Spatial variability of climatic hazards in Bangladesh

Climate change is evident with the extreme climatic indices changing all over the world. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. The patterns of climatic hazards here are changing with time. Such changes inevitably affect the life and livelihood of people. Focusing on this background, this study was conducted to assess the spatial variability of climatic multi-hazards in Bangladesh in relation to the extreme climate indices. To achieve the objective of this study, hydro-climatic data for the past 31 years (1990–2020) were collected from 27 stations of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department. Fifteen climate indices were calculated using the “RClimDex” software. The principle component analysis was used for assigning weightage to the selected indices as well as for the multi-hazard assessment. Using the indices, multi-hazard maps were prepared for the extreme rainfall, extreme temperature, and combined hazard (both rainfall and temperature). The multi-hazard maps identified the northeastern and southeastern parts of Bangladesh as high rainfall affected area, while the southwestern parts were revealed to be exposed to high temperature related hazards. The combined hazard map revealed most of the northern and southern region of the country to be in the “High” or “Moderate” extreme climate hazard zone categories. The findings are particularly alarming as the northern region has a high percentage of net cropped area falling in the high climate hazard zone. The findings of this study can guide the policy makers and academics from national to local level to develop and prioritize climate resilient programs based on the location-specific climatic hazards.