The views expressed in this paper/presentation are the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect

the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Directors, or the governments
they represent. ADB does not guarantee the source, originality, accuracy, completeness or reliability of any
statement, information, data, finding, interpretation, advice, opinion, or view presented, nor does it make any
representation concerning the same.

SLUM POVERTY IN BANGLADESH:

ENVIRONMRNTAL CAUSES AND AGGRAVATION THROUGH
CLIMATE CHANGE

Dilruba Banu 1
GTZ Bangladesh

Background Paper for Conference on the “The Environments of the Poor”, 24-26 Nov 2010, New Delhi 2

SUMMARY
Climate change challenges linked to unmanaged urban growth increase
vulnerability of slum poor. It adds up new challenges against fighting poverty in
urban areas. Climate adversity affects slum infrastructures including water
systems, housing and settlements, transport networks, utilities, and income
connectivity. The prevalence of diseases link to climate change increases slum
poor’s vulnerability that constrain their economic activities. All of these conditions
are worsened by several climate change risks such as high rainfall intensity, high
tide, drought, cyclone, or other extreme events. Women and children are
differently vulnerable than men under climate variability. The adversity of climate
change still remains a low priority area. Challenges need inclusion of urban poor
within decision making and action. Developing community based adaptation
strategies to prevent the climate change risk and to take advantage of the
opportunities from this unavoidable global climate change event is a current
demand for Bangladesh.

1. URBAN POVERTY: LIVELIHOODS OF SLUM POOR

Bangladesh experiences poverty conditions which originate from a number of socio-
economic and environmental factors. Urban poverty is evident in all the cities in Bangladesh. It
is estimated that 43% of urban households live below the poverty line among which 23% are
considered extreme poor. Around 35% of the population of six major cities in Bangladesh lives
in slums and it covers only 4% of the land area with limited or no access to services. Slums are
often located in urban sites, prone to natural disasters such as flooding which expose residents
to health hazards that reduce their savings and productivity.
The number of city dwellers in Bangladesh is increasing continuously. Urbanization
contributes to increased economic growth by creating job opportunities, facilitating commercial
activities and driving industrial development. Economic opportunity in urban area attracts large
                                                            
1
  Adviser on Community Mobilization and Gender, Governance Programme Development Team in Second Urban
Governance and Infrastructure Improvement (Sector) Project, Good Urban Governance Programme, GTZ
Bangladesh, tel: + 880 2 882 3070, + 880 1199 098012, e-mail: dilruba.banu@gtz.de, fax: + 880 2 882 3099, web:
www.gtz.de/bangladesh
 
2
For more information, see the conference website: http://www.adb.org/Documents/Events/2010/Environments-
Poor/default.asp

1 
 
number of migrants from rural area and new migrants as well as second generation of migrants
are living in slum area without housing and basic urban service.
Rapid urbanization places great pressure on a city’s physical and social infrastructure.
Overstretched city administrations find it increasingly difficult to provide adequate housing,
transportation, waste and sanitation, education, health and other essential services to an ever-
growing number of residents. The slum poor feel the consequences of inadequately managed
urbanization in terms of their vulnerability to poor health, insecurity and other risks. The public
services offered are often inaccessible to them. This situation drives the growth of more severe
forms of urban poverty as vulnerable citizens, both new migrants and long-term residents. They
find themselves unable to protect their families against the consequences of unemployment, ill-
health, eviction, crime or other shocks that strip them of their assets destroy their livelihoods
and keep them trapped in poverty.
Despite considerable progress in reduction of the number of people living below poverty
line between 1992 and 2005, Bangladesh is still one to the world’s poorest nations. In terms of
urban poverty, the urban population living below the poverty line declined from 45% to 37% over
the 1990s. Measuring urban poverty is a highly complex issue. The national measures needed
for policy purposes often ignore the diversity of experiences and characteristics of the slum
poor. Age, gender, educational background, livelihood, ethnicity, religion and a host of other
factors vary within and between groups and individuals. Policy measures that seek to address
the needs of the urban poor must be sensitive to this diversity. Slum poor rely heavily on cash
income to secure their basic needs. Income-based poverty measures tend to underestimate
urban poverty in comparison with those that look at consumption or take other dimensions of
poverty into account such as access to basic services. Trends in other measures of poverty also
indicate that the level and distribution of consumption among the poor has also been reduced.
The improvements occurred at similar rates for both urban and rural areas (Narayan, et al.,
2007).

