The New Nation - Internet Edition

Ms.Sonia Sultana

The impact of climate change is worldwide. For Bangladesh they are most critical as large part of the population is chronically exposed and vulnerable to a range of natural hazards .Now, the human suffering and cost to development is massive to the country and its population who are victims of human induced Global warming. Climate hazards, including extremes like floods, cyclones, tornado, storm surge, tidal bore, etc are not new to Bangladesh and the country has a scarred history claiming many lives and resulting in losses of assets, belongings. In Bangladesh in the past few decades, the effects of global warming have been evidenced in climate variability, change and extremes. More adverse impacts are projected for the coming decades, particularly low lying coastline and floodplain ecosystems which characterize Bangladesh.

To understand how climate change will impact Bangladesh in future, influence its development aspiration and define its roadmap for sustainable development, three considerations critical. location, population, economy. The location of Bangladesh is in a deltaic plain of major basin, making it susceptible to foods and cyclones. The country is extremely populated in a small area and one of the most densely populated in the World. The country is also very poor and a majority live below subsistence level, making them already vulnerable. Scientists tell us that the most profoundly damaging impact of climate change in Bangladesh will take form in floods, salinity intrusion, temperature increase and droughts, all of which will drastically affect crop productivity and food security. We will also face riverbank erosion, sea water level rise and lack of fresh water in the coastal zones. The prognosis is more extreme floods in a country already devastated by floods; less food for our country in which half our children already don't have enough to eat; and less clean water for where waterborne diseases are already responsible for 24 percent of all deaths. Bangladesh is one of the world's largest deltas, formed by a dense network of 230 unstable rivers; most of the country is less than 10 meters above sea level. Were the Earth to warm by just one degree Celsius, 11 percent of Bangladesh would be submerged, putting the lives of 55 million people in danger. Most scientists-including the UK government's David King-expect a two-degree increase. It is almost impossible to imagine how Bangladesh will cope with this situation.

Preventive Measures:

Building adaptive capacity to climate change and managing climate risks will be addressed through the mainstreaming of climate risk into sustainable development strategies. To do this successfully requires awareness and understanding of climate change issues. These actions should build on existing coping methods. Communication between communities will allow copies strategies to be shared.

Capacity building and promoting partnerships-climate change cell promotes partnership with both government and non-government agencies to service long term and immediate needs. In this respect, a total of 34 focal points have been established in different government agencies, academic institutes, research institutes and organizations.

Mainstreaming climate change into development plans and processes-Mainstreaming climate change is to engage in a systematic, comprehensive effort to reduce the negative impacts of climate change through integration into overall national development and planning process of the country.

Disaster risk reduction with climate change adaptation offers a win-win opportunity-climate system is fundamental for both issues: 75% of all disasters are originated by weather-climate extremes. Disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change strategies both are aimed at enhancing sustainability, resilient societies and human security. Similar sectoral focus, complexities & challenges, rely on same type of measures and policies. Disaster risk reduction offers opportunities for bottom-up strategies for adaptation to current climate variability and climate extremes. In this respect, disaster risk reduction can promote early adaptation to climate risks and impacts. The comprehensive Disaster Management Programmed (CDMP) of the government should implement and supervise properly.

A Country Framework for Climate Resilient Development-The government should develop a country framework to ensure national development is resilient to climate change and its impacts in such a way that the lives, live hood and well being of its people is sustained over time.

National Adaptation programmes of Action- Immediate implementation of as an outcome of the climate change convention, National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) which provide a process for least development countries to identify priority activities that respond to their urgent and immediate needs with regard to adaptation to climate change.

A National Climate Change Policy and Action Plan -To harness, guide and coordinate all the national and international responses and processes to integrate climate risk into development plans and processes, the government, through it's department of Environment has recently launched the preparation of the climate change policy and action plan for Bangladesh. It should ensure that these programs are done properly according to the demand of natural environment. Plan should address the needs and priorities of the country and will come into practice with mainstreaming climate risk management and adaptation using the country framework as an operational tool.