BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

EXPLORING THE ROLE OF CLIMATE CHANGE AS A THREAT MULTIPLIER: BANGLADESH IN PERSPECTIVE

Author: Md. Riaz Uddin, Hasan Mahmud

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2018v39n2a3

ABSTRACT

It is agreed by the academia that climate change is happening and according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the reason is primarily anthropogenic. The focus of this study is the role of climate change as a threat multiplier in the context of Bangladesh. A conceptual framework presented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) linking climate change and security in the Sahel region is used as the basis of this study. The cases of Darfur and Nigeria, where impacts of climate change are liable for accelerating instability in the respective areas, are analyzed in details to get hold of the threats associated with climate change and implications of such threats for vulnerable states. According to many indices, Bangladesh is highly susceptible to changes in climatic events due to its unique geographic location and socio-economic condition. This paper finds that impacts of climate change stir up different phenomena that can multiply instability in Bangladesh. Moreover, such impacts may turn out to be oblique threats to national security of the country in the long run. Based on the findings of the research, this paper presents a new framework linking climate change with national insecurity and proposes that further study can improve the precision and usability of components affiliated with this framework.