Donor climate coloniality, ecological debt and vulnerabilities in coastal Bangladesh: redesigning institutions for recognition justice

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Anwar Hossen, David Benson, Mohibul Islam Lecturer This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4527929/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 17 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Climate change impacts create survival challenges for local people in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. Government responses are typically exercised through top-down adaptation governance structures reflecting a neo-colonial perspective, evident in externally funded water development projects such as the Flood Control, Drainage and Irrigation (FCDI) scheme. Problematically, this form of donor ‘climate coloniality’ creates novel ecological debts that in turn increase localised socio-economic vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are concentrated within marginalised, poorer groups, although the attendant impacts of one climate-related ecological debt, waterlogging, are not widely understood. Two critical research questions emerge from this context: (i) in what ways does waterlogging impact marginalised groups in coastal regions?; (ii) how could adaptation institutions be decolonised to reduce resultant vulnerabilities? Primary data from research conducted in Jessore District in south western Bangladesh is utilised in answering these questions. The findings show that marginalised groups disproportionately endure the impacts of historically path dependent, climate-related ecological debts through multiple vulnerabilities such as declining crop production, loss of domestic animals and income, unemployment, price hikes for daily essentials, gendered inequalities and increasing crime, primarily resulting from their exclusion from adaptation decision-making. In response to this neo-colonial perspective, such structural domination needs to be challenged by decolonizing adaptation institutions through the integration of recognition and procedural justice interventions. Decolonized institutions based on this justice perspective could provide a governance space for recognizing local community voices related to coastal ecosystems and agricultural practices. donor climate coloniality ecological debt vulnerabilities institutions recognition justice procedural justice Figures Figure 1 Introduction Climate coloniality presents existential challenges for people in the Global South, with Sultana ( 2022a : 3) stating that this notion ‘reproduces the hauntings of colonialism and imperialism through climate impacts in the post-colony… primarily in the tropics and subtropics where climate induced disasters and shifts have been prevalent for some time’. Such postcolonial hauntings are perpetuated through four main dimensions that exacerbate the ‘slow violence’ (Nixon 2011 ) or ‘atmospheric violence’ (DeBoom 2022 ) inflicted by climate change on vulnerable ecosystems and sectors of society: emissions-based; neo-liberal capitalism; loss and damage; and, donor driven. First, at the global level, the international climate regime extends coloniality through inequitably limiting emissions reduction expectations on wealthy Northern states while placing mitigation burdens on the Global South: what Okereke and Coventry ( 2016 : 847) refer to as ‘common but shifted responsibility’. Second, neoliberal ‘climate’ or ‘fossil capitalism’ reproduces post-colonially imposed inequalities through its global promotion of consumption-driven and carbon intensive development trajectories (Altvater 2007 ; Parr 2015 ; Angus 2016 ; Sultana 2022a ). Third, international loss and damage measures privilege Northern technological or policy interventions but fail to adequately compensate Southern states in adapting to climate impacts, for which they have negligible culpability (for example, Jackson et al. 2023 ). Finally, we argue that climate coloniality exists in a fourth, institutional dimension namely through the enacting of postcolonial development funding mechanisms for climate adaptation that perpetuate long established, inequitable patterns of North-South domination and exploitation. Here, poorer countries are forced to accept externally financed and often socio-ecologically damaging adaptation solutions with only marginal input into their design or implementation (for example, Hossen et al. 2021 ). It is this donor driven dimension of climate coloniality that we seek to uncover and explain in this article through examining its impacts in one specific national context, namely Bangladesh; a country experiencing multiple climate-related vulnerabilities (UNDP 2023 ; Chowdhury et al. 2022 ). Adaptation governance in Bangladesh increasingly exhibits such a neo-colonial institutional perspective, particularly in response to growing climate change risks. These institutional structures date back to the pre-independence period of Pakistan control, when several major water development projects were implemented including the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP) (Awal 2014 ) and the Flood Control, Drainage and Irrigation (FCDI) program (Talukdar and Shamsuddin 2012). One major component of the FCDI program was the construction of polders or embankments in the coastal zone in the early 1960s (WARPO 2019 ). This approach was then extended by international donors such as US-Aid and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through the construction of major flood infrastructure under the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP), followed by subsequent funded projects by the European Community (EC) and the FAO/World Bank Cooperative Program. The influence of this neo-colonial perspective lives on through recent initiatives adopted to counter climate change impacts such as flooding, sea level rise and saline intrusion. For example, the ADB sponsored Khulna Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project (KJDRP) was constructed between 1994 and 2003, in order to mitigate such impacts. The Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, aimed primarily at reducing flood risks in coastal areas, is being implemented by the Government of Bangladesh in collaboration with the Netherlands and World Bank (van Alphen et al. 2021 ). One significant criticism of such top-down, donor driven adaptation governance is that it often fails to consider local conceptualisations of climate change or localised policy input (Hossen et al. 2022 ). More problematically, it is generating environmental and socio-economic externalities. In Bangladesh, this donor climate coloniality is creating novel types of ‘ecological debts’ (Goeminne and Paredis 2010 ; Warlenius et al. 2015 ). Since colonial times natural resources have been directly transferred via inequitable exchange from the Global South to the North, often by ‘plundering, ecological damage and social oppression’ (Goeminne and Paredis 2010 : 692). Ecological debts then accrue in the Global South in the form of pollution, resource depletion and environmental degradation. However, the concept has been expanded to include instances where exploitation of ecosystems in one country by another causes ecological damage ‘at the expense of the equitable rights to these ecosystems’ (Warlenius et al. 2015 : 25). Such debts therefore accumulate in Bangladesh not only through direct extractive processes of capitalist accumulation but also indirectly via the damage caused to ecosystems by neo-colonial adaptation schemes funded by the Global North, as an outcome of climate coloniality. In this respect, externally funded polderisation projects have, ironically, increased rather than reduced climate risks through their ‘encroachment’ into private lands and natural ecosystems (Sovacool 2018 : 189). For example, a major cause of waterlogging in coastal areas is flooding caused by siltation of river beds resulting from polder construction (Nowreen et al. 2014 ; Awal 2014 ; Nath et al. 2022 ; see also Gain et al. 2017 ). Defined as ‘the submergence or inundation of areas for a long time without adequate drainage’, climate-related waterlogging has become an increasingly severe hazard in southern coastal districts (Tareq et al. 2018 : 230). Climate change effects such as intense storm events, tidal inundation and river flooding are in turn exacerbating waterlogging problems from adaptation interventions. Waterlogging increased from 832 ha in 1973 to 35,606 ha in 2015 in the Satkhira District in southern Bangladesh: a 43 fold increase (Islam et al. 2018 : 52). The historical legacy of such institutionalized debts is also increasing climate related vulnerabilities amongst coastal populations, disproportionately affecting marginalized and poorer sections of society (Hossen et al. 2021 ). However, research conducted into waterlogging has generally focused on spatial mapping of impacts (Islam et al. 2018 ), monitoring of drainage systems (Rashid 2023 ), quantifying loss and damage (Nithila et al. 2021), adaptation strategies (Awal 2014 ; Shaibur et al. 2019 ; Islam et al. 2020 ; Rahman et al. 2023 ), and assessing implications for agriculture and food security (Alam 2017 ; Ahmed and Ambinakudige 2023 ). Quantitative socio-economic data on waterlogging effects in Bangladesh is available (Alam 2017 ; Nath et al. 2019 ; Nithila et al. 2022 ; Rahman et al. 2023 ). But apart from Sultana’s ( 2010 : 43) qualitative analysis of gendered impacts from ‘hazardous waterscapes’, in depth sociological research into the wider vulnerabilities of marginalised groups caused by waterlogging in coastal regions is limited; presenting a gap in knowledge. In relation to these vulnerabilities, this article seeks to answer two significant questions. First, in what ways does waterlogging impact marginalised groups in coastal regions? Second, how could adaptation institutions be decolonised to reduce resultant vulnerabilities? To answer these questions, this article initially outlines the methods used, based upon analysis of primary data collected by the authors. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and case studies were undertaken to investigate local perspectives on waterlogging in Jessore, a coastal district in Bangladesh, using a qualitative research design. After identifying how ecological debts are impacting the vulnerabilities of local people in the district, our analysis then discusses how adaptation institutional design could be decolonised to reduce vulnerabilities. A specific problem discussed is the historically embedded ‘path dependency’ (Pierson 2004 ) or incumbency of institutional arrangements that support donor climate coloniality while militate against reform. Another factor is the pre-dominance of neo-colonial institutional discourses in water governance, constituting what Schmidt ( 2008 : 310) refers to as the ‘coordinative’ and ‘communicative’ discourses, through which such ideas are politically operationalised. One approach, we argue, is to integrate recognition justice (Honneth 2004 ; Benjaminsen et al. 2022 ) into multi-level adaptation institutions through normative and procedural change, thereby moving from what Sultana ( 2022a : 7–8) calls the ‘discursive and epistemological’ of decolonisation agendas to the ‘material and political’ of practical application. Methods Research Design and Study Location In depth, qualitative research is important for gaining insight into how ecological debts are impacting vulnerabilities in Bangladesh through waterlogging. It necessarily involves multiple sites and groups of people over time, utilising extensive data collection techniques such as observations, interviews, audio visuals, and documents, and analysing them with thematic concepts and case specific description (Creswell 1998 ). The study conducted by the authors examined the theme of waterlogging in the coastal area of Bangladesh and its links to donor climate coloniality and environmental debts. In answering the two research questions, this study focused on two sub-districts, Abhaynagar and Manirampur, in Jessore District (Fig. 1 ) as the overall fieldwork site as they are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, particularly waterlogging. Five villages within these two sub-districts, Rajapur, Sundali, Gobindopur Ziadanga, and Gabukhali, were selected as the fieldwork sub-sites for this study. This geographical area is part of a freshwater ecosystem with a complex network of wetlands, canals, and rivers which are vital for environmental and community sustainability. Gobindopur, Ziadanga, and Gabukhali villages are located in Dumuria Beel or wetland; Sundali and Rajapur villages are sited on the banks of Beel Jhirka. Both the Beel Jhirka and Dumuria are connected with Beel Bhabodah and are important components of the wider freshwater ecosystem in coastal Bangladesh. Sampling and Data Collection The study was based on non-probability sampling, specifically convenience sampling, to select the study respondents and fieldwork sites. Secondary data, including government documents, newspaper reports and preliminary research findings were used in selecting the study villages. In selecting the sample respondents, specific criteria considered included their exposure to climatic events and socioeconomic status. Household heads, chosen to be representative in terms of gender, age, and economic conditions, were the major respondents included in the study in order to understand how waterlogging was leading to vulnerabilities. For this purpose, semi-structured questionnaires, comprising standardised questions relating to the study themes (climate coloniality, ecological debt, vulnerabilities), were used to inform five Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), five Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and 15 case studies to uncover local perspectives on waterlogging. The questionnaire was administered in the local Bengali language, with importance given to questioning using local dialects spoken in the fieldwork site. The data were collected between November-December, in the Late Autumn season or hemanta , when local people were less affected by monsoon rainfall and flooding. The study ensured that respondents’ identities were protected through use of an ethics protocol, designed for research involving human subjects, which ensured implementation of informed consent, freedom to withdraw from the study and protection of personal identification information. Where respondents were not literate, researchers conveyed these rights verbally and then sought verbal consent. During the data analysis stage, pseudonyms of the FGD, KIIs and case study participants were used to protect their privacy. A data collection logbook was also maintained to ensure data quality, reliability and validity in the study. Qualitative Data Analysis Collected data were first transcribed into Bengali before translation into English. Afterwards, the data were analysed and coded to identify key themes relating to donor climate coloniality, ecological debt and vulnerabilities. For this paper, specific quotes were extracted from the translated data to support the findings. Published academic sources were also employed to supplement the