Multilevel Governance for Climate Change Adaptation A case study for climate induced flood in Bangladesh Md. Mostafizur Rahman 1 , Md. Mahbubur Rahman 2 , Md. Tajminur Rahman 3 1 GIS Specialist, Institute of Water Modelling (IWM), Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2 Assistant Engineer, Bangladesh Water Development Board, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 3 Md. Tajminur Rahman, Assistant Director, Department of Environment, Bangladesh, Abstract—Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate changes. In Bangladesh, flood is one of the most natural hazards which is expected to be aggravated with future climate change scenario. Early adaptation research and practice to climate change was concerned with technical solutions. This trend gradually shifted to concerns with the institutional context of adaptation. More recently, the emphasis has been placed on governance followed by multilevel governance. This study aims to illustrate how governments at all level can act cooperatively to address climate change adaptation. To conduct the study climate induced flood for the year 2040 has been considered as climatic event. This study is based on a case study to show how climate change induced flood will affect infrastructure; under such condition what may be the adaptation strategies at local, regional and national level. Flood exposure analysis has been considered to examine the impact of climate induced flood on infrastructure. Flood exposure analysis shows that about 82.20% road, 91.43% educational infrastructure and 61.54% health facilities will be exposed to more the 1m inundation due to climate change induced flood in 2040. Adaptation strategy has been devised based on present practice across Asian countries, findings from other research and expert opinion. The study find that flood exposure analysis, flood hazard and proper landuse planning are needed at local level; regional level authority should focus on cross-border nature of flooding such as river basin management; national level authority should focus on policy level and financial matters to adapt with climate change. Keywords— Multi-level Governance; Climate change; Flood exposure analysis; Adaptation; landuse; Bangladesh I. INTRODUCTION Climate change is fast becoming one of the most significant challenges of the 21st century. Urban areas are heavily vulnerable to climate change; a large scale of people and infrastructure in urban areas across the world will be affected by climate change. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable courtiers in the world to climate changes and one of the most densely populated countries in the world. In Bangladesh, flood is one of the most natural hazards which is expected to be aggravated with future climate change scenario [1, 2]. Approximately 20% to 25% of its territory is inundated during the monsoon season [3]. A number of research works have identified that the monsoon flood scenario will be aggravated with future climate change context [1, 4, 5, and 6]. The Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC defines adaptation as “Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities” [7]. Early adaptation research and practice was overly concerned with knowledge and information needs on climate risks–and later on vulnerability–in order to identify technical solutions to adaptation issues. Research and practice gradually shifted to concerns with the institutional context of adaptation. More recently, the emphasis has been placed on governance and city government and the coordination of knowledge, actions and how knowledge among diverse actors emerges and influence decisions and interactions [8, 9, and 10]. It is argued that climate change adaptation can only be adequately addressed if action is taken at all levels of government: international, national, regional, and local [11]. In Bangladesh there is no evidence of multilevel governance approach of climate change adaptation. This paper aims to demonstrate how governments at all level can act cooperatively to address climate change adaptation. Many sectors will be affected by climate change in many dimension and adaptation strategy will be different thereof. This study does not address all climatic events (hazards) and all sectors. This study has been conducted focusing climate change induced flood and infrastructure in Bangladesh. II. STUDY AREA To conduct this study, Ullapara Municipality of Sirajganj District, Bangladesh has been taken as case study which, due to its geo-physical setting, urban character, important landuse and infrastructure, represents other climate change induced flood prone Municipalities (urban areas) in the country. Ullapara Municipality, being located in Sirajganj district, represents the impact of climate induced flood near the area of Jamuna River (Brahmmaputra), one of the rivers of GBM basin (Ganges- 1607 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) ISSN: 2278-0181 www.ijert.org IJERTV3IS051933 Vol. 3 Issue 5, May - 2014