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Soil salinity, household wealth and food insecurity in tropical deltas: evidence from south-west coast of Bangladesh

Soil salinity, household wealth and food insecurity in tropical deltas: evidence from south-west coast of Bangladesh
Soil salinity, household wealth and food insecurity in tropical deltas: evidence from south-west coast of Bangladesh
As a creeping process, salinisation represents a significant long-term environmental risk in coastal and deltaic environments. Excess soil salinity may exacerbate existing risks of food insecurity in densely populated tropical deltas, which is likely to have a negative effect on human and ecological sustainability of these regions and beyond. This study focuses on the coastal regions of the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh, and uses data from the 2010 Household Income and Expenditure Survey and the Soil Resource Development Institute to investigate the effect of soil salinity and wealth on household food security. The outcome variables are two widely used measures of food security: calorie availability and household expenditure on food items. The main explanatory variables tested include indicators of soil salinity and household-level socio-economic characteristics. The results of logistic regression show that in unadjusted models, soil salinisation has a significant negative effect on household food security. However, this impact becomes statistically insignificant when households’ wealth is taken into account. The results further suggest that education and remittance flows, but not gender or working status of the household head, are significant predictors of food insecurity in the study area. The findings indicate the need to focus scholarly and policy attention on reducing wealth inequalities in tropical deltas in the context of the global sustainable deltas initiative and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals.
food insecurity, soil salinisation, climate change, wealth inequalities, ganges–brahmaputra delta, sustainable deltas
1862-4065
411-421
Szabo, Sylvia
01d6bb83-2775-4470-aa2b-b6afbf936187
Sohel, Sarwar
da5f1bea-039a-4b85-b803-d4dff7648cee
Adger, Neil
1afd15af-4760-4bd0-a311-ed153cc363f3
Matthews, Zoe
ebaee878-8cb8-415f-8aa1-3af2c3856f55
Ahmed, Sayem
d6ff7046-dd8a-4311-ac59-8ebb761220c0
Lazar, Attila
d7f835e7-1e3d-4742-b366-af19cf5fc881
Ahmad, Sate
5f803947-ca23-4a2a-aa86-2a0445205806
Szabo, Sylvia
01d6bb83-2775-4470-aa2b-b6afbf936187
Sohel, Sarwar
da5f1bea-039a-4b85-b803-d4dff7648cee
Adger, Neil
1afd15af-4760-4bd0-a311-ed153cc363f3
Matthews, Zoe
ebaee878-8cb8-415f-8aa1-3af2c3856f55
Ahmed, Sayem
d6ff7046-dd8a-4311-ac59-8ebb761220c0
Lazar, Attila
d7f835e7-1e3d-4742-b366-af19cf5fc881
Ahmad, Sate
5f803947-ca23-4a2a-aa86-2a0445205806

Szabo, Sylvia, Sohel, Sarwar, Adger, Neil, Matthews, Zoe, Ahmed, Sayem, Lazar, Attila and Ahmad, Sate (2016) Soil salinity, household wealth and food insecurity in tropical deltas: evidence from south-west coast of Bangladesh. Sustainability Science, 11 (3), 411-421. (doi:10.1007/s11625-015-0337-1).

Record type: Article

Abstract

As a creeping process, salinisation represents a significant long-term environmental risk in coastal and deltaic environments. Excess soil salinity may exacerbate existing risks of food insecurity in densely populated tropical deltas, which is likely to have a negative effect on human and ecological sustainability of these regions and beyond. This study focuses on the coastal regions of the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh, and uses data from the 2010 Household Income and Expenditure Survey and the Soil Resource Development Institute to investigate the effect of soil salinity and wealth on household food security. The outcome variables are two widely used measures of food security: calorie availability and household expenditure on food items. The main explanatory variables tested include indicators of soil salinity and household-level socio-economic characteristics. The results of logistic regression show that in unadjusted models, soil salinisation has a significant negative effect on household food security. However, this impact becomes statistically insignificant when households’ wealth is taken into account. The results further suggest that education and remittance flows, but not gender or working status of the household head, are significant predictors of food insecurity in the study area. The findings indicate the need to focus scholarly and policy attention on reducing wealth inequalities in tropical deltas in the context of the global sustainable deltas initiative and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals.

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Accepted/In Press date: 3 September 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 21 September 2015
Published date: May 2016
Keywords: food insecurity, soil salinisation, climate change, wealth inequalities, ganges–brahmaputra delta, sustainable deltas
Organisations: Social Statistics & Demography, Civil Maritime & Env. Eng & Sci Unit

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 381221
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/381221
ISSN: 1862-4065
PURE UUID: 14482d03-3b34-4381-9275-07ff7ee1f6fc
ORCID for Zoe Matthews: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1533-6618
ORCID for Attila Lazar: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2033-2013

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 15 Sep 2015 14:14
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:45

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Contributors

Author: Sylvia Szabo
Author: Sarwar Sohel
Author: Neil Adger
Author: Zoe Matthews ORCID iD
Author: Sayem Ahmed
Author: Attila Lazar ORCID iD
Author: Sate Ahmad

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