analysis, particularly for historically contextualising climate coloniality. Here, climate coloniality, as a causal or independent variable, is defined as the climate impacts of colonial pathologies (‘hauntings’), specifically international donor institutions, on local socio-ecological systems. Because of this donor climate coloniality, externally imposed ecological debt in the form of waterlogging is a growing problem that acts as intermediate variable in causing socioeconomic vulnerabilities (the dependent variable), as discussed below. Climate coloniality, waterlogging and vulnerabilities Climate coloniality Colonial ‘hauntings’ in Bangladesh are perpetuated through two main pathologies: externally imposed adaptation interventions (donor climate coloniality) and inequitable global emissions that drive increasing severity in domestic climatic events. However, the research primarily focused on understanding how the former pathology had created ecological debts through waterlogging and their resultant vulnerabilities. The coloniality roots of waterlogging extend back some decades to an institutional ‘rationalization’ (Nowreen et al. 2014 : 264) of water management in coastal Bangladesh. One major reason for waterlogging is a water development programme implemented under the national 20-year Master Plan for water in the 1960s (Adnan 2022 ) known as the Flood Control, Drainage and Irrigation (FCDI) initiative. Based upon the Dutch system of polders, or low lying drained land enclosed by embankments, the FCDI involved 58 projects across the coastal areas (Nowreen et al. 2014 ). The FCDI also aimed to promote production of High Yield Varieties (HYVs) of rice through major water development schemes, including the Ganges-Kobadak and Meghna-Dhonagoda projects. In addition, the FCDI led to the construction of major flood infrastructures such as the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP), established with foreign development assistance from US-Aid and the Asian Development Bank. This project involved creating coastal embankments, based on western flood control measures, to prevent saline intrusion and storm surges. Although the polder system functioned well for the first 10–15 years in preventing seawater entering agricultural land, keeping rice yields high, siltation in drainage channels thereafter caused waterlogging due to overtopping (Nowreen et al. 2014 ). This form of donor climate coloniality is increasingly evident in the fieldwork site. As a result of the FCDI, between 1986–1988 the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) developed projects to reduce waterlogging with the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) (Adnan 2022 ). After the cyclone in April 1991, that killed 140,000 people also damaging property and agricultural crops and creating salinity effects in coastal Bangladesh, the World Bank executed another project (ID number P009435) to rehabilitate embankments or polders with US $ 19 million provided by the European Community (EC) and Japan under the FAO/World Bank Cooperative Program. Between 1994–2003 the ADB implemented the Khulna Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project (KJDRP), costing US $ 44.9 million, in eight sub-districts of Khulna and Jessore Districts to recover 100,600 hectares waterlogged land and generate government revenue from agriculture (Asian Development Bank 2007). Government agencies including the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), who implemented the KJDRP. This project focused on floodplains and low-lying lands seasonally inundated and waterlogged due to the Coastal Embankment Project. The major goal of the KJDRP was to renovate drainage infrastructure to reduce waterlogging and protect the project area from climatic events such as tidal surges and flooding. The Project also aimed to reduce poverty amongst local people by increasing agricultural production and on-farm employment opportunities. As part of poverty reduction measures for 800,000 people in Southwest Bangladesh, the KJDRP wanted to return waterlogged farmlands to productivity while increasing commercial fish production in local water bodies in 100,000 hectares or 25 percent of the total area of the Coastal Embankment Project (Asian Development Bank 2007). As a result of the subsequent failure of the KJDRP to meet these goals, the study area still continues to endure a legacy of waterlogging that has extended ecological debts from development assistance programmes. Ecological debt: waterlogging Because of these successive interventions, waterlogging is a growing problem. Around 128 thousand hectares of land were inundated in Jessore, Satkhira and Khulna (Awal 2014 ). Associated ecological debts in terms of water and soil pollution have been created. The CEP, FCDI, and KJDRP infrastructures have increased the commercialisation of agricultural practices and decreased the scope for traditional livelihood practices (ibid.). The declining riverine system and associated climatic impacts on aquatic life due to wetland transformation for commercial agriculture cause further ecological damage (Talukder and Shamsuddin 2012 ). Due to this situation, local people fail to use their land for livelihood activities and elites exploit their vulnerability by controlling the waterlogged areas (ibid.). The extent of the waterlogging problem is visible in Jessore District. For example, dredging and re-excavation of the Mukteshwari, Shree and Shoilmari Rivers has led to sedimentation and waterlogging. The construction of a coastal embankment enclosed tidal floodplains inside a polder system. The rivers that once discharged into the tidal delta now deposit sediment in their channels, causing impaired flows, overtopping and waterlogging of adjacent polders. Trapped water is unable to drain into the Bay of Bengal, while tidal flows cannot enter local wetlands and other water bodies. To illustrate this issue, one KII-4 Respondent (1) from Uttoron argued that: Dredging and digging canals cannot be functional until the embankment is eradicated. The two rivers, Morichap and Betna, in Satkhira had been dredged several times in the last few years and the canals associated with them were dug in ensuring free flowing of river water but it did not work out and the waterlogging problem remained almost the same. The construction of infrastructure for the CEP, FCDI, and KJDRP projects, such as culverts, bridges, roads, and flood controls is also responsible for increasing waterlogging in Rajapur, Sundali, Gobindopur, Ziadanga, and Gabukhali. Culvert construction is a particular problem. A participant in FGD-3, Respondent 2, described this point specifically: In our Rajapur village, the government constructed nine culverts across the road so that water can flow into a local wetland, Beel Jhirka, which is connected with the Shree River. A faster flow is important during the monsoon season when rain water causes growing concerns over waterlogging. Thus, culverts are not helpful in reducing waterlogging and it is a growing concern. Vulnerabilities These waterlogging debts have created significant socio-economic vulnerabilities within the study area. Inter-related vulnerabilities relate to: loss of crop production; loss of domestic animals; unemployment, income loss and displacement; price rises for essential goods and services; gendered inequalities for women and girls; and, rising crime. Loss of crop production Waterlogging disrupts local crop cultivation, which relies on the freshwater ecosystem. Due to waterlogging, most farmers fail to produce any crops on flooded land where several crops were once grown. Reflecting the views of farmers, Respondent 3, from Rajapur village stated in FGD-3 that: Every year, we got three different crops from our land. Even those lands in the middle of Ziadanga beel [wetland] provided at least two harvests but waterlogging [buron, in the local language] has disrupted seasonal crop production. Now the whole beel remains under water for the whole year. Even those lands on relatively higher ground in the beel rarely successfully produce a single crop. Echoing this respondent, a FGD-1 participant (Respondent 4), described his challenges in producing even a single crop each year due to waterlogging. In the short term, crop loss and damage meant that maintaining his family’s daily survival was difficult. Furthermore, repeated waterlogging over several years had weakened his resilience to climatic events due to the negative impacts on the family’s financial and material resources. Marginalised groups therefore experience disproportionately increased vulnerabilities from crop losses compared to wealthier farmers and land owners who are better placed to financially absorb them by shifting production to higher ground. These findings reflect those of Alam et al. ( 2017 ) who show how waterlogging causes significant crop damage in coastal districts. Loss of domestic animals The loss of domestic animals caused by waterlogging further limits the scope for local agricultural practices. The availability of grazing land is reduced by stagnant water inundation of pastures. Fodder for cows and goats also depends on rice paddy cultivation, which has declined due to waterlogging causing further difficulties in nurturing domestic animals. One FGD-5 Respondent (5), a villager, expressed his concerns: We used to produce straw and rice bran (bichali and Kura in the local language) for our cows and goats. But as we cannot produce rice we have to buy them and the price is very high, we cannot nurture domestic animals. Commercial fodder is therefore becoming more expensive. Richer farmers sell their rice paddy bran at a premium, further increasing their income. The FGD-1 Respondent (6), describes this price gouging in the following statement: Whereas previously the price of per cown (the local term for 160 bundles) of straw was 1500–2000 BDT, now it is usually 7000–8000 BDT. Due to these market distortions, domestic animal nurturing is decreasing while commercial production is increasing. This commodity driven process has displaced the scope for marginalised groups to farm animals while rich landowners, better able to overcome waterlogging vulnerabilities, are taking control over livestock production under this neoliberal driven development perspective. Another intervening factor is lack of adequate shelter for animals. Waterlogging means that goyals , or traditional animal shelters, become inundated with saline water. Poorer farmers are unable to repair them or build new ones due to the loss of trees caused by saline waterlogging. Animals then suffer disease and sickness linked to saline water contamination in waterlogged shelters. Another FGD-3 Respondent (6), stated that: During the boro (summer) season in 2019, I had three cows in my goyal but saline water entered it and gradually my cows became ill and did not eat any food. So, I had to sell them at a very low price. Unemployment, income loss and displacement With large scale commercialised agriculture better placed to cope with waterlogging, incomes of local marginalised groups in lower socioeconomic conditions do not increase in a proportionate ratio, forcing poorer farmers to seek alternative employment. Due to destruction of ecosystems by waterlogging, these people also encounter the loss of alternative employment opportunities from activities such as fishing from local water bodies. Consequently, unemployment is increasing while people seeking employment are exploited by local entrepreneurs. Marginalised groups are particularly vulnerable to unemployment. Women who are aged or disabled cannot easily access the new industrial job opportunities for multiple reasons such as the physical demands or new skills required. Many older people remain unemployed because of their inability to work in these new sectors. Government policy however focuses little on ensuring their employment opportunities or social security. Different groups of people, including women farmers, poor farmers and day labourers experience higher levels of income loss from unemployment. They also encounter the occupational transformations caused by capitalist economic restructuring of labour markets. When a labourer is older, younger, disabled or female, they can experience income vulnerabilities. FGD-2 Respondent (7), described his income (or ion in the local language) concerns over waterlogging in the following way: I usually worked for the rich farmers and earned 400 BDT per day in normal times and 600–800 BDT during the harvesting and planting time. But now these opportunities are not available as there is no rice cultivation due to waterlogging. Even when I get some work, the wage for the same job task is only 200–250 BDT. When asked about the reasons for decreasing daily wages, a wealthy landowner respondent from FGD-1 (Respondent 8) explained that: Now we [the land owners] can produce very little. Only a few lands in high areas produce crops. And a lot of people have no work. So, we can hire a labourer at a lower price and they are available to work at this price rate. At the frontline of income loss are vulnerable people such as women, the aged and disabled. In addition to income loss, they are exploited through income discrimination, lower wages and even no wages. Women encounter wage discrimination by receiving a lesser wage for the same types of work done by men. Many in lower socioeconomic conditions work as servants for rich families, in return for food as payment. Livelihood displacement and forced migration are also growing concerns for unemployed people. For example, local people in Sundali and Rajapur are migrating to Noapara as industrial job opportunities are available in this location. They then encounter difficult employment conditions in brick kilns, shrimp aquaculture, jute mills, river ports, construction and rickshaw/van driving which involve multiple insecurities such as wage discrimination, overwork without payment, no sick leave, no retirement benefits and firing without notice. For example, FGD-5 participant (Respondent 9) described how: I had been working in the Bengal Jute Mill in Noapara between the months of March to July and at the end of July they fired me without any reason. KII-4 participant (Respondent 10), a local NGO representative, explained why this occurred: As there are a lot of labourers who are jobless because of their agricultural losses, the Mahajan [traders] and industrialists replace them with others who are willing to work for a lower salary. Price rises In addition to unemployment, income loss and displacement, waterlogging causes increasing prices of daily necessities such as vegetables, rice, fruit and fodder. Price hikes cause challenges for marginalised groups in lower socioeconomic conditions as the income for wage labourers does not increase to reflect them. Prices are also higher than other regions in Bangladesh due to decreasing local agricultural production and higher transportation costs. Waterlogging causes production loss and damage, forcing locals to buy rather than grow staple foods. Respondent 11, from FGD-4, described how: Usually we never had to buy rice before. Those who have land produced plenty of rice and those who have no land worked on other people’s land