Beyond Climate Reductionism: Environmental Risks and Ecological Entanglements in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

Md Nadiruzzaman; Hosna J. Shewly; Md. Bazlur Rashid; Sharif A. Mukul; Orchisman Dutta

doi:10.3390/earth6030063

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Beyond Climate Reductionism: Environmental Risks and Ecological Entanglements in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

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Beyond Climate Reductionism: Environmental Risks and Ecological Entanglements in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

Md Nadiruzzaman, Hosna J. Shewly, Md. Bazlur Rashid, Sharif A. Mukul and Orchisman Dutta

Earth, Vol.6(3), pp.1-22

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/earth6030063

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Abstract

climate reductionism

Bangladesh

environmental onsets

livelihoods

conflict

everyday life

marginality

Although Bangladesh is frequently regarded as ‘ground zero’ for climate change, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) have only recently been acknowledged for their environmental vulnerabilities, especially after the devastating rainfall and landslides of 2017. However, attributing these risks solely to climate change overlooks their entanglement with structural inequalities, extractive development, deforestation, and long-standing marginalization. The study examines how climate variability intersects with broader environmental risks through a mixed-methods approach, integrating 30 years of NASA TRMM_3B42_daily rainfall data with a household survey (n = 400), life stories, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews conducted across all three CHT districts. Findings do not support a singular attribution to climate change. Rather, they reveal compounded vulnerabilities shaped by land degradation, water scarcity, flash flooding, and landslides—often linked to deforestation and neoliberal development interventions. We argue that the CHT exemplifies ecological entanglement, shaped by climate variability and structural inequalities rooted in land governance and Indigenous dispossession. By integrating spatially disaggregated climate data with historically grounded local experiential narratives, this study contributes to climate justice debates through relational, place-based understandings of vulnerability in the Global South.

Details

Title: Beyond Climate Reductionism: Environmental Risks and Ecological Entanglements in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh
Authors: Md Nadiruzzaman - Maastricht University
Hosna J. Shewly (Corresponding Author) - University of Amsterdam
Md. Bazlur Rashid - Bangladesh Meteorological Department (Bangladesh, Dhaka) - BMD
Sharif A. Mukul - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
Orchisman Dutta
Publication details: Earth, Vol.6(3), pp.1-22
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.3390/earth6030063
ISSN: 2673-4834
Copyright note: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Data Availability: The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
Grant note: Part of this research was funded by the Excellence Cluster ‘CLICCS—Climate, Climate Change, and Society’ (EXC 2037, Project 390683824), supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) at the Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), Universität Hamburg. Additional fieldwork funding was provided by the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), University of Amsterdam (Political Tree project).
Organisation Unit: Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991155039402621
Output Type: Journal article

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