Inside stories on climate compatible development: Bangladesh’s comprehensive disaster management programme

Bangladesh is afflicted by a multitude of natural hazards including
tropical cyclones, tornadoes, tsunamis, drought, earthquakes, riverbank
erosion, landslides, salinity intrusion and arsenic contamination. In an average year, roughly 10 million Bangladeshi citizens are affected by one
or more such hazards, and their frequency and severity is projected to
increase as a result of climate change. The impacts of these disasters are
exacerbated by the fact that almost one third of the nation’s population
lives below the poverty line and has little capacity to adapt.

Key messages
? Bangladesh’s Comprehensive
Disaster Management
Programme (CDMP) is one of
the most ambitious of its kind in a
developing country.
? Collaborative networks have
enabled the CDMP to expand its
operations.
? Support from government leaders
ensured that challenges to
implementing the CDMP were
overcome.
? The institutionalisation of disaster
risk reduction and climate change
adaptation beyond the Ministry of
Food and Disaster Management
has proved slow and challenging.
? Challenges to CDMP
implementation included natural
disasters, political unrest and
turnover of high-level officials.