2. IMPACTAS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SLUM POOR AND THEIR LIVING

Climate change compounds problems of environmental degradation and has led to
serious deterioration of ecosystems, adding yet another dimension to poverty. Bangladesh is
considered highly vulnerable climate change and climate variability. Various predictions of sea
level rise puts 55% of its settlers on the threat of inundation. Rising sea levels will make
southern coastal areas uninhabitable, especially islands. These southern populations will be
forced to migrate to cities and will increase urbanization. It will affect infrastructures including
water systems, housing and settlements, transport networks, utilities, and industry. Salination
will limit traditional types of agriculture, and reduce drinking water. Sundarbans mangroves will
be affected, reducing cyclonic tidal surge buffering.
In Bangladesh, the most vulnerable cities include Dhaka and Khulna, both of which have
witnessed extreme environmental stresses like floods in recent years. The key sectors affected
by floods in Bangladesh’s cities include infrastructure, industry, trade, commerce and utility
services. All of which reduce in productivity during and after major flooding is increasing the
vulnerability of the urban poor. The adverse impacts of climate change on rural areas cause
increased migration to urban areas in search of non-agricultural employment, putting greater
pressure on scarce housing, water, sanitation, and energy services and increasing the number
of vulnerable urban poor who are particularly at risk from climate related disasters.
Within this poor living condition high rainfall intensity, water-logging, salinity, cyclone,
drought and other extreme climate events exacerbate the slum poor’s lives. The most direct
impacts of climate change on human health occur through extreme events like floods, cyclone

2 
 
those cause deaths. Climate change affects the distribution of climate sensitive diseases.
Malaria is a frequently cited example, because its prevalence increases in line with the warmer,
wetter climates that are anticipated with climate change. Other diseases such as dysentery,
diarrhea, dengue, and hypertension associated with heat stress. Asthma and skin diseases are
also increasing, particularly during the summer. These ultimately constrained the economic
activities of the poor even though it is difficult to prove the connection between climate change
and these diseases. The conditions associated with climate change like temperature, rainfall,
and salinity, and the impacts on water supply, sanitation and food production generates
favorable environments for the incidence and spread of such diseases (Huq and Ayers, 2008).

3. ADDRESSING GENDER CONCERNS

Poor women live in slum are particularly vulnerable to the adversity of climate change. In
Bangladesh, women are more vulnerable to chronic poverty in general due to gender
inequalities in various social, economic and political institutions. Climate change is likely to
exacerbate this situation. Study shows that the death rate for women is almost five times higher
than for men when cyclone and flood hit Bangladesh. This was because men were able to
communicate with each other when they met in public spaces, but information often did not
reach to the household, and because many women were not allowed to leave their homes in the
absence of a male relative, many waited for their male relatives to return (Huq and Ayers,
2008).
Urban flood coupled with drainage congestion is emerging as one of the major concerns
these days. The slum dwellers are worst affected by urban drainage congestion. In prolonged
water logging, women face severe skin diseases and gynecological problems because of
repeated use of polluted water for sanitation. Slum dwelling women make their living mostly by
finding self employment as temporary housemaids. Keeping children and belongings in
inundated house make them unable to join in income earning outside the slum. Delay or
absence in the job often is translated into loss of employment, with counterproductive results on
food security. Many slum dwelling women are self-employed as food producers and vendors
and mostly target rickshaw pullers and day-laborers as their customers. They face enormous
hardship during these days due to lack of purchasing capacity of the urban poor. Children suffer
from acute malnutrition though mothers try to feed the kids with whatever they have, being
themselves half-fed or even starving (Neelormi, 2010).
In addition, women are the main users and carriers of water for the household. As the
availability and quality of water declines and resources become scarcer, women suffer
increasing workloads to collect non-saline water to sustain their families. Women have only the
legal right to use and enjoy the land through marriage. Women lose land on divorce which
denies their security. As the availability of fertile land declines under climate change, women
lose access first.
Women have indigenous knowledge, skills and capacities which are used in disaster
mitigation and adaptation. Proper acknowledgement of the contribution of women, protection
and financial support should be available to sustain and develop this knowledge. Technologies
need to be properly adapted where desirable to women’s needs (Neelormi, 2010; Chowdhury,
2008).
Chowdhury, 2008 suggests that non-governmental, international and regional
organizations should assist governments in developing gender-sensitive strategies to address
climate change by:

