Topic Defence Seminar on "The Role of Knowledge and Information on"

Coastal area of Bangladesh comprises 32 percent area and 28 percent population of the country where coastal livelihood largely depends on the Bay of Bengal. Similarly, coastal community of Khulna district has high dependency and accordingly has frequent year-round access to the Sunderban and its adjacent coast for collecting aqua and forest resources. As Sunderban is located in the active zone of Bay of Bengal, it faces tidal surge, flood, cyclone etc. frequently which snatch away resource extractors’ boats, other resources, and even their lives. Improper knowledge of coastal people and defective mechanism in transmitting and receiving weather signals are mainly liable for loss. Current research intends to investigate the roles of knowledge and information of warning weather signals on access to the Sunderban in warning signal periods. The research will be conducted in 4 coastal villages of Koyra upazila of Khulna district of Bangladesh. A number of 120 and 80 households dependent on the Sunderban will be selected randomly for the treatment and control group respectively. The researcher will provide training about weather signals to the treatment group. Secondly, the researcher will also transmit the households in the treatment group up to date warning weather information via mobile phone. The researcher will collect baseline and post-experimental data as well. Average risky entry in the Sunderban during warning weather will be compared across treatment and control groups, and over time. Appropriate econometric models will be used to identify impacts of knowledge and information on coastal households' risky access to the Sunderban.