainable development.