Papers by Riffat Mahmood
Environment, Development and Sustainability
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
Bangladesh is one of the most geomorphologically active countries situated within the World&#... more Bangladesh is one of the most geomorphologically active countries situated within the World's largest basin of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM). The physiographic settings of the southward coastal areas of Bangladesh is completely exposed to the sea posing vulnerability to natural hazards whereas the poor socioeconomic condition tends to intensify the impacts of the vulnerability. In addition to that, the contemporary climate change induced vulnerabilities place the coast of Bangladesh as one of the highly affected areas. Therefore, to combat the vulnerabilities to strengthen the resilience of the coastal communities, spatio-temporal dimension of the vulnerability needs to be understood. The study applied RS and GIS techniques with appropriate methodology along with field and secondary data to constitute coastal vulnerability index (CVI) to identify priority intervention areas along the Meghna estuarine coast of Bangladesh which is the first study on Meghna estuary in this kind. The integrated geospatial techniques have been applied to 2470 grids along the Meghna estuarine coast for each of the 9 parameters to rank in a 1 to 5 vulnerability scale. Finally, the cumulative score of ranks of all the parameters have also been scaled to get CVI which shows significant effectiveness in identifying areas (administrative units) with vulnerability intensity. The authors believe that this CVI can be very important decision support tool for the policy makers to sustainably manage the Meghna estuarine coast.
The southern part of Hatiya Island experienced significant transformation of its land use and lan... more The southern part of Hatiya Island experienced significant transformation of its land use and land cover (LULC) as a result of the growing population spreading across the adjacent Nijhum Dwip Island in last three decades. This study assessed LULC change of the southern part of Hatiya Upazila (Jahajmara and Nijhum Dwip Union) using three Landsat images of 1989, 2001 and 2017 and explored driving factors of those changes. A pixel based hybrid classification approach with five LULC classes was employed to detect LULC changes in the period of 1989-2017. This study shows that southern part of Hatiya Island is experiencing receding phase due to erosion. 5606.91 hectares (ha) of land was eroded in 1989-2017 with the accretion of 2753.19 ha only. Anthropogenic LULC classes i.e. settlement and agriculture increased more or less 50% in last 28 years which progressed rapidly to the southern direction at the rate of 4% and 1.73% per annum; in contrast, mangroves decreased 0.58 % annually. Majority of settlement expansion occurred in the settled lands which is triggered by the establishment of the polders which potentially protects inward lands from erosion, storm surge and other similar natural hazards.
With a total population of 278000, Sandwip has long been facing severe land erosion and accretion... more With a total population of 278000, Sandwip has long been facing severe land erosion and accretion problems because of its geographical setting in the coastal area of Bangladesh. This research aimed to assess the erosion and accretion status along with the shoreline movement of this island based on multi temporal Landsat imagery and hydrological data from 1974 to 2014. The results revealed that water discharge and water level data are positively correlated with erosion and negatively correlated with accretion data. The results also indicate that the island has lost around 90 km 2 of its stable and gained around 17 km 2 of new land. The erosion activity is mostly happening in the northwestern, western, and southern banks whereas accretion has been occurring at a slower rate in the northern and eastern banks of the island. Because of this dynamic erosion-accretion activity the shoreline of the island has been moving towards the northeast side. This 40 years' data analysis solemnly affirms that maximum shoreline movement towards the land was 4004 meter in the southern bank with annual rate of approximately 100 m per year. At the same time interval, maximum seaward movement of the shoreline was observed in the northeastern portion (NSM >2247 m) at a maximum net rate of around 56 m per year (EPR = 55.85 m per year). Because of this idiosyncratic characteristic Sandwip's total land area was reduced to 73 km 2 during 1974 and 2014.