to get rice in exchange. Such goods are expensive since they need to be imported from other districts. Waterlogging also creates major challenges for the movement of goods and services along partially flooded roads. Other less obvious price rises occur due to waterlogging. Transport workers who buy new vehicles such as a rickshaw or van need to keep it in a commercial garage far away from their home as roads are often flooded thereby preventing owners from taking vehicles home after work. Garage rental charges cause further increases in livelihood expenditures. In case study-8, Respondent 13, a rickshaw puller from Sundali village, explained his problem: I cannot bring my rickshaw home because of bad road conditions during the rainy season. I had to keep it in a garage which requires spending the rental cost of one fifth of my income. Gendered inequalities Waterlogging and its increasing effects on seasonal crop production also cause the loss of gendered ecological knowledge. Local people fail to practice their agricultural knowledge due to reduced production and they are then forced into low paid employment. The major victims are marginalised, poorer women. For example, they lose their unique knowledge of harvesting and preserving indigenous crop seeds as this is unsuitable for commercial agricultural production. Local women lose their knowledge of home gardening, also reducing their consumption of fresh vegetables from household sources. They also lose income from vegetable selling, adding to their financial stress. Furthermore, they do not share their crop seeds and vegetables with neighbours, reducing the opportunities for social sharing and community benefits. Loss of domestic animals also creates gendered vulnerabilities. Most households do not now have any goyal and must depend on the market for milk and meat consumption. Marginalised women in lower socioeconomic conditions then fail to consume the minimum milk and meat protein required to maintain their health due to poverty, limiting their long term physical and mental development. The loss of extra income from selling domestic animals impacts women disproportionately to men. As household incomes decline, women lose their autonomy for saving as well as freedom for personal expenditure, restricting their scope for empowerment. In addition, economic vulnerabilities caused by agricultural production losses, unemployment and reduced incomes result in growing use of child labour, as families struggle to survive. For boys, this can mean participating in insecure, poorly paid employment such as lead production or rickshaw pulling rather than attending school. Families may have little choice. For example, in FGD-2 Respondent 14, a villager from Gabukhali, asked: If I cannot even earn money to buy food and clothes, how can I let my children go to school? The situation is often worse for girls from poorer families. Income loss and economic stress increase girls’ dropout from school earlier than boys, impairing their life chances and the prospect of decent livelihoods. Despite the practice being outlawed in Bangladesh , girls are increasingly victims of child marriage in coastal areas. To support family incomes, many girls work as poorly paid household servants or shrimp seed collectors. Due to their vulnerable employment conditions, girls can be sexually exploited or even forced to marry an older person (see also Hossen et al. 2021 ). Families from other districts also avoid arranging matrimonial relations with women from this waterlogged area. This feature was highlighted in case study-1, where Respondent 15 from Ziadanga stated that: I have two daughters, aged 21 and 18, and we were searching for potential grooms but the families from other districts avoid our location due to its muddy and waterlogged roads and salinity problems. Finally, waterlogging also creates gendered vulnerabilities through health impacts. Seawater inundation of coastal districts contaminates drinking water. Poorer women collect contaminated water from ponds for washing, cooking and drinking causing major health and wellbeing issues. Elevated levels of sodium chloride in drinking water can cause gestational hypertension and associated high blood pressure during pregnancy. Hypertension is a major reason for high levels of maternal death and stillbirths in coastal districts. Between 2011 and 2014, a 36.9 percent rise in this condition occurred in pregnant women (Siddique 2018 ). Since 2012, 28 percent of women giving birth experienced pre-eclampsia (ibid.). Crime In addition to rising rental costs for transport, local people increasingly encounter theft of their vehicles as vulnerable individuals impacted by deteriorating economic conditions turn to crime. Although not directly attributable to waterlogging, theft is nonetheless a growing problem in the study area involving vehicles, agricultural machinery and storage crops. In case study-9, Respondent 16, a motorised rickshaw driver from Ziandanga, explained how this social problem significantly affected his livelihood: A few days ago, I kept my easy-bike at a garage in Magura bazar (or Magura market) as I could not bring it home because of the muddy road. Unfortunately, the easy-bike battery was stolen by someone and replaced with an outdated battery. Problematically, for self-employed individuals such a theft is economically damaging since it reduces their earning capacity and economic security. Discussion: decolonising adaptation institutional design The institutional path dependency of climate coloniality Donor climate coloniality has created a damaging legacy of ecological debt in the study area. One way of analysing it is to engage in new institutionalism theory. While definitions of institutions vary, typically they are understood to be a ‘structural feature’ of society or political systems that can be ‘formal (a legislature, an agency in the public bureaucracy, or a legal framework), or [they] may be informal (a network of interacting organisations, or a set of shared norms)’ (Peters 2012 : 19). Institutions, moreover, shape individual behaviour and reflect shared values over time (ibid.). In the case of waterlogging, multi-level donor institutions including Northern governments and foreign development funders, plus national government agencies and local governments have repeatedly intervened to discursively implement adaptation policy solutions that reflect accepted water management practice in the Global North. In doing so, they have imposed climate colonialism and resultant ecological debts that have generated a multiplicity of socio-economic vulnerabilities; from crop loss to gendered inequalities. Scholars have long-argued that postcolonial discourses have supported the continuance of inequitable North-South relations (for overviews see Bhambra 2014 ; Mongria 2021). Moreover, discursive imposition of such water management ideas could be interpreted by ‘coordinative’ and ‘communicative’ discursive institutionalism (Schmidt 2008 : 310). Here, coordinative discourses are employed to determine action between policy actors, while communicative discourses convey such actions taken to the public (ibid.). In respect of the former, imported top-down, technocratic engineering solutions such as polderisation have been used to coordinate national policy development by donor institutions, becoming an accepted adaptation norm for project funding in Bangladesh despite the inappropriateness of policy transfer. Such ‘reductionist’ water management discourses (Zeitoun et al. 2016 ) have then been communicated by government agencies to local level implementers and the public in the imposition of adaptation governance. There is also a temporal dimension to these neo-colonial institutions. Pierson ( 2004 : 10) explains how institutions, once established, are often subject to ‘the dynamics of self-reinforcing or positive feedback processes’. Path dependency can then develop whereby once established an institution becomes progressively resistant to change due to this self-reinforcement (ibid.). Institutions then become ‘sticky’ or ‘locked-in’ (Pierson 2000 ; Thelen 2000 ). Rather than radical evolution, institutions then evolve through incremental ‘layering ... [that] involves the grafting of new elements onto an otherwise stable institutional framework’ (Thelen 2004 : 35). These path dependent elements are evident in adaptation governance in Bangladesh’s coastal districts. Originating in the 1960s, the CEP, FCDI, KJDRP and Delta Plan 2100 have became institutionally ‘layered’ upon each other through a process of positive discursive feedback, ‘locking-in’ external development solutions into the institutional practice of foreign donors and Bangladesh government agencies that do not adequately reflect local ecosystems or the preferences of citizens. Such interventions therefore reflect what Shiva ( 1988 : 4) refers to as ‘maldevelopment’. Or more accurately in this specific case, ‘maladaptation’, whereby governance solutions create unintended negative consequences (Barnett and O’Neill 2010: 211). Problematically, without institutional reform, these historical debts and vulnerabilities will progressively increase as Bangladesh experiences the ‘slow violence’ (Nixon 2011 ) of climate change through intensifying storms, river flooding, coastal inundation and sea level rise. There is, we argue, scope to counter waterlogging through active decolonisation of externally imposed adaptation governance: what Lorenzoni and Benson ( 2014 ) term ‘radical institutional change’. In support of a decolonising agenda for climate change, Sultana ( 2022a : 102638) stresses the importance of challenging colonialised knowledge systems and transforming multi-level climate governance to ensure greater equity. For meeting the latter objective it is argued that ‘structural changes are necessary in international governance for equitable recognition and distributive justice to occur across and between countries’ (ibid.). Radical governance reform, we argue, is therefore required to both integrate decolonial critiques into multi-level institutional knowledge systems alongside meaningful structural change in order to counter past inequities. Recognition and procedural justice One potential means of decolonising adaptation discourses and practices is to integrate justice-based principles into adaptation institutions, to give voice to marginalised groups. Here, justice offers the potential for guiding transformative change in climate governance through addressing ecological debts (Warlenius et al. 2015 ; Warlenius 2018 ; see also Newell et al. 2021 ; Sultana 2022b ). While justice informs a broad theoretical cannon of academic arguments, the concept of recognition justice provides a potentially new perspective for reforming climate governance (Benjaminsen et al. 2022 ; see also Hordequin 2016 ; Chu and Michael 2018 ). In this respect, the work of Axel Honneth ( 2004 ) could offer both normative and procedural options for guiding decolonisation. Rather than conventional rights-based conceptions of justice that aim at reducing inequalities through redistribution, for example Rawls ( 1971 ), Honneth ( 2004 ) argues that justice is found through ‘recognition’ of individuals otherwise marginalised in society. This plural theory of justice normatively recommends individual ‘identity formation’ through ‘participating in the public realm’ via several recognition spheres, namely the production of ‘self-esteem’, ‘love’ and ‘equal treatment in law’ (ibid.: 351). For example, women’s empowerment is argued to relate to ‘contractually secured rights and hence made an imperative of legal recognition’ (ibid.: 362). Recognition also raises questions of procedure (Benjaminsen et al. 2022 ), especially in societies such as Bangladesh where participation is often correlated with hierarchically embedded power. Without equitable access to decision-making processes, marginalised individuals are ergo unlikely to achieve recognition, requiring procedural justice. According to Neal et al. ( 2014 : 4), this concept also relates to fairness in decision-making, which occurs ‘if the manner in which the decision was made is deemed just or fair’ by participants. Decolonising adaptation institutions Decolonising adaptation institutions must therefore aim at discursive, epistemological, material and political change through integrating justice. This change, we argue, should operate at both formal and informal institutional levels through firstly recognising local voices and secondly reflecting them in decision-making procedures. At the formal institutional level, justice is required at the international scale. International organizations such as the UNDP, donor agencies such as the World Bank and national government agencies including USAID and DFID UK should seek to better recognise local community voices in their project lending decisions. The World Bank, in response to past criticism of its sustainability credentials (for example, Reed 2013 ), adopted an Environmental and Social Framework policy in 2018 (World Bank 2023 ) that claims to integrate sustainable development into project financing in respect of stakeholder engagement. However, the Bank has, in the past, used environmental policy integration in Bangladesh to extend its political power rather than respecting local interests (Richardson and Cashmore 2011 ; Cashmore et al. 2014 ). Problematically, as the above account shows, reductionist water development discourses still appear imposed on local communities rather than projects being driven by their preferences. In Bangladesh, government institutions also need to better recognise and include local perspectives rather than propagating neo-colonial discourses in water infrastructure decision-making. Government policy emphasises Participatory Water Management (PWM) that includes different stakeholders, including citizens, private sector actors and local government (MoWR 2000). Guidelines for People’s Participation (GPP) were also adopted by the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) in 1994 to help integrate local peoples’ views in policy implementation (ibid.). This approach was then given legal backing through its incorporation into the Water Management Act (WMA) 2014, which assigned responsibilities of specific actors in the management process (MoWR 2014). However, GPP is implemented in an institutionally top-down manner that reflects both external and local donor interests rather than recognising citizens’ interests. The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and Local Government Engineering Department have applied the Guidelines primarily to mobilise local people and resources in support of externally funded projects, i.e. as a legitimating mechanism. Moreover, Water Management Organizations (WMOs), the key institutional mechanisms for implementing PWM that include Water Management Groups, the Water Management Association and Water Management Federation, are procedurally dominated by the demands of local financial donors such as village chiefs ( matobbar ), wealthy landowners and business people, who seek to profit from water development projects. Dissent expressed by WMO committees against top-down, donor driven water development projects can lead to their dissolution by the Ministry, while local government officials can be excluded from project decision-making for similar reasons. These observations reflect Sovacool’s ( 2018 : 188) findings on adaptation policy in Bangladesh that encompasses ‘exclusionary forms of planning or implementation at the national scale to elite domination at the community scale’. Institutions such as WMOs should therefore reflect procedural and recognition justice through greater inclusivity for marginalised groups in their adaptation planning but also recognise local knowledge of freshwater ecosystems in their decisions. A burgeoning academic literature on collaborative and participatory water management contains multiple institutional designs that could provide potential models (for example, Sabatier et al. 2005; Ostrom 2009 ). At the informal level, adaptation governance could involve adopting pre-existing institutional forms that eschew neo-colonial discourses and structures altogether, in order to increase representation of marginalised groups. Here, Shiva’s ( 2002 ) decentralized ‘water democracies’ could be a means of decolonising such institutional arrangements through a reversion back to traditional community approaches to better protect the freshwater ecosystem. Nath et al. ( 2019 ) show how community hydrological interventions can reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities: a process that is already occurring in the study area. As a response to past waterlogging, local people cut some of the embankments and restored water flows to wetlands such as Beel Bhaina, Beel Tedbar and Beel Dakatia. After cutting the embankments, waterlogging in these wetlands decreased significantly. In response, a participant in the FGD-4, Respondent 17 from Sundali village stated: Cutting of embankments is the only solution to overcoming the waterlogging problem. This embankment removal in Beel Bhaina, Beel East Khukshia, Beel Kedaria, and Beel Dhakatia connected them with the Hamkura River, which works better in reducing the waterlogging problem. This practice reflects tidal river management (TRM), a process that involves flooding of polders, using ebb tidal river water (Hossain et al. 2015 ). Water is allowed into natural depressions when salinity in rivers is low during the monsoon season, then local people construct temporary embankments and sluice-gates to keep seawater out (Nowreen et al. 2014 : 266). Controlled flooding in this way replenishes the sediment on agricultural land. Reintroduced to the area by locals in the 1990s, TRM is effectively a traditional land management approach practiced for centuries before the polderisation of coastal areas (ibid.). Advantages include maintaining soil fertility by sediment replacement and raising levels of agricultural land as a counter to river flooding. TRM is also shown to help integrate local ecological knowledge and preferences into water management (Gain et al. 2017 , 2019 ), support social learning (Mutahara et al. 2018 ); recognise hydrological cycles (Nowreen et al. 2014 ); reduce local vulnerabilities (Nath et al. 2019 ); and help resolve water management conflicts (Mutahara et al. 2019 ; Nath et al. 2022 ). In Jessore, local people’s knowledge of tidal flows can then be an effective informal institutional mechanism for realising a justice perspective. These tidal flows are important in restoring ecological capital, reducing waterlogging and enhancing agricultural practices for community livelihood. For example, after locals cut the embankment, the width of the Hari River increased three times, thereby reducing flooding of adjacent fields. Although the BWDB now recognises local people’s perspectives as an effective approach to resolving the waterlogging problem, it still fails to incorporate this procedural justice perspective in its water policies or incorporate it into water development projects such as the KJDRP. As a result, this top-down institutional framework also fails to give a voice to marginalised groups due to its dominance by powerful landed interests. To increase both recognition and procedural justice, one Key Informant-1 (Respondent 18) who is a local official, stated: The implementation of TRM needs to coordinate the entire coastal zone and diverse groups of stakeholders. More specifically, the domination of local elites needs to be neutralised and marginalised groups of people need to be recognised in tidal river management and in overcoming waterlogging. Conclusions This article aimed to answer two questions related to the how waterlogging was impacting marginalised groups in coastal regions in Bangladesh and how adaptation institutions could be decolonised to mitigate resultant vulnerabilities. Research conducted in the Jessore District using focus group discussions, key informant interviews and case studies show how donor climate coloniality in the form of ‘reductionist’, foreign donor informed water engineering projects had increased ecological debts through widespread waterlogging. These debts in turn had led to multiple socio-economic vulnerabilities that were concentrated amongst marginalised groups, most notably poorer farmers and women. Vulnerabilities identified by the research include loss of crop production, loss of domestic animals, unemployment, income loss and displacement, price rises, gendered inequalities and rising crime. In response, it is argued that the CEP, FCDI, and KJDRP projects reflect the path dependency and multi-level institutional lock-in of neo-colonialism. Decolonising such institutional structures to reverse ‘maldevelopment’ could be achieved at the formal level by integrating recognition and procedural justice for marginalised groups into multi-level water governance, involving foreign governments, development donors, national government agencies and local government. Informal institutional change could occur through employing traditional management structures and practices such as TRM that not only provide a better ecological fit with coastal ecosystems and agriculture but also give a voice to the socially marginalised. Future research could then explore the capacity for adaptation institutional reform based on recognition and procedural justice principles, within the broader context of decolonising climate governance. 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Anwar Hossen","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA+klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFADZgbGA0BKjuEAmHuAsYEILWDFxiRoYYBoSWwgpIV/do/h5wqGOjn+duYDBz78OpzedyOB8cMPhjuyuLRI3DljLHmG4bCxxGG2hIMz+w7nzryRwCzZw/DMGKfDbuRukGxgOJC4gZnH4DBvz+HcDTcSGKQZGA4n4tIifyN3888Ghjq4lnQDoC2/8WkxuJG7DWgLM0QLz4/DCUAtbHhtMbyR/82yAe6XhnTDmWcetln2GOD2i9yNtOSbDaAQ6z988MGHP9byfMeTD9/4UYE7xMCA8R+M0dYMIoGKDfCpRwF/6ohWOgpGwSgYBSMHAAApq2R8NF8AjQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"University of Dhaka","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"M.","middleName":"Anwar","lastName":"Hossen","suffix":""},{"id":315131149,"identity":"13a0b74f-466b-4857-97d9-670471a4f3a8","order_by":1,"name":"David Benson","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Exeter","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"","lastName":"Benson","suffix":""},{"id":315131152,"identity":"ee7789b3-7586-4fe5-9243-742e85d0b3d5","order_by":2,"name":"Mohibul Islam Lecturer","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Noakhali Science and Tecnology University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mohibul","middleName":"Islam","lastName":"Lecturer","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-06-04 12:06:24","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4527929/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4527929/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":58683508,"identity":"753c7aca-78ee-4c5b-99a6-8dd0c690b1d9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-06-19 19:00:12","extension":"jpeg","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":63785,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eJessore District in Bangladesh.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage1.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4527929/v1/1c773b3e40819cc4ddc2dfa5.jpeg"},{"id":58683818,"identity":"e8a91527-d92b-4cfa-9000-c07c236c02de","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-06-19 19:08:16","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":571195,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4527929/v1/73e95daf-badd-415b-b3a2-0f49dab01654.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Donor climate coloniality, ecological debt and vulnerabilities in coastal Bangladesh: redesigning institutions for recognition justice","fulltext":[{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eClimate coloniality presents existential challenges for people in the Global South, with Sultana (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR60\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022a\u003c/span\u003e: 3) stating that this notion \u0026lsquo;reproduces the hauntings of colonialism and imperialism through climate impacts in the post-colony\u0026hellip; primarily in the tropics and subtropics where climate induced disasters and shifts have been prevalent for some time\u0026rsquo;. Such postcolonial hauntings are perpetuated through four main dimensions that exacerbate the \u0026lsquo;slow violence\u0026rsquo; (Nixon \u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e) or \u0026lsquo;atmospheric violence\u0026rsquo; (DeBoom \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) inflicted by climate change on vulnerable ecosystems and sectors of society: emissions-based; neo-liberal capitalism; loss and damage; and, donor driven. First, at the global level, the international climate regime extends coloniality through inequitably limiting emissions reduction expectations on wealthy Northern states while placing mitigation burdens on the Global South: what Okereke and Coventry (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e: 847) refer to as \u0026lsquo;common but shifted responsibility\u0026rsquo;. Second, neoliberal \u0026lsquo;climate\u0026rsquo; or \u0026lsquo;fossil capitalism\u0026rsquo; reproduces post-colonially imposed inequalities through its global promotion of consumption-driven and carbon intensive development trajectories (Altvater \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e; Parr \u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e; Angus \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Sultana \u003cspan citationid=\"CR60\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022a\u003c/span\u003e). Third, international loss and damage measures privilege Northern technological or policy interventions but fail to adequately compensate Southern states in adapting to climate impacts, for which they have negligible culpability (for example, Jackson et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Finally, we argue that climate coloniality exists in a fourth, institutional dimension namely through the enacting of postcolonial development funding mechanisms for climate adaptation that perpetuate long established, inequitable patterns of North-South domination and exploitation. Here, poorer countries are forced to accept externally financed and often socio-ecologically damaging adaptation solutions with only marginal input into their design or implementation (for example, Hossen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). It is this donor driven dimension of climate coloniality that we seek to uncover and explain in this article through examining its impacts in one specific national context, namely Bangladesh; a country experiencing multiple climate-related vulnerabilities (UNDP \u003cspan citationid=\"CR67\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Chowdhury et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAdaptation governance in Bangladesh increasingly exhibits such a neo-colonial institutional perspective, particularly in response to growing climate change risks. These institutional structures date back to the pre-independence period of Pakistan control, when several major water development projects were implemented including the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP) (Awal \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e) and the Flood Control, Drainage and Irrigation (FCDI) program (Talukdar and Shamsuddin 2012). One major component of the FCDI program was the construction of polders or embankments in the coastal zone in the early 1960s (WARPO \u003cspan citationid=\"CR71\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). This approach was then extended by international donors such as US-Aid and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through the construction of major flood infrastructure under the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP), followed by subsequent funded projects by the European Community (EC) and the FAO/World Bank Cooperative Program. The influence of this neo-colonial perspective lives on through recent initiatives adopted to counter climate change impacts such as flooding, sea level rise and saline intrusion. For example, the ADB sponsored Khulna Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project (KJDRP) was constructed between 1994 and 2003, in order to mitigate such impacts. The Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, aimed primarily at reducing flood risks in coastal areas, is being implemented by the Government of Bangladesh in collaboration with the Netherlands and World Bank (van Alphen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR68\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). One significant criticism of such top-down, donor driven adaptation governance is that it often fails to consider local conceptualisations of climate change or localised policy input (Hossen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). More problematically, it is generating environmental and socio-economic externalities.