Climate Victim in Lowland Sundarbans: Measuring Risk and Adaptive Capabilities

Remaining with the fundamentals of vulnerability assessment of IPCC's model, this chapter highlights the risk assessment of dwellers of Sundarban due to the current climate change phenomena (CCP). Eventually, this study adopted a modified composite index guided by the climate vulnerability index (CVI) and livelihood vulnerability index (LVI). The present chapter encompasses three major dimensions (i.e., adaptive capacity, sensitivity, and exposure), eight major indicators (i.e., socio-demographic profile, vocational strategies, social network, food, health, water, natural calamities, and climate variability, and perception of climate change), and 39 sub-indicators. Here, the major vocational groups are subdivided into three, i.e., small farmers, fishermen and crab hunters, and honey collectors, who mainly belong to the selected study area, like lowland Sundarban (Indian part). With the help of stratified sampling and based on 3,502 sample data, the study revealed that among the chosen vocational group, ‘fisherman and crab hunter’ is under the most vulnerable status. In contrast, the rest of the vocational groups (like honey collectors and small farmers) are also severely vulnerable. Therefore, a reframed policy is urgently required for better sustainable development of marginal people and sensitive ecology.