Research

Figure: Crop cycle in northern India.

Agricultural Sustainability

Under the changing climate, farmers have to undergo various stresses during crop production. To deal with uncertainties, farmers adopt different strategies. Their decision-making relies on many social, economic, management, and biophysical factors and has varied implications. Understanding their decision-making strategies and their implications have the utmost importance to ensure food security under changing climate. My research addresses how farmers perceive changing environments, how they undertake agriculture-related decisions, what factors influence their decisions, what factors influence inequalities in decision-making and their implications impact agricultural production.

Relevant publications:

Ishtiaque, A. (2023) US Farmers' Adaptations to Climate Change: A systematic review of the adaptation-focused studies in the US agriculture context. Environmental Research: Climate 2 (2): 022001.
Prutzer, E., Patrick, A., Ishtiaque, A., Vij, S., Stock, R., Gardezi, M. (2023) Climate smart irrigation and responsible innovation in South Asia: A systematic mapping. Ambio (Available online)
Ishtiaque, A., Singh, S., Lobell, D., Singh, B., Fishman, R., Jain, M. (2022) Prior season crop management constrains farmer adaptation to warming temperature: Evidence from the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Science of the Total Environment 807(2): 151671.
Gardezi, M., Semhar, M., Stock, R., Vij, S., Ogunyiola, A., Ishtiaque, A. (2022) Prioritizing climate smart agriculture (CSA): An organizational and temporal review. WIREs Climate Change. WCC755

Climate Change Adaptation Governance

With an aim to reduce climate change risks and vulnerabilities and enhance adaptive capacities, various actors are involved in planning and implementing risk reduction or adaptation strategies. They encounter various challenges that influence their (inter)actions negatively. If not properly addressed, these challenges may lead to inefficient use of resources, ineffective actions, and even to maladaptation. My research provides insights into how policies are designed to accommodate climate change-related issues, how the multilevel actors are managing climate change impacts, and how different challenges impair their governance processes. I analyze how their power relations affect the governance processes and how these processes could be made more efficient.

Figure: Nested hierarchical conceptualization of adaptation.

Relevant Publications:

Lewis, D., Rahman, M.F., Twinomuhangi, R., Haque, S., Huq, N., Huq, S., Ribbe, L., Ishtiaque, A. (2022) University-based researchers as knowledge brokers for climate policies and action. The European Journal of Development Research (Available online)
Ishtiaque, A., Eakin, H., Chhetri, N., Vij, S., Rahman, F., Huq, S. (2021) Multilevel governance in climate adaptation in Bangladesh: structure, processes, and power dynamics. Regional Environmental Change 21: 75.
Vij, S., Biesbroek, R., Stock, R.J., Gardezi, M., Ishtiaque, A., Groot, A., Termeer, K. (2021) 'Power sensitive design principles' for climate change adaptation policy-making in South Asia? Earth System Governance 9: 100109.
Ishtiaque, A., Stock, R., Vij, S., Eakin, H., Chhetri, N. (2021) Beyond the barriers: An overview of mechanisms driving barriers to adaptation in Bangladesh. Environmental Policy & Governance 31: 316-329.
Stock, R.J., Vij, S., and Ishtiaque, A. (2020) Powering and puzzling in climate change adaptation policies in Bangladesh & India. Environment, Development and Sustainability 23: 2314-2336.
Chhetri, N., Stuhlmacher, M., Ishtiaque, A. (2019) Nested pathways to adaptation. Environmental Research Communications 1: 015001.

Figure: Hotspots of flood vulnerable areas in coastal part of Bangladesh as framed by different organizations that are involved in flood management.

Hazard Vulnerability and Resilience

The impacts of disasters are not similar across regions or societies. Particularly the coastal and urban areas are encountering increasing disaster risks often fueled by climate change. Disaster risk management involves disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Who are the vulnerable groups, what factors play key roles in determining disaster risks, how much effective the preparedness initiatives are, how different actors manage disaster risks, how do people respond to disasters and recover with or without the assistance from external actors- insights on these questions can significantly improve disaster risk management. My research examines these issues in both coastal and urban contexts.

