The purpose of this thesis research was to understand the recovery and resilience of wetland
community to flash flood disasters and its associated risks in the north-eastern part of
Bangladesh. I conducted my study using a case study approach following an interdisciplinary
research paradigm. It was found that wetland-community is extremely vulnerable to flash
flood hazards – both in biophysical and social terms. However, they possess certain coping
thresholds, and are resilient to disaster losses. The adaptive capacity of the local communities
has been severely curbed by a number of socio-ecological, economic, and political factors,
leading to natural resource degradation, marginalization and exclusion of the poor from
common pool resources by powerful groups. Response capacities of local institutions were
severely constrained by their limited relative autonomy. For building resilience, i) effective
management and access of the poor to natural resources, and ii) enhancing autonomy of local
institutions are required.