%0 Journal Article %T Environmental Change and Its Impacts on Lives and Livelihoods of South-Central Coastal Districts of Bangladesh %J - %D 2018 %X The coastal region of Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to disasters due to its geographical location and cover about 20% of total land area and over 30% of the cultivated lands of the country. The coastal ecosystem of Bangladesh encompasses a highly functional and structurally diverse ecology e.g. the worldĄŻs largest mangroves forest (the Sundarbans), dunes, wetlands, beaches, and coral reefs. It provides a wide range of goods and services to the people of Bangladesh due to its dynamic natural environment. Climate related change represents potential additional stress on systems and the ecology in coastal zones is gradually being degraded. These bio-geophysical possessions will have subsequent effects on ecosystems and in time affect socio-economic systems in the coastal zone. Coastal zone have already been facing numerous climate change effects such as floods, salinity intrusion, river bank erosion, cold waves, cyclone, tornado, arsenic contamination in ground water and water logging; are gradually escalating by climate change and creating risks for the coastal people in Bangladesh. Research study is concerned with climate change related risks and hazards that affects the inhabitants of coastal Bangladesh. The study findings revealed that the climate change has affected the livelihood of coastal people in many sectors including scarcity of pure drinking water, extreme poverty, health problems, malnutrition, damage in crop cultivation, poultry, vegetables garden and fisheries. Elsewhere, it also created a state of unemployment among the peoples of coastal communities. As a result, the affected people are losing their means of livelihoods and forced to take several alternative ways to survive with the adverse impact of climate change associated disasters. Research paper reveals that the coastal community people try to solve their problems through embracing and exploring alternative employments. To reduce the impacts there are two options in the coastal zone of Bangladesh is that mitigation and adaptation. The country has very limited scope for mitigation cause of mitigation involves global efforts to execute and adaptation is more indigenous. As a result, effective adaptation policies and mitigation measures should be built-up and implemented to minimize climate related impacts on Bangladesh %K Climatic Variability %K Coastal Zone %K Vulnerability %K Impacts %K Social Consequences %K Economic Consequences %K Alternative Livelihood %U http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo?journalid=375&doi=10.11648/j.ajbes.20180402.11