Kinship, dadon and patronage politics: The role of informal institutions in climate adaptation

Institutions play a critical role in shaping individual and collective responses to climate change, yet little attention has been paid to understand the influence of informal institutions on climate adaptation. This research explores how rural informal institutions mediate adaptation responses of coastal communities in Bangladesh. Drawing on qualitative data collected from a fishing-dependent village in the central coastal region of Bangladesh, the study reveals that rural people predominantly rely on informal institutions such as kinship, dadon (informal money lending), and patronage politics to address risks associated with riverbank erosion.