Communities and International Consortium Present Community-Led Plan for Nature-Based Adaptation to Sea-Level Rise in Coastal Bangladesh
Local communities in the southwestern coastal region of Bangladesh—together with an international consortium including Uttaran, CEGIS, and Both ENDS—have presented a community-led plan to confront climate change and accelerating sea-level rise through nature-based adaptation. The People’s Plan for Upscaling Ecosystem-Based Adaptation outlines a scalable strategy rooted in local ownership and generations of lived experience. At its centre is Community-Based Tidal River Management (CBTRM), a proven approach that reduces waterlogging, raises land elevation, and restores ecological balance by working with natural tidal and sediment dynamics.
Southwestern Bangladesh, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable delta regions, has been grappling with chronic waterlogging for years. As riverbeds rise due to sedimentation, natural drainage has deteriorated, leaving villages submerged for long periods. Crops fail, roads and markets become inaccessible, drinking water sources deteriorate, and many families face seasonal migration. Sea-level rise, salinity intrusion, subsidence, and increasingly severe cyclones are rapidly intensifying these impacts.
The newly presented People’s Plan offers a feasible, community-driven roadmap to adapt to these pressures by restoring tidal processes and harnessing natural sedimentation to build elevation and resilience. Supported by the Global EbA Fund, it reflects a broad international partnership committed to strengthening community-led climate adaptation. The plan draws on the deep knowledge and long-standing local practices of people living in the Betna and Morirchap–Labangabati river basins, particularly their experience of living in harmony with the tides.
“What makes this plan unique is that the communities themselves are the driving force,” says Melvin van der Veen of Both ENDS, a member of the consortium. “They live with the consequences of waterlogging and know exactly which solutions are sustainable and fair.”
CBTRM allows sediment-rich tidal flows into designated areas for controlled sedimentation and drainage. This enables land to rise naturally, critical in a region where sea-level rise is outpacing conventional engineering solutions, while strengthening, rather than replacing, existing polder infrastructure. As a nature-based approach grounded in participation and local ownership, it complements national efforts such as river excavation programmes and the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100.
The significance of CBTRM extends beyond Bangladesh. Dutch experiments with wisselpolders, designed to stimulate natural delta formation, reflect a growing global recognition that nature-based and socially supported strategies are essential for adapting to sea-level rise. CBTRM offers a community-driven model with lessons for deltas worldwide, including the Netherlands.
On 1 December, development partners and multilateral development banks will convene to explore support for the next phase of work: conducting feasibility and ESIA studies; institutionalising the inclusive governance model proposed in the People’s Plan, including community-driven compensation mechanisms; and developing alternative and complementary livelihood options during and after implementation. Securing this support would mark an important step toward climate-resilient development in the Bangladesh delta.
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