The Knowledge: Climate Change Policy versus "Char" People: An Anthropological Framework.

The Bangladesh Government has already announced Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 (BCCSAP), publicly known as Climate Change Policy. By its own statement this is also part of the overall development initiatives of the country. The southern, coastal region of Bangladesh is considered the hardest hit due to rising sea levels as a result of climate change; it contains most of the Char (low lying Small Island, often described as raised riverbeds) community. But, the action plan doesn't have any specific program for the Char community; in addition it didn't count their knowledge and the root cause of vulnerability. In terms of local knowledge, this paper is going to focus on two Char communities of the Bhola district for various reasons; this community (1) is considered as extremely poor, usually deprived from land ownership and a conflict prone area over land resources, (2) is going to be the hardest hit due to rising sea levels and (3) has an extraordinary knowledge of coastal adaptation mechanisms. Besides these features, these communities seek social justice, which they think is the root cause of their vulnerability, not rising sea levels, and they do not believe that Char land will be drowned permanently. From this empirical study finding, I point out some local knowledge for BCCSAP, which has been overlooked but could be an influential factor in minimizing Char vulnerability to climate change and increasing the opportunity for successful policy action. Finally, this paper reveals it is 'Donor' whose knowledge has been considered in the climate change policy of Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]