3 
 
• Involve poor and women in planning of comprehensive urban development strategies, that
include gender sensitive adaptation for climate change;
• Network and promote community access to gender-sensitive information and
communication technologies supporting information exchange on environmental
management and climate change.

4. URAN ACTIVITIES: CONTRIBUTE TO ENHANCE CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS

Job opportunities are mostly concentrated in urban areas and thus people have to travel
within a long distance. Indeed, this creates environmental consequences due to traffics,
transportation, wasting fuel and air pollutions that ultimately contribute to global warming and
climate change (Habitat, 2008; IPCC, 2007). Climate change impacts correlate to people’s
demand on energy and because of global warming, the demand for winter heating is much less
than an increase for summer cooling which is associated with electricity demand. Climate
change impacts may also increase the energy use for water supply like pumping, desalination,
recycling, and water distributions (Hunt & Watkiss, 2007, cited in Febi, D.).
The major challenges of the slum poor are food insecurity, poor energy supplies, poor
infrastructure and transport and poor sanitation services. Due to insufficient services they
pollute the local environment by illegal dumping of wastes and discharging of wastewater
(moral, 2008 cited in GTZ Bangladesh, 2010).
With the increase of unplanned and socially and environmentally degraded industries
Bangladesh poses a new challenge. The industrial areas in Bangladesh are situated in the
midst of densely populated regions. There are many hazardous and potentially dangerous
polluting industries situated in the cities. In Dhaka at Tejgaon area, food processing industries
are situated along with chemical and heavy metal processing industries. In Tongi a
pharmaceutical industry is situated near a pesticide producing industry. Considering the severity
of environmental threats to the slum dwellers and urban poor, industrial waste management and
waste water treatment need particular attention.
The major challenges will be getting security of tenure for the slum poor. This will ensure
access to services and infrastructure development. Climate induced hazards tend to increase in
scale in absence of infrastructure. The possibility for the government to acquire capacity to meet
this high demand of infrastructure is questioned. In the present situation the urban poor continue
to live in the most vulnerable lands. In most cases these are illegally occupied, structures are
built informally with affordable materials following no standards or building regulations outside
official regularities.
Several NGOs and donor funded projects have worked to develop infrastructure and
services. These include constructing sanitary latrines, hand tube-wells, paved pathways, drains
and streetlights. Although the achievements are limited, but learning from such works can
emphasize community initiatives to adapt cost effective locally based infrastructure development
in the absence of formal provisions in the face of increasing demands from climate change.

5. UGIIP 2: COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO SLUM LIVELIHOODS

The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has undertaken Second Urban Governance and
Infrastructure Improvement (Sector) Project (UGIIP 2) with financial assistance of ADB (loan)
and KfW (grant) and technical cooperation from GTZ. The project is implemented over a period
of six years up to 2014. GTZ provides technical support for the capacity development in the
scope of UGIIP 2. The primary objectives of the project is to promote sustainable human
development, economic growth and poverty reduction by improving urban governance,

