Climate
Climate Adaptation
Communities in Bangladesh live on the front line of a changing climate. DHARA works alongside them to anticipate shocks, protect livelihoods and adapt on their own terms.
The challenge
Living on the front line of the delta
Bangladesh sits on the world’s largest river delta — flat, low-lying and densely populated — which makes it one of the most climate-exposed countries on earth. The pressures are layered: cyclones and tidal surges sweeping in from the Bay of Bengal,creeping salinity that poisons farmland and drinking water across the coastal south, riverbank erosion that swallows homes and cropland overnight, more erratic and intense monsoon flooding, and lengthening dry spells in the north.
These shocks do not fall evenly. The people with the least — women, landless and smallholder farming families, and persons with disabilities — feel them first and recover slowest. A single bad season can undo years of progress in health, income and education.
Our approach
Adaptation the community owns
DHARA does not deliver climate adaptation to communities — we build it with them. Through the CLCP approach the Community Life Competence Process, communities map their own risks, decide their own priorities and lead their own adaptation plans. Because the plan belongs to them, the resilience stays long after any project ends.
Women’s leadership sits at the centre of this work. The women who manage water, food and family health are also the ones who hold the most practical knowledge about how to adapt — and DHARA is built to put that knowledge in charge.
Why community-led?
- Local knowledge leads the plan
- Women shape the priorities
- No dependence on outside rescue
- Resilience that outlasts the grant
HOw we do
How DHARA builds resilience
Six connected areas of work — always shaped by the community and adjusted to local risk.
Climate-resilient agriculture
Salt- and flood-tolerant crop varieties, floating gardens, homestead vegetable production, crop diversification and adjusted cropping calendars so harvests survive a harder climate.
Disaster risk reduction
Community risk mapping and preparedness plans, safe storage of seed and productive assets, and stronger links to local disaster-management committees.
Early warning & response
Community early-warning links, trained volunteer networks, and clear evacuation and response plans for cyclones, tidal surge and flooding.
Climate-smart livelihoods
Diversified and off-farm income, savings and self-help groups, and new skills so a family is not left with nothing when one season fails.
Water security & WASH
Rainwater harvesting, safe drinking water in saline and flood-prone areas, and latrines built to keep working when the water rises.
Land & ecosystem restoration
Rehabilitating degraded and saline land, tree planting, and protecting embankments and homestead ecosystems that buffer communities from shocks.
What changes
Resilience that stays with the community
- Families keep producing food and income through floods, salinity and cyclones
- Communities hold their own risk maps, early-warning links and response plans
- Women lead adaptation decisions and local preparedness
- Degraded and saline land is brought back into safe, productive use
Invest in community-led climate resilience
Partner with DHARA to help delta communities adapt with dignity — on their own terms, with women in the lead.