Project Details
Projekt
Natural hazards and climate change in Dhaka: future trends, social adaptation and informal dynamics (DhakaHazard)
Subject Area
Physical Geography
Term
from 2008 to 2015
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 99490278
Many megacities in the world, including Dhaka, are regularly threatened by natural hazards. Risks associated with floods and tropical cyclones in particular are expected to increase in the years to come because of global climate change and rapid urbanization. In Greater Dhaka, the sprawl of slums and informal settlements is primarily taking place in wetlands, swamps and other high-risk areas, with little attempt being made to limit environmental impairments. An increase of precipitation extremes and tropical cyclones, together with a growing vulnerability of the urban population are expected to put considerable stress on the adaptability and resilience of the social and economic system. In the past, Dhaka has shown an impressive overall adaptability to external shocks. Our project will analyze the factors behind this relative ‘stability’. Another major objective of our research is to link models predicting future climate change and weather extremes to analyses of informal social and economic adaptation strategies on a micro-level. To achieve these objectives, our project applies different closely related methodologies: meteorological modeling and data analysis as well as micro-level social and economic field research. Moreover, during the second funding period, our project will focus on the question of how climate change scenarios as well as weather-related and flood forecasts can be adequately communicated to the people concerned.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
