Utilization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for Coastal Monitoring in Bangladesh: A Review on Prospects, Challenges and Way Forward

Bangladesh is recurrently cited as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Many of the anticipated adverse impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise, higher temperatures, enhanced monsoon precipitation, increase in cyclone intensity etc aggravate the existing stresses that already hindered socioeconomic development of the country. Bangladesh’s impressive economic growth was backed by its decades of systematic investments in climate resilience and disasters preparedness. Sea level rise affects the vast coastal areas and flood plain zone of Bangladesh and gradually the situation would be worsened if appropriate measures are not taken timely. Both livelihood options of coastal communities and the natural environment of the coastal zone of the country will be affected adversely by the anticipated sea level rise (50 cm by 2050). On the other hand, the utilization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles has rapidly evolved over the past decade in different parts of the world involving a variety of fields ranging from agriculture, commercial, coastal monitoring and becoming increasingly used in disaster management or humanitarian aid. Hence, this article aims to explore the prospects of utilization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for coastal monitoring in Bangladesh. This study has been initiated by collecting and reviewing primary and secondary data. Mixed-method research methodology has been used which includes both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This study has been conducted under the statistics of inferential analysis consisting t-test, Pearson correlation analysis and regression analysis. It has also considered one-way ANOVA test to examine the significant relationship among the independent and dependent variables. It is evident that applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles need to be further explored examining the existing challenges; to focus further on drone assistance for coastal monitoring. It is envisaged that with the sufficient supportive actions and policy measures, the application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for coastal monitoring including disaster management in Bangladesh appears to be promising and will improve its effectiveness.