No SDES-2020-15
Title Who perceive seasonality change? A case of the Meghna basin, Bangladesh
Author Moinul Islam and Koji Kotani
Abstract Global climate change is a scientifically demonstrated phenomenon, but there are great discrepancies in different societies about how people perceive it. It has been claimed that people’s correct perceptions to climate change are necessary for mitigation and adaptation; however, most research in this regard has focused on knowledge about temporal trends of climate: no reports have examined people’s perceptions of climatic regularity and patterns, i.e., seasonality change. In this study, we investigate people’s perception to seasonality change in the Meghna basin, Bangladesh where catastrophic flooding occurs and the number of seasons in an annual calendar year is reported to have decreased from six to four. We conduct interviews with 7 experts and surveys with 1011 respondents. With the data, we empirically characterize participants' perceptions to seasonality change in relation to sociodemographic factors and life experiences. The results show that dependence on natural resources in profession, experiences of natural disasters and life history in the residential area shape people’s accurate perception to climate seasonality.
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