4 
 
developing urban infrastructure and services, enhancing municipal management and
strengthening capacity to deliver municipal services (specially to the poor) in 35 targeted
Secondary Towns or Municipalities (Pourashavas) of Bangladesh. Local Government
Engineering Department (LGED) acts as the executing agency of the project while the
participating Pourashavas implement project components. To achieve the objective, the project
assists the selected Pourashava to:
• Enhance capacity of Pourashava to implement, operate, manage and maintain basic urban
services;
• Improve urban governance by implementing a set of programmes;
• Increase accountability of Pourashavas towards their citizens, especially poor and women;
and
• Provide improved physical infrastructure and urban services.
While UGIIP2 supports the improvement of urban governance and infrastructure, it
adopts a performance-based allocation of investment funds as an incentive mechanism for
governance reform. Performance criteria are defined in six key areas of urban governance
including “integration of the urban poor”. Investment funds are utilized to improve municipal
transport, drainage, solid waste management, water supply, sanitation, municipal facilities, and
basic services in slums. The project design is based on the lessons from the ongoing Urban
Governance and Infrastructure Improvement (Sector) Project (UGIIP 1).
All 35 Pourashavas already formulated their Pourashava Development Plan (PDP) in a
participatory manner, including a visioning exercise, a situation assessment, priority investments
and activities for governance improvement. Each PDP includes a Poverty Reduction Action Plan
(PRAP) to identify and formulate the specific actions for poverty reduction in Pourashava. A
Slum Improvement Committee (SIC) has been established in each target slum to execute the
PRAP. There are some committees formed under the project in Pourashava like Town Level
Coordination Committee and Ward Level Coordination Committees which have representation
of low income group as well as women to ensure their participation in decision-making
processes of Pourashava management. To ensure adequate budget to implement the PRAP, a
minimum of 5% of total investment funds allocated to each Pourashava has been earmarked for
basic services in urban slums and trained SIC is responsible for operation and maintenance of
the infrastructure identified in PRAP. Outside of slums, Community Based Organizations have
been formed to manage community infrastructure focusing on low income groups.
Representatives of the poor include the chairperson of SIC, selected among themselves. The
selection procedure has been specified in guidelines for PDP development.
Under the project Pourashava intends to invest in its basic services to urban slums
aiming the improvement of the living conditions of slum dwellers. The components include
improvements in roads, drains, foot paths, water supply, sanitation, solid waste management
and lighting in slum areas. Specific components are identified in PRAP. The investment
projects are supposed to accomplish the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) for sustainable
environment management in the Pourashava.
Within the area of governance and infrastructure improvement, UGIIP 2 has commenced
community adaptation through participatory planning by Pourashava citizens including the slum
poor against climate change challenges. Community-based adaptation to climate change is a
community-led process, based on communities’ priorities, needs, knowledge, and capacities,
which should empower people to plan for and cope with the impacts of climate change (Reid, et
al., 2009). Adaptation in built environment emphasizes exploring innovative measures
affordable for the urban poor. Bangladesh has experience on community based disaster
management. There are enormous possibilities to explore how the built environment of the

5 
 
urban areas can be designed and improved to include the urban poor in city level development
process. These can include how to invest in resilient infrastructure -- improving drainage,
adequate disaster-safe housing, increasing access to services such as health, water and
sanitation, increased security of tenure for the informal settlements, etc. (Khan, 2008).
Climate change adaptation response depends on country specific capacity on economic,
social and human development which is closely related to income levels, inequity, urban poor
development capacity, illiteracy rate, and area disparity. The adaptive capacity is also
influenced by the finance capability of the government (ADB, 2009). In this context of fast
growing cities in Bangladesh, development in many other sectors (for instance transportation,
housing, and regional development) has been drawn the attention of the policy makers,
development practitioners and donor agencies.
Under UGIIP 2 Pourashavas, the urban poor have stipulated infrastructure development
in their PRAP that have strategic implications in response to the climate change challenges.
Install deep tube-well for pure drinking water and sanitary latrines in slum areas have been
given most priority by the poor among Pourashava services. Connect slums to pipeline water
service of Pourashavas is another priority area for the poor. The poor demands narrow drains
inside the slum to avoid water logging that can be covered with slabs to use as footpath for safe
walking. They have insisted involvement in alternative income generation that may reduce
natural resources dependency. They have initiated community based management on collecting
solid kitchen waste from door to door and dumping in Pourashava located areas.