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn Bangladesh, this donor climate coloniality is creating novel types of \u0026lsquo;ecological debts\u0026rsquo; (Goeminne and Paredis \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e; Warlenius et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR70\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e). Since colonial times natural resources have been directly transferred via inequitable exchange from the Global South to the North, often by \u0026lsquo;plundering, ecological damage and social oppression\u0026rsquo; (Goeminne and Paredis \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e: 692). Ecological debts then accrue in the Global South in the form of pollution, resource depletion and environmental degradation. However, the concept has been expanded to include instances where exploitation of ecosystems in one country by another causes ecological damage \u0026lsquo;at the expense of the equitable rights to these ecosystems\u0026rsquo; (Warlenius et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR70\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e: 25). Such debts therefore accumulate in Bangladesh not only through direct extractive processes of capitalist accumulation but also indirectly via the damage caused to ecosystems by neo-colonial adaptation schemes funded by the Global North, as an outcome of climate coloniality. In this respect, externally funded polderisation projects have, ironically, increased rather than reduced climate risks through their \u0026lsquo;encroachment\u0026rsquo; into private lands and natural ecosystems (Sovacool \u003cspan citationid=\"CR58\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e: 189). For example, a major cause of waterlogging in coastal areas is flooding caused by siltation of river beds resulting from polder construction (Nowreen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e; Awal \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e; Nath et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; see also Gain et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). Defined as \u0026lsquo;the submergence or inundation of areas for a long time without adequate drainage\u0026rsquo;, climate-related waterlogging has become an increasingly severe hazard in southern coastal districts (Tareq et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR64\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e: 230). Climate change effects such as intense storm events, tidal inundation and river flooding are in turn exacerbating waterlogging problems from adaptation interventions. Waterlogging increased from 832 ha in 1973 to 35,606 ha in 2015 in the Satkhira District in southern Bangladesh: a 43 fold increase (Islam et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e: 52).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe historical legacy of such institutionalized debts is also increasing climate related vulnerabilities amongst coastal populations, disproportionately affecting marginalized and poorer sections of society (Hossen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). However, research conducted into waterlogging has generally focused on spatial mapping of impacts (Islam et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e), monitoring of drainage systems (Rashid \u003cspan citationid=\"CR48\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e), quantifying loss and damage (Nithila et al. 2021), adaptation strategies (Awal \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e; Shaibur et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR54\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Islam et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Rahman et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR47\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e), and assessing implications for agriculture and food security (Alam \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Ahmed and Ambinakudige \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Quantitative socio-economic data on waterlogging effects in Bangladesh is available (Alam \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Nath et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Nithila et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR38\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Rahman et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR47\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). But apart from Sultana\u0026rsquo;s (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR59\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e: 43) qualitative analysis of gendered impacts from \u0026lsquo;hazardous waterscapes\u0026rsquo;, in depth sociological research into the wider vulnerabilities of marginalised groups caused by waterlogging in coastal regions is limited; presenting a gap in knowledge.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn relation to these vulnerabilities, this article seeks to answer two significant questions. First, in what ways does waterlogging impact marginalised groups in coastal regions? Second, how could adaptation institutions be decolonised to reduce resultant vulnerabilities? To answer these questions, this article initially outlines the methods used, based upon analysis of primary data collected by the authors. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and case studies were undertaken to investigate local perspectives on waterlogging in Jessore, a coastal district in Bangladesh, using a qualitative research design. After identifying how ecological debts are impacting the vulnerabilities of local people in the district, our analysis then discusses how adaptation institutional design could be decolonised to reduce vulnerabilities. A specific problem discussed is the historically embedded \u0026lsquo;path dependency\u0026rsquo; (Pierson \u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e) or incumbency of institutional arrangements that support donor climate coloniality while militate against reform. Another factor is the pre-dominance of neo-colonial institutional discourses in water governance, constituting what Schmidt (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR53\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e: 310) refers to as the \u0026lsquo;coordinative\u0026rsquo; and \u0026lsquo;communicative\u0026rsquo; discourses, through which such ideas are politically operationalised. One approach, we argue, is to integrate recognition justice (Honneth \u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e; Benjaminsen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) into multi-level adaptation institutions through normative and procedural change, thereby moving from what Sultana (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR60\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022a\u003c/span\u003e: 7\u0026ndash;8) calls the \u0026lsquo;discursive and epistemological\u0026rsquo; of decolonisation agendas to the \u0026lsquo;material and political\u0026rsquo; of practical application.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eResearch Design and Study Location\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn depth, qualitative research is important for gaining insight into how ecological debts are impacting vulnerabilities in Bangladesh through waterlogging. It necessarily involves multiple sites and groups of people over time, utilising extensive data collection techniques such as observations, interviews, audio visuals, and documents, and analysing them with thematic concepts and case specific description (Creswell \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1998\u003c/span\u003e). The study conducted by the authors examined the theme of waterlogging in the coastal area of Bangladesh and its links to donor climate coloniality and environmental debts. In answering the two research questions, this study focused on two sub-districts, Abhaynagar and Manirampur, in Jessore District (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e) as the overall fieldwork site as they are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, particularly waterlogging.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFive villages within these two sub-districts, Rajapur, Sundali, Gobindopur Ziadanga, and Gabukhali, were selected as the fieldwork sub-sites for this study. This geographical area is part of a freshwater ecosystem with a complex network of wetlands, canals, and rivers which are vital for environmental and community sustainability. Gobindopur, Ziadanga, and Gabukhali villages are located in Dumuria \u003cem\u003eBeel\u003c/em\u003e or wetland; Sundali and Rajapur villages are sited on the banks of Beel Jhirka. Both the Beel Jhirka and Dumuria are connected with Beel Bhabodah and are important components of the wider freshwater ecosystem in coastal Bangladesh.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eSampling and Data Collection\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe study was based on non-probability sampling, specifically convenience sampling, to select the study respondents and fieldwork sites. Secondary data, including government documents, newspaper reports and preliminary research findings were used in selecting the study villages. In selecting the sample respondents, specific criteria considered included their exposure to climatic events and socioeconomic status. Household heads, chosen to be representative in terms of gender, age, and economic conditions, were the major respondents included in the study in order to understand how waterlogging was leading to vulnerabilities. For this purpose, semi-structured questionnaires, comprising standardised questions relating to the study themes (climate coloniality, ecological debt, vulnerabilities), were used to inform five Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), five Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and 15 case studies to uncover local perspectives on waterlogging. The questionnaire was administered in the local Bengali language, with importance given to questioning using local dialects spoken in the fieldwork site.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe data were collected between November-December, in the Late Autumn season or \u003cem\u003ehemanta\u003c/em\u003e, when local people were less affected by monsoon rainfall and flooding. The study ensured that respondents\u0026rsquo; identities were protected through use of an ethics protocol, designed for research involving human subjects, which ensured implementation of informed consent, freedom to withdraw from the study and protection of personal identification information. Where respondents were not literate, researchers conveyed these rights verbally and then sought verbal consent. During the data analysis stage, pseudonyms of the FGD, KIIs and case study participants were used to protect their privacy. A data collection logbook was also maintained to ensure data quality, reliability and validity in the study.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eQualitative Data Analysis\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eCollected data were first transcribed into Bengali before translation into English. Afterwards, the data were analysed and coded to identify key themes relating to donor climate coloniality, ecological debt and vulnerabilities. For this paper, specific quotes were extracted from the translated data to support the findings. Published academic sources were also employed to supplement the analysis, particularly for historically contextualising climate coloniality. Here, climate coloniality, as a causal or independent variable, is defined as the climate impacts of colonial pathologies (\u0026lsquo;hauntings\u0026rsquo;), specifically international donor institutions, on local socio-ecological systems. Because of this donor climate coloniality, externally imposed ecological debt in the form of waterlogging is a growing problem that acts as intermediate variable in causing socioeconomic vulnerabilities (the dependent variable), as discussed below.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eClimate coloniality, waterlogging and vulnerabilities\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eClimate coloniality\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eColonial \u0026lsquo;hauntings\u0026rsquo; in Bangladesh are perpetuated through two main pathologies: externally imposed adaptation interventions (donor climate coloniality) and inequitable global emissions that drive increasing severity in domestic climatic events. However, the research primarily focused on understanding how the former pathology had created ecological debts through waterlogging and their resultant vulnerabilities.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe coloniality roots of waterlogging extend back some decades to an institutional \u0026lsquo;rationalization\u0026rsquo; (Nowreen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e: 264) of water management in coastal Bangladesh. One major reason for waterlogging is a water development programme implemented under the national 20-year Master Plan for water in the 1960s (Adnan \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) known as the Flood Control, Drainage and Irrigation (FCDI) initiative. Based upon the Dutch system of polders, or low lying drained land enclosed by embankments, the FCDI involved 58 projects across the coastal areas (Nowreen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e). The FCDI also aimed to promote production of High Yield Varieties (HYVs) of rice through major water development schemes, including the Ganges-Kobadak and Meghna-Dhonagoda projects. In addition, the FCDI led to the construction of major flood infrastructures such as the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP), established with foreign development assistance from US-Aid and the Asian Development Bank. This project involved creating coastal embankments, based on western flood control measures, to prevent saline intrusion and storm surges. Although the polder system functioned well for the first 10\u0026ndash;15 years in preventing seawater entering agricultural land, keeping rice yields high, siltation in drainage channels thereafter caused waterlogging due to overtopping (Nowreen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e). This form of donor climate coloniality is increasingly evident in the fieldwork site.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs a result of the FCDI, between 1986\u0026ndash;1988 the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) developed projects to reduce waterlogging with the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) (Adnan \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). After the cyclone in April 1991, that killed 140,000 people also damaging property and agricultural crops and creating salinity effects in coastal Bangladesh, the World Bank executed another project (ID number P009435) to rehabilitate embankments or polders with US\u003cspan\u003e$\u003c/span\u003e 19\u0026nbsp;million provided by the European Community (EC) and Japan under the FAO/World Bank Cooperative Program.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBetween 1994\u0026ndash;2003 the ADB implemented the Khulna Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project (KJDRP), costing US\u003cspan\u003e$\u003c/span\u003e 44.9\u0026nbsp;million, in eight sub-districts of Khulna and Jessore Districts to recover 100,600 hectares waterlogged land and generate government revenue from agriculture (Asian Development Bank 2007). Government agencies including the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), who implemented the KJDRP. This project focused on floodplains and low-lying lands seasonally inundated and waterlogged due to the Coastal Embankment Project. The major goal of the KJDRP was to renovate drainage infrastructure to reduce waterlogging and protect the project area from climatic events such as tidal surges and flooding. The Project also aimed to reduce poverty amongst local people by increasing agricultural production and on-farm employment opportunities. As part of poverty reduction measures for 800,000 people in Southwest Bangladesh, the KJDRP wanted to return waterlogged farmlands to productivity while increasing commercial fish production in local water bodies in 100,000 hectares or 25 percent of the total area of the Coastal Embankment Project (Asian Development Bank 2007). As a result of the subsequent failure of the KJDRP to meet these goals, the study area still continues to endure a legacy of waterlogging that has extended ecological debts from development assistance programmes.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eEcological debt: waterlogging\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eBecause of these successive interventions, waterlogging is a growing problem. Around 128 thousand hectares of land were inundated in Jessore, Satkhira and Khulna (Awal \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e). Associated ecological debts in terms of water and soil pollution have been created. The CEP, FCDI, and KJDRP infrastructures have increased the commercialisation of agricultural practices and decreased the scope for traditional livelihood practices (ibid.). The declining riverine system and associated climatic impacts on aquatic life due to wetland transformation for commercial agriculture cause further ecological damage (Talukder and Shamsuddin \u003cspan citationid=\"CR63\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e). Due to this situation, local people fail to use their land for livelihood activities and elites exploit their vulnerability by controlling the waterlogged areas (ibid.).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe extent of the waterlogging problem is visible in Jessore District. For example, dredging and re-excavation of the Mukteshwari, Shree and Shoilmari Rivers has led to sedimentation and waterlogging. The construction of a coastal embankment enclosed tidal floodplains inside a polder system. The rivers that once discharged into the tidal delta now deposit sediment in their channels, causing impaired flows, overtopping and waterlogging of adjacent polders. Trapped water is unable to drain into the Bay of Bengal, while tidal flows cannot enter local wetlands and other water bodies. To illustrate this issue, one KII-4 Respondent (1) from Uttoron argued that:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDredging and digging canals cannot be functional until the embankment is eradicated. The two rivers, Morichap and Betna, in Satkhira had been dredged several times in the last few years and the canals associated with them were dug in ensuring free flowing of river water but it did not work out and the waterlogging problem remained almost the same.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe construction of infrastructure for the CEP, FCDI, and KJDRP projects, such as culverts, bridges, roads, and flood controls is also responsible for increasing waterlogging in Rajapur, Sundali, Gobindopur, Ziadanga, and Gabukhali. Culvert construction is a particular problem. A participant in FGD-3, Respondent 2, described this point specifically:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn our Rajapur village, the government constructed nine culverts across the road so that water can flow into a local wetland, Beel Jhirka, which is connected with the Shree River. A faster flow is important during the monsoon season when rain water causes growing concerns over waterlogging. Thus, culverts are not helpful in reducing waterlogging and it is a growing concern.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec9\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eVulnerabilities\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThese waterlogging debts have created significant socio-economic vulnerabilities within the study area. Inter-related vulnerabilities relate to: loss of crop production; loss of domestic animals; unemployment, income loss and displacement; price rises for essential goods and services; gendered inequalities for women and girls; and, rising crime.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec10\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eLoss of crop production\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWaterlogging disrupts local crop cultivation, which relies on the freshwater ecosystem. Due to waterlogging, most farmers fail to produce any crops on flooded land where several crops were once grown. Reflecting the views of farmers, Respondent 3, from Rajapur village stated in FGD-3 that:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvery year, we got three different crops from our land. Even those lands in the middle of Ziadanga beel [wetland] provided at least two harvests but waterlogging [buron, in the local language] has disrupted seasonal crop production. Now the whole beel remains under water for the whole year. Even those lands on relatively higher ground in the beel rarely successfully produce a single crop.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEchoing this respondent, a FGD-1 participant (Respondent 4), described his challenges in producing even a single crop each year due to waterlogging. In the short term, crop loss and damage meant that maintaining his family\u0026rsquo;s daily survival was difficult. Furthermore, repeated waterlogging over several years had weakened his resilience to climatic events due to the negative impacts on the family\u0026rsquo;s financial and material resources. Marginalised groups therefore experience disproportionately increased vulnerabilities from crop losses compared to wealthier farmers and land owners who are better placed to financially absorb them by shifting production to higher ground. These findings reflect those of Alam et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e) who show how waterlogging causes significant crop damage in coastal districts.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eLoss of domestic animals\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe loss of domestic animals caused by waterlogging further limits the scope for local agricultural practices. The availability of grazing land is reduced by stagnant water inundation of pastures. Fodder for cows and goats also depends on rice paddy cultivation, which has declined due to waterlogging causing further difficulties in nurturing domestic animals. One FGD-5 Respondent (5), a villager, expressed his concerns:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe used to produce straw and rice bran (bichali and Kura in the local language) for our cows and goats. But as we cannot produce rice we have to buy them and the price is very high, we cannot nurture domestic animals.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCommercial fodder is therefore becoming more expensive. Richer farmers sell their rice paddy bran at a premium, further increasing their income. The FGD-1 Respondent (6), describes this price gouging in the following statement:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhereas previously the price of per cown (the local term for 160 bundles) of straw was 1500\u0026ndash;2000 BDT, now it is usually 7000\u0026ndash;8000 BDT.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDue to these market distortions, domestic animal nurturing is decreasing while commercial production is increasing. This commodity driven process has displaced the scope for marginalised groups to farm animals while rich landowners, better able to overcome waterlogging vulnerabilities, are taking control over livestock production under this neoliberal driven development perspective.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnother intervening factor is lack of adequate shelter for animals. Waterlogging means that \u003cem\u003egoyals\u003c/em\u003e, or traditional animal shelters, become inundated with saline water. Poorer farmers are unable to repair them or build new ones due to the loss of trees caused by saline waterlogging. Animals then suffer disease and sickness linked to saline water contamination in waterlogged shelters. Another FGD-3 Respondent (6), stated that:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring the boro (summer) season in 2019, I had three cows in my goyal but saline water entered it and gradually my cows became ill and did not eat any food. So, I had to sell them at a very low price.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eUnemployment, income loss and displacement\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWith large scale commercialised agriculture better placed to cope with waterlogging, incomes of local marginalised groups in lower socioeconomic conditions do not increase in a proportionate ratio, forcing poorer farmers to seek alternative employment. Due to destruction of ecosystems by waterlogging, these people also encounter the loss of alternative employment opportunities from activities such as fishing from local water bodies. Consequently, unemployment is increasing while people seeking employment are exploited by local entrepreneurs.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMarginalised groups are particularly vulnerable to unemployment. Women who are aged or disabled cannot easily access the new industrial job opportunities for multiple reasons such as the physical demands or new skills required. Many older people remain unemployed because of their inability to work in these new sectors. Government policy however focuses little on ensuring their employment opportunities or social security.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDifferent groups of people, including women farmers, poor farmers and day labourers experience higher levels of income loss from unemployment. They also encounter the occupational transformations caused by capitalist economic restructuring of labour markets. When a labourer is older, younger, disabled or female, they can experience income vulnerabilities. FGD-2 Respondent (7), described his income (or \u003cem\u003eion\u003c/em\u003e in the local language) concerns over waterlogging in the following way:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eI usually worked for the rich farmers and earned 400 BDT per day in normal times and 600\u0026ndash;800 BDT during the harvesting and planting time. But now these opportunities are not available as there is no rice cultivation due to waterlogging. Even when I get some work, the wage for the same job task is only 200\u0026ndash;250 BDT.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhen asked about the reasons for decreasing daily wages, a wealthy landowner respondent from FGD-1 (Respondent 8) explained that:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow we [the land owners] can produce very little. Only a few lands in high areas produce crops. And a lot of people have no work. So, we can hire a labourer at a lower price and they are available to work at this price rate.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAt the frontline of income loss are vulnerable people such as women, the aged and disabled. In addition to income loss, they are exploited through income discrimination, lower wages and even no wages. Women encounter wage discrimination by receiving a lesser wage for the same types of work done by men. Many in lower socioeconomic conditions work as servants for rich families, in return for food as payment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLivelihood displacement and forced migration are also growing concerns for unemployed people. For example, local people in Sundali and Rajapur are migrating to Noapara as industrial job opportunities are available in this location. They then encounter difficult employment conditions in brick kilns, shrimp aquaculture, jute mills, river ports, construction and rickshaw/van driving which involve multiple insecurities such as wage discrimination, overwork without payment, no sick leave, no retirement benefits and firing without notice. For example, FGD-5 participant (Respondent 9) described how:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eI had been working in the Bengal Jute Mill in Noapara between the months of March to July and at the end of July they fired me without any reason.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eKII-4 participant (Respondent 10), a local NGO representative, explained why this occurred:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs there are a lot of labourers who are jobless because of their agricultural losses, the Mahajan [traders] and industrialists replace them with others who are willing to work for a lower salary.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003ePrice rises\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn addition to unemployment, income loss and displacement, waterlogging causes increasing prices of daily necessities such as vegetables, rice, fruit and fodder. Price hikes cause challenges for marginalised groups in lower socioeconomic conditions as the income for wage labourers does not increase to reflect them. Prices are also higher than other regions in Bangladesh due to decreasing local agricultural production and higher transportation costs. Waterlogging causes production loss and damage, forcing locals to buy rather than grow staple foods. Respondent 11, from FGD-4, described how:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eUsually we never had to buy rice before. Those who have land produced plenty of rice and those who have no land worked on other people\u0026rsquo;s land to get rice in exchange.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSuch goods are expensive since they need to be imported from other districts. Waterlogging also creates major challenges for the movement of goods and services along partially flooded roads.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOther less obvious price rises occur due to waterlogging. Transport workers who buy new vehicles such as a rickshaw or van need to keep it in a commercial garage far away from their home as roads are often flooded thereby preventing owners from taking vehicles home after work. Garage rental charges cause further increases in livelihood expenditures. In case study-8, Respondent 13, a rickshaw puller from Sundali village, explained his problem:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eI cannot bring my rickshaw home because of bad road conditions during the rainy season. I had to keep it in a garage which requires spending the rental cost of one fifth of my income.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eGendered inequalities\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWaterlogging and its increasing effects on seasonal crop production also cause the loss of gendered ecological knowledge. Local people fail to practice their agricultural knowledge due to reduced production and they are then forced into low paid employment. The major victims are marginalised, poorer women. For example, they lose their unique knowledge of harvesting and preserving indigenous crop seeds as this is unsuitable for commercial agricultural production. Local women lose their knowledge of home gardening, also reducing their consumption of fresh vegetables from household sources. They also lose income from vegetable selling, adding to their financial stress. Furthermore, they do not share their crop seeds and vegetables with neighbours, reducing the opportunities for social sharing and community benefits.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLoss of domestic animals also creates gendered vulnerabilities. Most households do not now have any goyal and must depend on the market for milk and meat consumption. Marginalised women in lower socioeconomic conditions then fail to consume the minimum milk and meat protein required to maintain their health due to poverty, limiting their long term physical and mental development. The loss of extra income from selling domestic animals impacts women disproportionately to men. As household incomes decline, women lose their autonomy for saving as well as freedom for personal expenditure, restricting their scope for empowerment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn addition, economic vulnerabilities caused by agricultural production losses, unemployment and reduced incomes result in growing use of child labour, as families struggle to survive. For boys, this can mean participating in insecure, poorly paid employment such as lead production or rickshaw pulling rather than attending school. Families may have little choice. For example, in FGD-2 Respondent 14, a villager from Gabukhali, asked:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf I cannot even earn money to buy food and clothes, how can I let my children go to school?\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe situation is often worse for girls from poorer families. Income loss and economic stress increase girls\u0026rsquo; dropout from school earlier than boys, impairing their life chances and the prospect of decent livelihoods. Despite the practice being outlawed in Bangladesh\u003ca class=\"FNLink\" href=\"#Fn1\" id=\"#FNLinkFn1\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, girls are increasingly victims of child marriage in coastal areas. To support family incomes, many girls work as poorly paid household servants or shrimp seed collectors. Due to their vulnerable employment conditions, girls can be sexually exploited or even forced to marry an older person (see also Hossen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Families from other districts also avoid arranging matrimonial relations with women from this waterlogged area. This feature was highlighted in case study-1, where Respondent 15 from Ziadanga stated that:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eI have two daughters, aged 21 and 18, and we were searching for potential grooms but the families from other districts avoid our location due to its muddy and waterlogged roads and salinity problems.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFinally, waterlogging also creates gendered vulnerabilities through health impacts. Seawater inundation of coastal districts contaminates drinking water. Poorer women collect contaminated water from ponds for washing, cooking and drinking causing major health and wellbeing issues. Elevated levels of sodium chloride in drinking water can cause gestational hypertension and associated high blood pressure during pregnancy. Hypertension is a major reason for high levels of maternal death and stillbirths in coastal districts. Between 2011 and 2014, a 36.9 percent rise in this condition occurred in pregnant women (Siddique \u003cspan citationid=\"CR57\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). Since 2012, 28 percent of women giving birth experienced pre-eclampsia (ibid.).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec15\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eCrime\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn addition to rising rental costs for transport, local people increasingly encounter theft of their vehicles as vulnerable individuals impacted by deteriorating economic conditions turn to crime. Although not directly attributable to waterlogging, theft is nonetheless a growing problem in the study area involving vehicles, agricultural machinery and storage crops. In case study-9, Respondent 16, a motorised rickshaw driver from Ziandanga, explained how this social problem significantly affected his livelihood:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eA few days ago, I kept my easy-bike at a garage in Magura bazar (or Magura market) as I could not bring it home because of the muddy road. Unfortunately, the easy-bike battery was stolen by someone and replaced with an outdated battery.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eProblematically, for self-employed individuals such a theft is economically damaging since it reduces their earning capacity and economic security.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e "},{"header":"Discussion: decolonising adaptation institutional design","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec16\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec17\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eThe institutional path dependency of climate coloniality\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eDonor climate coloniality has created a damaging legacy of ecological debt in the study area. One way of analysing it is to engage in new institutionalism theory. While definitions of institutions vary, typically they are understood to be a \u0026lsquo;structural feature\u0026rsquo; of society or political systems that can be \u0026lsquo;formal (a legislature, an agency in the public bureaucracy, or a legal framework), or [they] may be informal (a network of interacting organisations, or a set of shared norms)\u0026rsquo; (Peters \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e: 19). Institutions, moreover, shape individual behaviour and reflect shared values over time (ibid.).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn the case of waterlogging, multi-level donor institutions including Northern governments and foreign development funders, plus national government agencies and local governments have repeatedly intervened to discursively implement adaptation policy solutions that reflect accepted water management practice in the Global North. In doing so, they have imposed climate colonialism and resultant ecological debts that have generated a multiplicity of socio-economic vulnerabilities; from crop loss to gendered inequalities. Scholars have long-argued that postcolonial discourses have supported the continuance of inequitable North-South relations (for overviews see Bhambra \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e; Mongria 2021). Moreover, discursive imposition of such water management ideas could be interpreted by \u0026lsquo;coordinative\u0026rsquo; and \u0026lsquo;communicative\u0026rsquo; discursive institutionalism (Schmidt \u003cspan citationid=\"CR53\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e: 310). Here, coordinative discourses are employed to determine action between policy actors, while communicative discourses convey such actions taken to the public (ibid.). In respect of the former, imported top-down, technocratic engineering solutions such as polderisation have been used to coordinate national policy development by donor institutions, becoming an accepted adaptation norm for project funding in Bangladesh despite the inappropriateness of policy transfer. Such \u0026lsquo;reductionist\u0026rsquo; water management discourses (Zeitoun et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR73\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e) have then been communicated by government agencies to local level implementers and the public in the imposition of adaptation governance.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThere is also a temporal dimension to these neo-colonial institutions. Pierson (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e: 10) explains how institutions, once established, are often subject to \u0026lsquo;the dynamics of self-reinforcing or positive feedback processes\u0026rsquo;. Path dependency can then develop whereby once established an institution becomes progressively resistant to change due to this self-reinforcement (ibid.). Institutions then become \u0026lsquo;sticky\u0026rsquo; or \u0026lsquo;locked-in\u0026rsquo; (Pierson \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2000\u003c/span\u003e; Thelen \u003cspan citationid=\"CR65\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2000\u003c/span\u003e). Rather than radical evolution, institutions then evolve through incremental \u0026lsquo;layering ... [that] involves the grafting of new elements onto an otherwise stable institutional framework\u0026rsquo; (Thelen \u003cspan citationid=\"CR66\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e: 35). These path dependent elements are evident in adaptation governance in Bangladesh\u0026rsquo;s coastal districts. Originating in the 1960s, the CEP, FCDI, KJDRP and Delta Plan 2100 have became institutionally \u0026lsquo;layered\u0026rsquo; upon each other through a process of positive discursive feedback, \u0026lsquo;locking-in\u0026rsquo; external development solutions into the institutional practice of foreign donors and Bangladesh government agencies that do not adequately reflect local ecosystems or the preferences of citizens. Such interventions therefore reflect what Shiva (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR55\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1988\u003c/span\u003e: 4) refers to as \u0026lsquo;maldevelopment\u0026rsquo;. Or more accurately in this specific case, \u0026lsquo;maladaptation\u0026rsquo;, whereby governance solutions create unintended negative consequences (Barnett and O\u0026rsquo;Neill 2010: 211). Problematically, without institutional reform, these historical debts and vulnerabilities will progressively increase as Bangladesh experiences the \u0026lsquo;slow violence\u0026rsquo; (Nixon \u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e) of climate change through intensifying storms, river flooding, coastal inundation and sea level rise.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThere is, we argue, scope to counter waterlogging through active decolonisation of externally imposed adaptation governance: what Lorenzoni and Benson (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e) term \u0026lsquo;radical institutional change\u0026rsquo;. In support of a decolonising agenda for climate change, Sultana (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR60\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022a\u003c/span\u003e: 102638) stresses the importance of challenging colonialised knowledge systems and transforming multi-level climate governance to ensure greater equity. For meeting the latter objective it is argued that \u0026lsquo;structural changes are necessary in international governance for equitable recognition and distributive justice to occur across and between countries\u0026rsquo; (ibid.). Radical governance reform, we argue, is therefore required to both integrate decolonial critiques into multi-level institutional knowledge systems alongside meaningful structural change in order to counter past inequities.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec18\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eRecognition and procedural justice\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eOne potential means of decolonising adaptation discourses and practices is to integrate justice-based principles into adaptation institutions, to give voice to marginalised groups. Here, justice offers the potential for guiding transformative change in climate governance through addressing ecological debts (Warlenius et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR70\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e; Warlenius \u003cspan citationid=\"CR69\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e; see also Newell et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Sultana \u003cspan citationid=\"CR61\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022b\u003c/span\u003e). While justice informs a broad theoretical cannon of academic arguments, the concept of recognition justice provides a potentially new perspective for reforming climate governance (Benjaminsen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; see also Hordequin \u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Chu and Michael \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). In this respect, the work of Axel Honneth (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e) could offer both normative and procedural options for guiding decolonisation. Rather than conventional rights-based conceptions of justice that aim at reducing inequalities through redistribution, for example Rawls (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR49\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1971\u003c/span\u003e), Honneth (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e) argues that justice is found through \u0026lsquo;recognition\u0026rsquo; of individuals otherwise marginalised in society. This plural theory of justice normatively recommends individual \u0026lsquo;identity formation\u0026rsquo; through \u0026lsquo;participating in the public realm\u0026rsquo; via several recognition spheres, namely the production of \u0026lsquo;self-esteem\u0026rsquo;, \u0026lsquo;love\u0026rsquo; and \u0026lsquo;equal treatment in law\u0026rsquo; (ibid.: 351). For example, women\u0026rsquo;s empowerment is argued to relate to \u0026lsquo;contractually secured rights and hence made an imperative of legal recognition\u0026rsquo; (ibid.: 362). Recognition also raises questions of procedure (Benjaminsen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e), especially in societies such as Bangladesh where participation is often correlated with hierarchically embedded power. Without equitable access to decision-making processes, marginalised individuals are \u003cem\u003eergo\u003c/em\u003e unlikely to achieve recognition, requiring procedural justice. According to Neal et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e: 4), this concept also relates to fairness in decision-making, which occurs \u0026lsquo;if the manner in which the decision was made is deemed just or fair\u0026rsquo; by participants.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec19\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eDecolonising adaptation institutions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eDecolonising adaptation institutions must therefore aim at discursive, epistemological, material and political change through integrating justice. This change, we argue, should operate at both formal and informal institutional levels through firstly recognising local voices and secondly reflecting them in decision-making procedures.