Perception, Climate Change and Fertility Preference: A Study on Climate Change Vulnerable Population in Bangladesh

Shah Md. Atiqul Haq, City University of Hong Kong

Bangladesh is a highly populated and vulnerable country. People usually face floods and cyclones and fertility rate compared with national fertility rate is relatively high in climate change vulnerable areas. People living in vulnerable areas how they perceive about climate change and how they relate climate change events especially the impacts of flood on their fertility preference was studied in a flood affected village named Sharat Pur. The study shows that people perceive that climate change events like flood is the outcome of sinful activities such as not praying everyday, going outside of home by women. Very few of them think the increase of temperature, irregular rainfall, floods are resulted from human activities like high fertility preference and most of them perceive to have more sons during floods. Since they think that girls are weaker than boys and they can not help their parents during extreme environmental events like floods.