6. CONCLUSION
Poverty and climate change challenges are closely correlated and urban poor are
disproportionately affected by a badly managed urban environment. Because of climate change
and variability, the slum poor face environmental risks in water systems, housing and
settlements, transport networks, utilities and industry that require proper environmental
management. Climate change initiatives offer clear opportunities to transform gender relations
which limit the ability of both women and men to look forward to, survive, cope with, and recover
from climate adversity. In this broad context, a holistic and gender-sensitive approach to
sustainable development of slum poverty and climate change adaptation need to be addressed.
It is now essential to develop urban adaptation strategies to prevent the climate change
risk and to take advantage of the opportunities from this foreseeable global climate change
event. In addition, sustainable adaptation is an investment to mitigate potential disasters in the
future (Laukkonen, et al., 2009). In response to these challenges, action research is needed on
testing tools for community adaptation, knowledge generation and capacity development.
Projects should share lessons learned from project activities with key stakeholders at local,
national, regional and international levels and to elicit their support for climate change
adaptation in urban areas. Successful adaptation on climate challenges should be scaled up
and lessons learned should be incorporated into the planning process.
Climate change adaptation policies should consider risks at different scales – local,
national, regional and global. Climate change adaptation discourses should be expanded by
listening to the priorities of slum poor. At the local level, actions need inclusion of effective urban
planning that insists on urban poor in decision making process and actions. Efforts should be
taken to work on improving effective participation in planning processes for the urban poor in
challenging climate, in general, and active engagement in the maintenance of community
facilities, in particular. Creation of an inventory of the challenges adaptation for slum poor
should be considered.

6 
 
 Urbanization needs to be championed by all stakeholders to improve reaction and
actions to climate change. Economic growth threatened by the impacts of severe poverty which
is worsened by climatic vulnerability. Particular attention is needed for the development of
coping strategies to address poverty that relates to the impact of climate change and that
special emphasis should be placed on the problems faced by the poor urban population. It is
needed to protect the poor against climate change impacts to ensure social and economic
stability of the country. The broad range of impacts that could be produced by climate change
on slum poverty is overwhelming. It is important to make the understanding clear of these
impacts where climate change is becoming obvious. Foremost impacts are apparent, but the
critical part is yet to come.
Finally, in line with increasing international attention to climate change, donors are
increasing their focus on climate change in Bangladesh. They now provide direct support for
programmes that reduce vulnerability to climate variability and climate change. Bangladesh has
developed some capacity for dealing with the impacts of climate change at the national level.
Policy response options have been activated to deal with vulnerability reduction to
environmental variability in general, and more recently, to climate change in particular.
Furthermore, Bangladesh Government has undertaken an initiative to establish a separate
Department of Climate under the Ministry of Environment and Forests to deal with the climate
issues and respond to climate related challenges in future.

7 
 
LITERATURE
Ahsan S. M. M., Jachnow, A. and Walsham, M., 2010, Ensuring Socially Inclusive Urban
Development - An International Perspective on Planning in Bangladesh, Paper presented in
World Town Planning Day 2010, GTZ Bangladesh, Dhaka
Chowdhury, N. A., 2008, Men, Women and the Environment - Gender Issues in Climate
Change, Climate Study Series, Unnayan Onneshan, Dhaka
Febi, D. Climate Change Urban Adaptation Strategy, Briefing paper, Institute for Essential
Services Reform (IESR)
GTZ Bangladesh, 2010, Bridging the Urban Divide in Bangladesh, Expert Report for the Joint
Conversation of the Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural
Development and Cooperatives and the Local Consultative Group Urban Sector, GTZ
Bangladesh, Dhaka
Huq, S. and Ayers, J., 2008, Climate Change Impacts and Responses in Bangladesh, Note for
Policy Department Economic and Scientific, European Parliament
Khan, H., 2008, Challenges for Sustainable Development: Rapid Urbanization, Poverty and
Capabilities in Bangladesh, unpublished
Narayan, A., Yoshida, N. and Zaman, H.,2007, Trends and Patterns of Poverty in Bangladesh in
Recent Years (draft), A background paper for Bangladesh Poverty Assessment, South Asia
Region, World Bank
Neelormi, S., 2010, Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse: Leadership Awaits
Bangladesh, A keynote paper presented in a National Dialogue, organized by Gender CC and
Center for Global Change, Dhaka
Reid, H., et al., 2009, Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change: An Overview, In
Participatory Learning and Action 60, International Institute for Environment and Development,
UK

8