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In recent years, many urban areas in low and middle income countries have experienced major dengue epidemics, and the city of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is one of them. Understanding models based on land cover and land use in urban areas in relation to vector abundance and possible disease transmission can be a major epidemiological tool in identifying disease incidence and prevalence. Demographic and human behavioral factors can also play a role in determining microenvironments for entomological distribution—which is a major risk factor for epidemicity. Data collected from a cross-sectional entomological survey in the city of Dhaka during the monsoon season of 2012 and two serological surveys—one pre-monsoon and another post-monsoon in 2012—were analyzed in this study. A total of 898 households and 1003 containers with water were inspected, and 1380 Ae. aegypti pupae and 4174 larvae were counted in these containers. All Stegomyia indices were found to be the highest in the central business and residential mixed zone. The odds ratios of risk factors for seroprevalence, including sex, age, self-reported febrile illness during the previous six months, and travel during the last six months, were calculated; age distribution was found to be a highly significant risk factor (p = value < 0.0001). The study offers clear patterns of dengue viral transmission, disease dynamics, and their association with critical spatial dimensions.

The production and trade of dried fish are important sources of livelihood and employment for poor people engaged in the dried fish value chain. More importantly, half of them are women. Dried fish makes a significant contribution to the food and nutrition security of the poor because it is high in calcium and other vital micronutrients. Despite its importance, work on the dried fish value chain (DFVC) continues to focus on financial value creation and linear interactions among market actors that impede the recognition of human rights, justice, food security, and power across the entire value chain. Such a neoclassical perspective on DFVC tends to undermine the complex human-nature interactions that are contingent upon specific histories, people, places, and practices. Poor fishers and dried fish processors placed at the extractive end of the value chain hold low power in the market and remain vulnerable to changing social-ecological system dynamics. The recent work on a hybrid framework of social-ecological system-oriented dried fish value chain (SESDFVC) makes a departure from the conventional dried fish value chain framework. It values dynamic resource contexts, considers upstream actors as active collaborators, and expands the notion of value to include the social-ecological wellbeing of the value chain actors. This paper, with a mixed method research framework, provides an empirical outlook of the dried fish value chain in relation to SES attributes in the context of the eastern Indian coast of the Bay of Bengal, including Odisha and West Bengal, India.

While there is a large body of literature focusing on global-level flood hazard management, including preparedness, response, and recovery, there is a lack of research examining the patterns and dynamics of community-level flood management with a focus on local engagement and institutional mechanism. The present research explores how local communities mobilize themselves, both individually and institutionally, to respond to emerging flood-related situations and recover from their impacts. A case study approach was applied to investigate two towns in the Red River Valley of Manitoba, Canada: St. Adolphe and Ste. Agathe. Data collection consisted of in-depth interviews and oral histories provided by local residents, in addition to analysis of secondary official records and documents. The findings revealed that local community-level flood preparedness, response, and recovery in the Province of Manitoba are primarily designed, governed, managed, and evaluated by the provincial government authorities using a top-down approach. The non-participatory nature of this approach makes community members reluctant to engage with precautionary and response measures, which in turn results in undesired losses and damages. It is recommended that the Government of Manitoba develop and implement a collaborative and participatory community-level flood management approach that draws upon the accumulated experiential knowledge of local stakeholders and institutions.

In general, much is known about patterns relating to flood risk reduction, coping, and adaptation in various types of communities; however, knowledge of their drivers—which are critical for building community resilience to natural hazards—is limited. The present study investigates the influencing factors of coping and adaptation measures vis-a-vis flood hazards at the community level and examines their interrelationships. This work employs a “case study” approach and analyzes two towns—St. Adolphe and Ste. Agathe—in the Red River Valley in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Data collection consisted of in-depth interviews with key informants and obtaining oral histories from the locals, along with an examination of secondary official records and documents. The results revealed that the major drivers of local-level coping and adaptation include functioning partnerships among stakeholders, strong institutional structures that facilitate interactive learning, knowledge co-production, resources sharing, communication and information sharing, and infrastructure supports. It was observed that an institutional atmosphere conducive to spontaneous network development yields diverse coping and adaptation strategies. To improve the outcomes of coping and adaptation measures, close collaboration between community-based groups and formal and quasi-formal institutions, and transparency in decision-making processes are vital.

