Climate Change in Bangladesh by City Tech Blogger Jannatul Mohima

Climate change refers to seasonal changes over a lengthy period. As far as we know, climate change is one of the major issues in the world today. It is also called global warming and refers to the rise in average ground temperatures on Earth.  The basic reason for climate change is the burning of fossil fuels, like coal and oil, cutting down rainforests and raising farming livestock and also other human activities. Climate is getting changed due to various reasons that are mainly classified into two categories. First, natural causes and second, man-made causes. Natural disasters bring cyclones, floods, earthquakes, storms, extreme temperature, greenhouse gas emissions, heat and level of oceans and drought.  Problems caused by climate change include sea-level rise, severe lack of rain, heat waves, cold spells, cyclones, earthquake, droughts, flooding etc.

Bangladesh, a country located in south Asia, is one of the most acutely affected countries in the world when it comes to climate change. Climate change has largely impacted Bangladesh’s agriculture, infrastructure and process of life. country. Bangladesh is also well known as a flood- and cyclone-affected country.

Cyclones:

Bangladesh is a riverine country. Therefore, Bangladesh is severely and often affected by cyclones. Cyclones have devastated the lives of the Bangladeshi people so many times throughout the history. On the day of April 29, 1991, a terrible cyclone occurred in the southeastern part of Bangladesh namely Chittagong. Even though people knew that this cyclone would hit them hard,  most people could not survive and an alarming 1, 35,000 people died that day. The loss was massive. The most devastating cyclones in Bangladesh are as follows-

1970 -Bhola cyclone- Affected areas: Chittagong, Barguna, Khepupara, Patuakhali, north of Char Burhanuddin, Char Tazumuddin and south of Maijdi, Haringhata,

Cyclone sidar -2007- Affected areas: Bagerhat, Barisal, Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Khulna and Satkhira

Cyclone Alia- (2009) – Affected areas: Southwestern coastal regions of Bangladesh,

Cyclone roanu- (2016) – Most affected areas: Sandwip, Hatia, Kutubdia, Sitakundu and Feni

Flood:

Continuing and heavy rainfalls are the main cause of floods in our country. When there is a heavy rain for a number of days the rivers cannot hold and carry so much water to the sea. As a result, the water overflows the banks of rivers and submerges a vast area of land. It is a great devil for Bangladesh, being a low-lying riparian country and it has become a victim to floods almost every year.

Drought:

Drought is defined as the period when moisture content of the soil is less than the required amount for satisfactory crop-growth during the normal crop growing season in Bangladesh. Its effects different sectors differently, and a large number of drought risk management actions are carried out to cope with this insidious disaster in Bangladesh. Drought affects all parts of our environment and our communities. The many different drought impacts are often grouped as “economic,” “environmental,” and “social” impacts. All of these impacts must be considered in planning for and responding to drought conditions. There are four types of Droughts in Bangladesh:

1. Meteorological Drought
2. Hydrological Drought
3. Agricultural Drought
4. Socio Economic

Rise in Sea Level:

Sea level can rise is in part due to the rising global temperatures; ice melts in the Polar Regions and dumps ton of extra water into the ocean.  Bangladesh is already one of the poorest places on earth with around half the population below the poverty line. Due to the “Greenhouse Effect” the sea level in Bangladesh might rise up to 3 meters by the year of 2100 and if that happens there will be a vast change happening in the coastal area of Bangladesh. If the sea level  continuously rises then some low parts of Bangladesh might under water.

Mitigation is an indispensable priority:

The Bangladeshi government sees climate change as one of the most vital topics for Bangladesh.  However, migration resulting from climate change has not been incorporated in detail in the two the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan and the National Action Plan of Adaptation.  It is essential that the climate change, dislocation and migration nexus is integrated into the government’s policy (CCCM, 2010).  The experts on climate change and key stakeholders should be expected to pursue ways in which migration issues can best be reflected in the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan document. The government of Bangladesh has included different types of texts from class 3 to 10 for students to make them aware of climate change issues such as how it can affect their lives and what kind of roles they should play to mitigate natural disasters.

Personal Experience by climate change:

Well, I am going to share my own experience about the natural disaster which I have witnessed due to climate change. From 2000 to 2008, I lived with my family in a lower area in the city of Dhaka city. I have experienced a cyclone. It occurred in September, 2007 and her  name was Sidar. As a result of Sidar, there was heavy rainfall. It was a terrible incident which I can never forget because we had to suffer severely because of that event.  Many people became injured, many people died, and their houses were swept away because of that devastating Sidar. Many places sank in the water, the crops were destroyed. There was also a lot of damage at that time. My village house also drowned in water. Due to abundance of rainfall, floods occurred. We could not get out of the house and also we couldn’t do any household chores. There were lots of snakes which were not absolutely safe for us. I was scared. Public life had become obsolete. One day a snake bit one of my neighbors and he was taken to hospital quickly. We had to move from one place to another by boat. In this way we had to suffer a lot for a long time.

References:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311744604_Impact_of_Climate_Change_in_Bangladesh_The_Role_of_Public_Administration_and_Government’s_Integrity

https://www.123helpme.com/climate-change-and-bangladesh-view.asp?id=246034