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAt the formal institutional level, justice is required at the international scale. International organizations such as the UNDP, donor agencies such as the World Bank and national government agencies including USAID and DFID UK should seek to better recognise local community voices in their project lending decisions. The World Bank, in response to past criticism of its sustainability credentials (for example, Reed \u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e), adopted an Environmental and Social Framework policy in 2018 (World Bank \u003cspan citationid=\"CR72\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) that claims to integrate sustainable development into project financing in respect of stakeholder engagement. However, the Bank has, in the past, used environmental policy integration in Bangladesh to extend its political power rather than respecting local interests (Richardson and Cashmore \u003cspan citationid=\"CR51\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e; Cashmore et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e). Problematically, as the above account shows, reductionist water development discourses still appear imposed on local communities rather than projects being driven by their preferences.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn Bangladesh, government institutions also need to better recognise and include local perspectives rather than propagating neo-colonial discourses in water infrastructure decision-making. Government policy emphasises Participatory Water Management (PWM) that includes different stakeholders, including citizens, private sector actors and local government (MoWR 2000). Guidelines for People\u0026rsquo;s Participation (GPP) were also adopted by the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) in 1994 to help integrate local peoples\u0026rsquo; views in policy implementation (ibid.). This approach was then given legal backing through its incorporation into the Water Management Act (WMA) 2014, which assigned responsibilities of specific actors in the management process (MoWR 2014). However, GPP is implemented in an institutionally top-down manner that reflects both external and local donor interests rather than recognising citizens\u0026rsquo; interests. The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and Local Government Engineering Department have applied the Guidelines primarily to mobilise local people and resources in support of externally funded projects, i.e. as a legitimating mechanism. Moreover, Water Management Organizations (WMOs), the key institutional mechanisms for implementing PWM that include Water Management Groups, the Water Management Association and Water Management Federation, are procedurally dominated by the demands of local financial donors such as village chiefs (\u003cem\u003ematobbar\u003c/em\u003e), wealthy landowners and business people, who seek to profit from water development projects. Dissent expressed by WMO committees against top-down, donor driven water development projects can lead to their dissolution by the Ministry, while local government officials can be excluded from project decision-making for similar reasons. These observations reflect Sovacool\u0026rsquo;s (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR58\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e: 188) findings on adaptation policy in Bangladesh that encompasses \u0026lsquo;exclusionary forms of planning or implementation at the national scale to elite domination at the community scale\u0026rsquo;. Institutions such as WMOs should therefore reflect procedural and recognition justice through greater inclusivity for marginalised groups in their adaptation planning but also recognise local knowledge of freshwater ecosystems in their decisions. A burgeoning academic literature on collaborative and participatory water management contains multiple institutional designs that could provide potential models (for example, Sabatier et al. 2005; Ostrom \u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAt the informal level, adaptation governance could involve adopting pre-existing institutional forms that eschew neo-colonial discourses and structures altogether, in order to increase representation of marginalised groups. Here, Shiva\u0026rsquo;s (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR56\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2002\u003c/span\u003e) decentralized \u0026lsquo;water democracies\u0026rsquo; could be a means of decolonising such institutional arrangements through a reversion back to traditional community approaches to better protect the freshwater ecosystem. Nath et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e) show how community hydrological interventions can reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities: a process that is already occurring in the study area. As a response to past waterlogging, local people cut some of the embankments and restored water flows to wetlands such as Beel Bhaina, Beel Tedbar and Beel Dakatia. After cutting the embankments, waterlogging in these wetlands decreased significantly. In response, a participant in the FGD-4, Respondent 17 from Sundali village stated:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCutting of embankments is the only solution to overcoming the waterlogging problem. This embankment removal in Beel Bhaina, Beel East Khukshia, Beel Kedaria, and Beel Dhakatia connected them with the Hamkura River, which works better in reducing the waterlogging problem.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis practice reflects tidal river management (TRM), a process that involves flooding of polders, using ebb tidal river water (Hossain et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e). Water is allowed into natural depressions when salinity in rivers is low during the monsoon season, then local people construct temporary embankments and sluice-gates to keep seawater out (Nowreen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e: 266). Controlled flooding in this way replenishes the sediment on agricultural land. Reintroduced to the area by locals in the 1990s, TRM is effectively a traditional land management approach practiced for centuries before the polderisation of coastal areas (ibid.). Advantages include maintaining soil fertility by sediment replacement and raising levels of agricultural land as a counter to river flooding. TRM is also shown to help integrate local ecological knowledge and preferences into water management (Gain et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e), support social learning (Mutahara et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e); recognise hydrological cycles (Nowreen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e); reduce local vulnerabilities (Nath et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e); and help resolve water management conflicts (Mutahara et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Nath et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn Jessore, local people\u0026rsquo;s knowledge of tidal flows can then be an effective informal institutional mechanism for realising a justice perspective. These tidal flows are important in restoring ecological capital, reducing waterlogging and enhancing agricultural practices for community livelihood. For example, after locals cut the embankment, the width of the Hari River increased three times, thereby reducing flooding of adjacent fields. Although the BWDB now recognises local people\u0026rsquo;s perspectives as an effective approach to resolving the waterlogging problem, it still fails to incorporate this procedural justice perspective in its water policies or incorporate it into water development projects such as the KJDRP. As a result, this top-down institutional framework also fails to give a voice to marginalised groups due to its dominance by powerful landed interests. To increase both recognition and procedural justice, one Key Informant-1 (Respondent 18) who is a local official, stated:\u003cdiv class=\"BlockQuote\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eThe implementation of TRM needs to coordinate the entire coastal zone and diverse groups of stakeholders. More specifically, the domination of local elites needs to be neutralised and marginalised groups of people need to be recognised in tidal river management and in overcoming waterlogging.\u003c/em\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusions","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis article aimed to answer two questions related to the how waterlogging was impacting marginalised groups in coastal regions in Bangladesh and how adaptation institutions could be decolonised to mitigate resultant vulnerabilities. Research conducted in the Jessore District using focus group discussions, key informant interviews and case studies show how donor climate coloniality in the form of \u0026lsquo;reductionist\u0026rsquo;, foreign donor informed water engineering projects had increased ecological debts through widespread waterlogging. These debts in turn had led to multiple socio-economic vulnerabilities that were concentrated amongst marginalised groups, most notably poorer farmers and women. Vulnerabilities identified by the research include loss of crop production, loss of domestic animals, unemployment, income loss and displacement, price rises, gendered inequalities and rising crime. In response, it is argued that the CEP, FCDI, and KJDRP projects reflect the path dependency and multi-level institutional lock-in of neo-colonialism. Decolonising such institutional structures to reverse \u0026lsquo;maldevelopment\u0026rsquo; could be achieved at the formal level by integrating recognition and procedural justice for marginalised groups into multi-level water governance, involving foreign governments, development donors, national government agencies and local government. Informal institutional change could occur through employing traditional management structures and practices such as TRM that not only provide a better ecological fit with coastal ecosystems and agriculture but also give a voice to the socially marginalised. Future research could then explore the capacity for adaptation institutional reform based on recognition and procedural justice principles, within the broader context of decolonising climate governance.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eAH and DB made substantial contributions to the production of this article. MI conducted the data collection and AH analyzed the data while DB provided a contribution to the article drafting.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAdnan, S (2022) Grambanglar Rupantor: Samaj, Arthaniti ebong Ganoandolon (in Bengali). The University Press, Dhaka.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAhmed Z, Ambinakudige, S (2023) Does land use change, waterlogging, and salinity impact on sustainability of agriculture and food security? Evidence from southwestern coastal region of Bangladesh. 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Government responses are typically exercised through top-down adaptation governance structures reflecting a neo-colonial perspective, evident in externally funded water development projects such as the Flood Control, Drainage and Irrigation (FCDI) scheme. Problematically, this form of donor \u0026lsquo;climate coloniality\u0026rsquo; creates novel ecological debts that in turn increase localised socio-economic vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are concentrated within marginalised, poorer groups, although the attendant impacts of one climate-related ecological debt, waterlogging, are not widely understood. Two critical research questions emerge from this context: (i) in what ways does waterlogging impact marginalised groups in coastal regions?; (ii) how could adaptation institutions be decolonised to reduce resultant vulnerabilities? Primary data from research conducted in Jessore District in south western Bangladesh is utilised in answering these questions. The findings show that marginalised groups disproportionately endure the impacts of historically path dependent, climate-related ecological debts through multiple vulnerabilities such as declining crop production, loss of domestic animals and income, unemployment, price hikes for daily essentials, gendered inequalities and increasing crime, primarily resulting from their exclusion from adaptation decision-making. In response to this neo-colonial perspective, such structural domination needs to be challenged by decolonizing adaptation institutions through the integration of recognition and procedural justice interventions. Decolonized institutions based on this justice perspective could provide a governance space for recognizing local community voices related to coastal ecosystems and agricultural practices.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Donor climate coloniality, ecological debt and vulnerabilities in coastal Bangladesh: redesigning institutions for recognition justice","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-06-19 19:00:07","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4527929/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2024-09-02T10:11:29+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-08-31T15:47:24+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-08-26T18:06:55+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-08-22T15:20:05+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"298920050501379569531756886866699111069","date":"2024-08-11T21:57:54+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"191401477993241633775119718174346482200","date":"2024-07-29T04:40:54+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"195712307748454842994370576181420214184","date":"2024-07-26T09:53:17+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-07-12T20:28:29+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"167868304115494269483229320595829990004","date":"2024-06-26T04:14:46+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"20444787023342208898511221759811747581","date":"2024-06-17T00:39:57+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"71365114592926738197052480266102180492","date":"2024-06-16T16:57:15+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"31577514739346894306879959018108019602","date":"2024-06-15T07:04:00+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"83980678093599666015689793776378471678","date":"2024-06-14T21:44:28+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2024-06-14T14:23:36+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2024-06-12T03:30:23+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2024-06-05T10:19:12+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Environmental Management","date":"2024-06-04T12:05:03+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"environmental-management","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"emvm","sideBox":"Learn more about [Environmental Management](http://link.springer.com/journal/267)","snPcode":"267","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/267/3","title":"Environmental Management","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3886e794-ff54-4338-b4ca-6031a90d8d39","owner":[],"postedDate":"June 19th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-02-25T00:53:31+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-06-19 19:00:07","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4527929","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4527929","identity":"rs-4527929","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}