Disasters, Climate Change and Sustainability in South Asia: Challenges and the Way Forward

South Asia is the most densely populated region in Asia, while Asia is the most populous region globally. These regions are at the forefront of the climate disaster. Rising sea levels, changing coastlines, increasing frequency of extreme weather events, and increased temperatures are among the most catastrophic events generated by climate change. All these factors threaten the regional and global community and present challenges to the policy framework. Specifically, vulnerable and marginalized populations are significantly impacted by these disasters. As these regions confront the complex effects of climate change, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and sustainable approach is essential. This book offers an extensive examination of disasters, climate change, and sustainability issues with special reference to South Asia.

This edited volume offers new insightful knowledge to support policymakers and researchers to create a resilient future in South Asia, in the face of disasters, climate change, and sustainable development challenges. The book begins by delineating theoretical approaches for reducing climate change-induced disasters from a South Asian perspective. The subsequent chapters analyze many phenomena, including heat waves, riverbank erosion, climate-induced migration, policy challenges related to climate change, and the relationship between them. Providing a survey of the contemporary challenges and strategies for disaster response and climate change mitigation in the South Asian context, this volume offers a comprehensive resource for a diverse audience of academics, development practitioners, legislators and policymakers interested in disaster management, climate change, and sustainability studies in South Asia and beyond.  

Dr Mahfuzul Haque, on retirement as the Secretary of the Government of Bangladesh, has been teaching for a decade and half as an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Development Studies, Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management, Dhaka University and Department of Sociology at Bangladesh University of Professionals, Dhaka. His areas of interest are sustainable development; natural resource management; combating climate change; biodiversity conservation; natural disaster management; dams and development; development-induced displacement; development disaster; indigenous knowledge and practices, environmental laws and enforcement etc. He is a prolific writer and extensively contributed book chapters in edited books published by Springer-Nature, Routledge and Palgrave Macmillan. His contribution on “Environmental Governance” has appeared in The Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. He has far consulted for the Government of Bangladesh in collaboration with many development partners, like, UNDP, UNICEF, FAO, ILO, DFID, JETI, OXFAM, European Union etc.  

Dr Mst. Marzina Begum is a Professor of Public Administration at the University of Rajshahi in Bangladesh. She received her Bachelor of Social Science (BSS) and Master of Social Science (MSS) degrees from the University of Rajshahi (Bangladesh) and she was the Institute of Environmental Science (IES) fellow at Rajshahi University before her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree awarded from the University of Pavia (Italy) on Institution, Administration and Regional Policies (IAPR) with Italian Government scholarship. Her primary research interests include Disaster Management, Disaster Risk Reduction, Environmental Policy and Governance, and Global Climate Change. She has published more than 30 research articles in international renowned journals, as well as chapters in books published with Taylor & Francis Group, Springer, Palgrave Macmillan, and Routledge. She has received prestigious Gro Brundtland award by the Tang Prize Foundation, Taiwan in 2016 and another award from Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gujarat, India in 2023.

Dr. Faraha Nawaz is a Professor of the department of the Public Administration at University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. As an academic, she has devoted herself in undertaking wide-ranging research in social sciences in general and gender issues in particular, and has published more than 30 articles in peer reviewed international journals, chapters in edited books, and three books published with Springer and Palgrave Macmillan. Dr. Nawaz is an active member of a number of international professional groups and networks and has presented scholarly papers in various international conferences. She is a recipient of various prestigious awards including the Charles Wallace award, Dev net Research award, Malaysian scholarly award, and an Australian Government scholarship. She was an international fellow of Brown University, USA and a research fellow of Contemporary South Asian Studies program, University of Oxford, UK.