The Knowledge Hub

Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events due to its frequent exposure to floods and extensive low-lying areas. Coastal flood risks are expected to increase due climate change. Therefore, Bangladesh has been upgrading its coastal embankment system to enhance flood safety. This initiative includes not only hard flood defense infrastructure, but also nature-based solutions through planting mangroves on the seaside of embankments. Mangroves, serving as natural flood barriers, have been utilized in Bangladesh for coastal protection since the 1960s. However, their integration with embankment designs and their benefits in carbon sequestration remain underexplored. This paper consolidates current knowledge on the role of mangroves in coastal resilience in Bangladesh, incorporating recent studies and new analyses on their benefits on (i) flood risk reduction, (ii) livelihood enhancement, and (iii) carbon sequestration.

Access to actionable information that outlines opportunities for nature-based solutions (NBS) investments at early stages of project design is essential for enabling the scale up of these solutions, which can effectively reduce climate risks, while bringing important socioeconomic benefits. This report summarizes how the Nature-Based Solutions Opportunity Scan (NBSOS) can support the World Bank, its clients, and development partners to identify NBS investment opportunities, understand the associated benefits, and integrate these interventions into projects.

The report provides evidence of the drivers of risks in Bangladesh’s coastal zone, analyzes what has been achieved so far in reducing these risks, and reviews the lessons learned from these achievements.

The study presents a systematic approach to assess where, in what quantity, and through what processes sediment is being generated in the Kali Gandaki Basin, identify plausible interventions through investing in green infrastructure approaches for watershed management, and evaluate their impacts.

This paper investigates how mangrove foreshores can be integrated into embankment designs in Bangladesh and provides a methodology that could be applied to design nature-based solutions in the country.