Strengthening climate resilience and adaptation through financial services in Bangladesh

• Feb 26, 2025
• 1 min

Southwestern Bangladesh faces severe climate risks from cyclones and storm surges, impacting vulnerable communities. MSC, commissioned by CGAP, studied these impacts, adaptation strategies, and the role of financial services. Findings informed a CGAP workshop, fostering solutions to strengthen climate resilience through inclusive finance.

Inclusive climate finance, climate adaptation, financial instruments

Southwestern Bangladesh is exposed to tropical cyclones and storm surges, which increase the salinity of soil and groundwater. The direct and indirect impact of cyclones and associated perils on the lives and livelihoods of poor and vulnerable communities, both rural and urban, is not well understood. We do not understand how these vulnerable communities adapt to the increased intensity and frequency of these events. We also have a limited understanding of financial services’ role in informing the adaptation strategies of these people and ways to strengthen this role.

The project sought to understand the following:

• The direct and indirect impacts of cyclones and their associated perils on the lives and livelihoods of the affected communities in southwestern Bangladesh;
• Adaptation strategies of these poor and vulnerable households and the role of financial services in those strategies;
• Pathways to enhance the role of financial services in the adaptation strategies and strengthen the resilience of these communities against climate change.

Based on the study insights, CGAP conducted a consultative workshop in Dhaka. The workshop brought together experts from the inclusive finance and climate adaptation sectors to discuss financial instruments and solutions for climate risks.

CGAP commissioned MSC to conduct this study.