Perceptions of environmental changes among a climate-vulnerable population from Bangladesh

Effective climate change adaptation requires a thorough understanding of whether and how affected populations perceive climatic and environmental changes. Existing research has been inconclusive regarding the consistency of these perceptions compared to objective meteorological indicators. Moreover, no systematic comparison has been done for the perception of discrete environmental events such as floods or erosion. This study relies on novel panel survey data of approximately 1700 households residing along the Jamuna River in Bangladesh as well as on unique individual-level, satellite-based erosion data. It compares respondents’ perceptions of environmental events, namely riverbank erosion, and three climate change indicators, specifically long-term temperature change and changes in precipitation during wet and dry seasons, to objective measurements using satellite imagery and climatic time-series data (CRU TS). I find that long-term temperature change is perceived more accurately than long-term changes in precipitation. Given that educational attainment and climate change literacy among the study population are low, this indicates that global temperature increases are felt even by remote populations who have never heard the term climate change. Erosion is strongly overestimated, especially by those respondents who had been personally affected by it. Since human behavior is guided by perceptions rather than objective data, this has important policy implications, underlining the importance of considering people’s perceptions if the goal is to assist them in adapting to environmental changes.