Donor Climate Coloniality, Ecological Debt and Vulnerabilities in Coastal Bangladesh: Redesigning Institutions for...

Climate change impacts create survival challenges for people in coastal areas of Bangladesh. Government responses are exercised through top-down adaptation governance, reflecting a neocolonial perspective evident in externally funded water development projects such as the Flood Control, Drainage and Irrigation (FCDI) scheme. Problematically, this form of donor 'climate coloniality' creates novel ecological debts that increase localised socioeconomic vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are concentrated within marginalised groups, although the impacts of one climate-related ecological debt, waterlogging, are not widely understood. Two critical research questions emerge from this context: (i) in what ways does waterlogging impact marginalised groups in coastal regions?; (ii) how could adaptation institutions be decolonised to reduce resultant vulnerabilities? Primary data from sociological research conducted in Jessore District in south western Bangladesh is utilised in answering these questions. The findings show that marginalised groups disproportionately endure the impacts of historically path dependent, climate-related ecological debts through multiple vulnerabilities including declining crop production, loss of domestic animals, unemployment, price increases, gendered inequalities and health impacts, linked to their exclusion from adaptation decision-making. In response to this neocolonial perspective, such structural domination needs to be challenged by decolonising adaptation institutions through integrating recognition and procedural justice. Decolonised institutions based on this justice perspective could provide a governance space for recognising community voices related to coastal ecosystems and agricultural practices.