Being strongly influenced by the landscape of the Red River Valley, geophysical and a variety of sociodemographic and economic factors, the characteristics of floods are complex in the Province of Manitoba, Canada, which causes substantial loss and damage to lives and properties. The primary objectives of this study are two-fold: (i) to identify the geophysical and human-induced conditions of floods, and examine the trend in flood loss and damage in the Province of Manitoba, Canada; and (ii) to analyze the social vulnerability perspectives of floods in the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews, as a local community case study. Using the Delphi technique, primary data were procured from the field for community-level vulnerability analysis. Secondary data for a provincial-level analysis were collected from various public domains, including governmental departments and other non-government sources. The results reveal that a nested set of geophysical and societal factors determine the degree of vulnerability of individual community members. In Manitoba, it was found that socioeconomic damages caused by floods have increased considerably over time despite undertaking costly structural flood mitigation measures. We conclude that minimization of flood damages requires complementing structural measures with knowledge-sharing, collaboration among pertinent institutions, and the adoption of an interactive flood management system approach.

Numerous studies on climate change and variability have revealed that these phenomena have noticeable influence on the epidemiology of dengue fever, and such relationships are complex due to the role of the vector—the Aedes mosquitoes. By undertaking a step-by-step approach, the present study examined the effects of climatic factors on vector abundance and subsequent effects on dengue cases of Dhaka city, Bangladesh. Here, we first analyzed the time-series of Stegomyia indices for Aedes mosquitoes in relation to temperature, rainfall and relative humidity for 2002–2013, and then in relation to reported dengue cases in Dhaka. These data were analyzed at three sequential stages using the generalized linear model (GLM) and generalized additive model (GAM). Results revealed strong evidence that an increase in Aedes abundance is associated with the rise in temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall during the monsoon months, that turns into subsequent increases in dengue incidence. Further we found that (i) the mean rainfall and the lag mean rainfall were significantly related to Container Index, and (ii) the Breteau Index was significantly related to the mean relative humidity and mean rainfall. The relationships of dengue cases with Stegomyia indices and with the mean relative humidity, and the lag mean rainfall were highly significant. In examining longitudinal (2001–2013) data, we found significant evidence of time lag between mean rainfall and dengue cases.

The aim of the study was to determine the in vitro enzyme inhibition activities of aqueous polyphenolic extracts of nine popular Bangladeshi vegetables, namely ash gourd, bitter gourd, brinjal, Indian spinach, kangkong, okra, ridge gourd, snake gourd, and stem amaranth. Polyphenolic glycosides were the major compounds present in the extracts. Inhibition of α-amylase (up to 100% at 1 mg/mL) was stronger than α-glucosidase inhibition (up to 70.78% at 10 mg/mL). The Indian spinach extract was the strongest inhibitor of pancreatic lipase activity (IC50 = 276.77 µg/mL), which was significantly better than that of orlistat (381.16 µg/mL), a drug. Ash gourd (76.51%), brinjal (72.48%), and snake gourd (66.82%) extracts were the most effective inhibitors of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), an enzyme whose excessive activities have been associated with hypertension. Brinjal also had a significantly higher renin-inhibitory activity than the other vegetable extracts. We conclude that the vegetable extracts may have the ability to reduce enzyme activities that have been associated with hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension.

Recognizing the significance of medicinal plants for rural livelihoods and primary healthcare, this paper attempted to analyze institutional interplays in medicinal plants management in Bangladesh. It assessed the governing process of natural resources by identifying cross-scale linkages of the institutions involved with managing medicinal plants. The study intended to delineate the interactional patterns and dynamics between existing formal and informal organizations toward exploring prospects of new medicinal plants governance institutions. Employing case study and participatory approaches to empirical field investigation, two intervention cases of the Livelihood and Agro-Forestry (LEAF) and Sustainable Environmental Management Program (SEMP) were assessed in two different social-ecological settings of the country. Involving 45 respondents in each site, Focus Group Discussions were carried out, and a total of 26 Key Informants were interviewed. The findings have revealed that undefined roles and responsibilities, inadequate coordination, and weak linkages among the cross-scale institutions resulted in ineffective management and relatively poor performance. Institutions with direct or indirect involvement in the process of managing medicinal plants interacted haphazardly, without much focus on the subsector and its local producers. Addressing the weaknesses, this study calls for formulating a national sub-sectoral approach focusing on strengthening and sustaining local producers and value addition to producer levels. Finally, this research offers a framework for developing a multi-stakeholder forum to govern medicinal plant resources coherently and effectively in Bangladesh.