Ensuring Water Security in Rural Areas of Bangladesh under Climate Change and Non-climatic Drivers of Change

This chapter addresses the question of security1 and sustainability2 of water resource management (WRM) in Bangladesh due to climate change and complex social and political factors including weak governance. It suggests that social networks should play an important role in ensuring security at the micro levels, and the promotion of people-centred water management. Bangladesh, a highly populated country located on the floodplains of the Ganges-Brahmaputra- Meghna Rivers, receives abundant monsoonal rain which is concentrated between June and September. Rapid population growth, economic growth imperatives, changing farming practices and the weak coordination of WRM have increased the gap between the demand and supply of water leading to a water crisis that threatens the stability of the country. It is increasingly being understood that climate change poses a serious challenge for future water resource management in South Asia as a whole and exacerbates existing environmental problems. Babel and Wahid (2008) showed that Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to declining freshwater supplies.