Climate proofing infrastructure in Bangladesh : the incremental cost of limiting future inland monsoon flood damage

Two-thirds of Bangladesh is less than 5 meters above sea level, making it one of the most flood prone countries in the world. Severe flooding during a monsoon causes significant damage to crops and property, with severe adverse impacts on rural livelihoods. Future climate change seems likely to increase the destructive power of monsoon floods. This paper examines the potential cost of offsetting increased flooding risk from climate change, based on simulations from a climate model of extreme floods out to 2050. Using the 1998 flood as a benchmark for evaluating additional protection measures, the authors calculate conservatively that necessary capital investments out to 2050 would total US$2,671 million (at 2009 prices) to protect roads and railways, river embankments surrounding agricultural lands, and drainage systems and erosion control measures for major towns. With gradual climate change, however, required investments would be phased. Beyond these capital-intensive investments, improved policies, planning and institutions are essential to ensure that such investments are used correctly and yield the expected benefits. Particular attention is needed to the robustness of benefits from large-scale fixed capital investments. Investments in increased understanding of risk-mitigation options and in economic mobility will have especially high returns.Hazard Risk Management,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases,Science of Climate Change,Climate Change Economics

Work stress among managers of business organizations in Bangladesh

This paper aims to identify the sources and levels of work stress experienced by frontline, middle and senior managers within business organizations in Bangladesh. Six factors are considered as the major antecedents of work stress namely role overload (qualitative), role overload (quantitative), role conflict, role ambiguity, responsibility for others and career development. Study has used a cross-sectional survey to collect quantitative data from 457 respondents in particular three managerial positions, frontline, middle and senior from 36 randomly selected business organizations operating in private sector of Bangladesh. Results have revealed that 80.40% of participants experience moderate levels of work stress in their workplace. Career development and responsibility for others are identified as the most significant sources of work stress in Bangladeshi business organizations. Role conflict and role ambiguity have been found as stressors causing reasonably least amount of work stress among the participants. Since there has been no study, previously, identifying the sources and levels of work stress in Bangladeshi business organisations, the significance of this research lies in its highlighting of the specific factors causing work stress among the business managers in this country

Gauging the skin resident Leishmania parasites through a loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay in post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis

Despite the availability of highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods, the dearth of remotely deployable diagnostic tools circumvents the early and accurate detection of individuals with post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL). Here, we evaluate a design-locked loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay to diagnose PKDL. A total of 76 snip-skin samples collected from individuals with probable PKDL (clinical presentation and a positive rK39 rapid diagnostic test (RDT)) were assessed by microscopy, qPCR, and LAMP. An equal number of age and sex-matched healthy controls were included to determine the specificity of the LAMP assay. The LAMP assay with a Qiagen DNA extraction (Q-LAMP) showed a promising sensitivity of 72.37% (95% CI: 60.91–82.01%) for identifying the PKDL cases. LAMP assay sensitivity declined when the DNA was extracted using a boil-spin method. Q-qPCR showed 68.42% (56.75–78.61%) sensitivity, comparable to LAMP and with an excellent agreement, whereas the microscopy exhibited a weak sensitivity of 39.47% (28.44–51.35%). When microscopy and/or qPCR were considered the gold standard, Q-LAMP exhibited an elevated sensitivity of 89.7% (95% CI: 78.83–96.11%) for detection of PKDL cases and Bayesian latent class modeling substantiated the excellent sensitivity of the assay. All healthy controls were found to be negative. Notwithstanding the optimum efficiency of the LAMP assay towards the detection of PKDL cases, further optimization of the boil-spin method is warranted to permit remote use of the assay

The Mediating Role of Employees’ Green Motivation between Exploratory Factors and Green Behaviour in the Malaysian Food Industry

Global business entities face the challenge of incremental pressures to restructure their strategic alignments and capabilities to be in accordance with the sustainable development initiatives of the United Nations. This study endeavours to investigate the mediating role of employees’ green motivations in the relationships of environmental ethics, the institutional environment, and managerial support with the green behaviour of companies in the Malaysian food manufacturing industry. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey completed by 230 respondents to achieve the study objectives. The respondents consisted of CEOs, company managers, marketing managers, human resources department managers, concerned authorities from environmental protection departments, and producers in the Malaysian food manufacturing industry. The study found that environmental ethics, the institutional environment and managerial support play significant roles in motivating employees’ green activities within organisations, while employees’ green motivation substantially contributes to the green behaviour of the company. This study also revealed that employees’ green motivation plays an important mediating role in the relationships of environmental ethics, the institutional environment, and managerial support with the green behaviour of the company. The implications of this study will be important for allowing governments to take instantaneous action for their climate change pledges to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) following the Paris Accord of 2015 and the Marrakech Proclamation of 2016

The role of mass media in communicating climate science: An empirical evidence

World leaders signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 to keep global temperatures well below 2 °C. This Paris Agreement will facilitate achieving Sustainable Development Goal-13 (Climate Action) by 2030. However, without collective action, it is quite impossible to achieve the terms of this agreement. In this regard, the mass media can contribute to making people aware of the subsequent effect of climate change at all levels. The mass media, as a source of information, might play a significant role in raising public awareness and understanding of climate sciences. This paper examines the influence of the mass media on awareness, attitudes and knowledge of climate change, which may lead to environmentally friendly behaviour. This paper employs structural equation modelling to examine the relationship among the studied variables. The results reveal that the mass media influences awareness, attitudes and knowledge of climate change. This study also finds mediating effects of awareness, attitudes and knowledge of climate change between the mass media and environmentally friendly behaviour. The results imply that the mass media contributes to creating awareness, enhancing understating and shaping favourable attitudes towards climate change. The findings could guide policymakers to take appropriate steps to promote a greater awareness of climate change using the mass media. © 201

Financing an efficient adaptation programme to climate change: A contingent valuation method tested in Malaysia

This paper assesses farmers’ willingness to pay for an efficient adaptation programme to climate change for Malaysian agriculture. We used the contingent valuation method to determine the monetary assessment of farmers’ preferences for an adaptation programme. We distributed a structured questionnaire to farmers in Selangor, Malaysia. Based on the survey, 74% of respondents are willing to pay for the adaptation programme with several factors such as socio-economic and motivational factors exerting greater influences over their willingness to pay. However, a significant number of respondents are not willing to pay for the adaptation programme. The Malaysian government, along with social institutions, banks, NGOs, and media could come up with fruitful awareness programmes to motivate financing the programme. Financial institutions such as banks, insurances, leasing firms, etc. along with government and farmers could also donate a substantial portion for the adaptation programme as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR)