Salt is killing us: Salinity and livelihood in a Bangladesh village

Abstract: This thesis is the result of a minor field work in a coastal Bangladesh village where peoples are struggling to adapt with salt water intrusion. It describes how people in one community under climatic change or variability adapt to an acute problem, and how their perceptions of that environment, their Ethnoecology influence this response. To make sense my primary and secondary data I have used adaptation theories of anthropology more specifically how people respond to changing environment regard to livelihood. The perceptions on salinity, livelihood adaptation strategies, politics of adaptation and how their culture and nature are shaped by each other are developed in the body of this dissertation. The study encompasses theoretically in a broad sense Ecological Anthropology and specifically cultural ecology and practically addresses adaptation to climate change impacts, a growing field in Anthropology known as 'Anthropology of Climate change'.