Climate Change and Cooperation

I am also leading a series of complementary field-based projects in Chakaria, a coastal region of Bangladesh increasingly affected by floods, cyclones, and seawater intrusion. Frequent flooding and storm surges have forced many households to relocate from low-lying villages to higher ground, disrupting long-standing social ties and redistributing population across risk gradients. Seawater intrusion has caused widespread salinization of soil and drinking water, contributing to rising rates of hypertension and driving livelihood transitions from rice cultivation to shrimp aquaculture.While shrimp farming has improved incomes for some, it has also intensified salinity and fueled conflicts between rice and shrimp farmers, weakening the collective capacity to adapt to climate change. 

In Chakaria, therefore, the effects of climate change are inseparable from the social and economic transformations it sets in motion: migration and livelihood transitions are reshaping the networks through which households exchange resources, cooperate, and manage uncertainty. My current work combines household surveys, focus group interviews, and multiplex social network analysis to examine how these intertwined processes influence health and cooperation under escalating environmental risk. 

Collaborators: Mary Shenk, Anne Pisor, SM Manzoor Ahmed Hanifi