Navigating livelihoods and uncertainty: well-being and identity struggles in four coastal places in India and Bangladesh

Using various localized research methods in four sites in India and Bangladesh (two of them adjacent to the Sundarbans), this article from the Tapestry research project examines the political-economic and cultural basis for livelihoods. It first assesses existing patterns of livelihoods and the resources on which these are based. It highlights the contests between different users and interest groups to access and control the resources and income activities and how existing systems of power provide a difficult basis for transforming local livelihoods and cultures to adapt to climate change. Significant struggles exist in relation to access to commons, with pressure on resources from actors that are more powerful than the traditional users. While reliance on local resources is partly associated with strong feelings of place identity, the research uncovered interesting ambiguities about this, on both a gender and generational basis. By understanding the many problems identified by the local people, the article assesses how autonomous initiatives by farmers, fishers and pastoralists can help with the challenges, alongside initiatives brought from outside by NGOs and government agencies. The mismatch and inadequacies of these are identified, while assessing their potential for supporting transformative changes in the local people’s well-being. The basic components of livelihoods and identity (resources, actors, systems of power, place identity, conflicts of interest and challenges of climate change) then provide the basis for future research that integrates the anticipated effects of climate change with each component.