Conference Presentations by Riffat Mahmood
Paper Proceedings of Climate Change Adaptation 2015 (ISBN 978-955-4543-30-0)
Bangladesh is among one of the countries, which is most vulnerable to climate-induced changes. Th... more Bangladesh is among one of the countries, which is most vulnerable to climate-induced changes. These extreme climatic events increase people’s sufferings to an extreme extent, particularly in the coastal islands of Meghna Estuary where isolation itself plays a negative factor. However, many studies suggested that coastal inhabitants are fundamentally adaptive to climatic stress. The purpose of this study is to identify the climate change adaptation measures at household level by the people of Sandwip Island, a Meghna Estuarine island in the Bay of Bengal. The data collection methods employed in this empirical research are Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and In-depth Interview. This research has explored that major adaptation strategies of vulnerable households are agricultural adaptation, livelihood diversification through activity diversification and migratory strategies. Seasonal and non-seasonal migration of family members is a prominent adaptation strategy in Sandwip Island, because remittance from migrating family members acts as the risk insurance in the context of extreme climatic events. The structural adaption strategies of households are building cyclone and flood resistant house, homestead plantation etc. Finally, this paper has suggested some potential adaptation issues in the context of climate change regime.
Key Words: Bangladesh, Coastal area, Meghna Estuarine islands, Vulnerability, Adaptation measure, Climate change
Riverbank erosion is a widespread natural disaster in rural Bangladesh which results in rapid gro... more Riverbank erosion is a widespread natural disaster in rural Bangladesh which results in rapid growth in a forced internal migration of people. These internally displaced people (IDPs) migrate to the urban slum areas after losing their residents for a better work opportunity and essential services. This study focuses on people’s migration pattern in Bangladesh particularly in the context of riverbank erosion. Hence, the study focused on three char lands of Bhola (a rural coastal district) district namely Char Monpura, Char Fasson, and Char Tajimuddin, and a small slum settlement (urban slums) namely ‘Bhola slum’ of Dhaka city. To this end, firstly, this study assessed river erosion and accretion pattern of Char Monpura, Char Fasson, and Char Tajimuddin for the year of 2006, 2010 and 2016. In addition, urban slums occupied by IDPs had mapped through the visual interpretation of Google high-resolution image focusing temporal patterns of 2006, 2010 and 2016. Furthermore, it measured the impact of riverbank erosion on the socioeconomic condition of the IDPs both in the rural and urban region. Finally, it finds out the gaps in tackling challenges associated with a forced internal migration and way forward with policy recommendations. The study reveals that Char Monpura, Char Fasson, and Char Tajimuddin had suffered considerable erosion whereas only a small portion of Char Fasson and Char Tajimuddin have experienced accretion since 2000 to 2016. Besides, erosion caused tremendous sufferings to the people living in the river erosion prone char islands of Bhola district. However, such situation arises in permanent migration to urban areas and growth in informal urban settlements and creating more challenges for the municipal government to deal with the growing urban population.
Books by Riffat Mahmood
In last decade and so, disaster risk reduction community started paying attention on the notions ... more In last decade and so, disaster risk reduction community started paying attention on the notions of resilience; therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide an overview of human vulnerability and priority intervention issues based on vulnerability experience by which resilience can be promoted. In the context of natural hazards and disasters, coastal islands of Bangladesh are vulnerable where isolation itself works as an adverse factor regarding vulnerability so that this study chose Sandwip Island as the study area. The data collection methods included geospatial techniques and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) using 0–5 measuring scale followed by weighted matrix index (WMI) and in-depth interviews using semi-structured questionnaire. This research explored 8 major vulnerability issues and 17 urgent priority intervention issues for building vulnerable islander resilience. Authors identified that attempts in reducing vulnerability in inhabitation and livelihood is the starting point of being resilient, and it can be promoted further by undertaking interventions such as local infrastructure development and improvement in community facilities, i.e., long-term adaptation at community level, not only the post disaster responses. Finally, this research provides guideline of how resilience of coastal islanders can be promoted one step forward in the face of natural hazards and disasters.
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Papers by Riffat Mahmood
Conference Presentations by Riffat Mahmood
Key Words: Bangladesh, Coastal area, Meghna Estuarine islands, Vulnerability, Adaptation measure, Climate change
Books by Riffat Mahmood
Key Words: Bangladesh, Coastal area, Meghna Estuarine islands, Vulnerability, Adaptation measure, Climate change