Relevant Publications:

Estoque, R., Ishtiaque, A., Parajuli, J., Athukorala, D., Rabby, Y.W., and Ooba, M. (2023) Has the IPCC’s revised vulnerability concept been well adopted? Ambio 52: 376-389.
Ishtiaque, A., Estoque, R., Eakin, H., Parajuli, J., and Rabby, Y.W. (2022) IPCC’s current conceptualization of ‘vulnerability’ needs more clarification for climate change vulnerability assessments. Journal of Environmental Management 303: 114246.
Ali, U., Wang, J., Ullah, A., Ishtiaque, A., Javed, T. and Nurgazina, Z. (2021) The impact of climate change on the economic perspectives of crop farming in Pakistan: Using the Ricardian Model. Journal of Cleaner Production 308: 127219.
Rabby, Y.W., Ishtiaque, A., Rahman, M.S. (2020) Evaluating the effects of Digital Elevation Models in landslide susceptibility mapping in Rangamati district, Bangladesh. Remote Sensing 12 (17): 2718.
Ishtiaque, A., Eakin, H., Chhetri, N., Myint, S., Dewan, A., and Kamruzzaman, M. (2019) Examining coastal vulnerability frameworks at multiple levels of governance using spatial MCDA approach. Ocean & Coastal Management 171: 66-79.
Ishtiaque, A., Sangwan, N., and Yu, D. (2017) Robust-yet-fragile nature of partly engineered coastal social-ecological systems: a case study of coastal Bangladesh. Ecology & Society 22 (3): 5.
Ishtiaque, A., and Nazem, N. I. (2017) Household level disaster induced losses and rural-urban migration: Experience from world’s one of the most disaster affected countries. Natural Hazards 86: 315-326.
Ishtiaque, A. and Ullah, M.S. (2013) The influence of factors of migration on the migration status of rural-urban migrants in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Human Geographies 7 (2): 45.

Environmental Sustainability

With increasing population and rapid urbanization, developments can quickly become unsustainable if not all three- social, economic, and environmental, aspects are valued properly. Climate change is further posing great risks to sustainability. Without a comprehensive consideration of social, economic, and environmental aspects, development initiatives may fail to provide desired outcomes. Understanding the interrelations of these aspects with developments is of high significance for sustainable development. My research particularly focuses on the environmental aspect of sustainability. Using geospatial techniques I examine how development jeopardizes environmental sustainability. I identify hotspots of environmental degradation, analyze the factors responsible for degradation, and examine the implications.

Figure: Changes in tree cover in the Sundarban mangrove forest between 2000 and 2010

Relevant Publications:

Ishtiaque, A., Masrur, A., Rabby, Y.W., Jerin, T., and Dewan, A. (2020) Remote sensing-based research for monitoring progress towards SDG 15 in Bangladesh: A review. Remote Sensing 12 (4): 691.
Estoque, R., Myint, S.W., Wang, C., Ishtiaque, A., Aung, T.T., Ooba, M., Emerton, L., Mon, M.S., Wang, Z., and Fan, C. (2018) A new estimate of mangrove forest cover changes in Myanmar (2000 to 2014): Assessing Environmental Impacts. Global Change Biology 24 (11): 5391-5410.
Ishtiaque, A., Shrestha, M., and Chhetri, N. (2017) Rapid urbanization in the Kathmandu valley, Nepal: Monitoring land use land cover dynamics with Landsat imagery. Environments 4 (4): 72.
Ishtiaque, A. and Chhetri, N. (2016) Competing policies to protect mangrove forest: A case from Bangladesh. Environmental Development 19: 75-83.
Ishtiaque, A., Myint, S.W., and Wang, C. (2016) Examining the ecosystem health and sustainability of world’s largest mangrove forest using multi-temporal MODIS products. Science of the Total Environment 569-570: 1241-1254.

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