Climate Change in Bangladesh

7/28/2019 Climate Change in Bangladesh

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CHALLENGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND BD PERSPECTIVE

INTRODUCTION

1. Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather overperiods of time that range from decades to millions of years. A change of climatewhich is attributed/influenced directly or indirectly to human activity that alters thecomposition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climatechangeability observed over comparable time periods. In the latter sense it maybe qualified as anthropogenic change of climate, more generally known as "global warming" or "Anthropogenic Global Warming" (AGW).

2. Presently this rapid climate change has become the major catastrophe andthe greatest threat of the 21st century. No nation, however large or small, wealthyor poor, can escape the impact of climate change. Appreciating the consequences,many a times heads of frontier states, Heads of Governments, Ministers, and otherheads of delegations sited together and formed various international agreements

to bring down the carbon emission to a level to keep the planet liveable. But thesummit concluded without expected consensus/agreement.

3. In pursuant to the present context of climate change, this paper willendeavour to highlight the various causes of world climate change, effects of itand summary of recent Copenhagen accord, analysis, criticism and cause of failureof the accord and the remedial measures to combat climate change in thesuffering countries.

AIM

4. The aim of this paper is to highlight the overall impact of global climatechange suggesting the remedial measures to combat it.

THE CANCUN CONCURRENCE

5. United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Cancun, Mexico, from 29

November to 10 December 2010.The Cancun Agreement has restored momentum tothe UN climate talks. Three important areas of achievement are:

a. New ‘Green Climate Fund’ Formally establishing a new globalclimate fund US$100 billion a year by 2020 to reduce pollution dependence

and manage climate change impacts in the most vulnerable and poorestnations.

b. Anchoring of National Mitigation Commitments. Formalrecognition and ‘anchoring’ of existing pollution targets and commitmentsfrom all major polluting countries, covering around 80 per cent of globalemissions. This is the first time pollution commitments from US, China andall other major economies have been captured in a formal UN agreement.

c. Improved Transparency . Measures to improve transparency andverification of domestic efforts to reduce pollution, including a process forinternational review of countries’ actions by technical experts.

d. Technology. Establishing a new program to fast track cleantechnology development.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming


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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropogenic




WORLD WIDE AFFECTED REGIONS

7. Presently there are very few countries who are not suffering from terriblehand of climate change. But due to the melting of the ice berg, the normal sealevel has increased to an anxiety level. So the low lying countries like Asian megadeltas includes Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, China, various parts of Africacontinent specially in the sub-Saharan region and the small islands are affected byflood, draught and various natural calamities almost every year. The causes of deadly cyclone Catrina in USA, Ayla & Sidor in Bangladesh are the terrible resultsof climate change in the recent past.

REASONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

11. Greenhouse Effect and Ozone Layer. Scientists have discovered thatconcentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2) are

rising. These gases could trap more heat in the atmosphere is leading to agradual warming of the Earth’s atmosphere. Ozone layer depletion is also animpact of greenhouse effect.

13. Industrialization. Significant numbers of large scale industries aregenerating toxic elements in both gaseous and solid form, chemical and unrefinedwastes causing air pollution and placing extra load on the environment.

14. Urbanization. The unemployed rural people migrating to the larger citiescausing scarcity of housing land, drainage problem, excessive production of sewage and other wastes, traffic congestion etc. shrinks down cultivable land of the country. These all badly affect the environment causing ultimate effect onweather.

15. Deforestation. According to a recent estimate, over the past 50 yearsnearly 14% (?) of the forest area had been deforested. This is causing excesspressure on ozone layer which ultimately affects the climate.

18. Marine Pollution. Ships operating at sea and ship breaking industriesmainly in the SE Asian coastal areas are polluting the sea and adjacent land areaby discharging liquefied petroleum gas and oxygen, large amount of fuel and other

oily substances adding threat to marine environment. It further makes the seasurface polluted and warmed and increasing the temperature.

19. Air Pollution and Transportation. The major sources of air pollutionoccur due to the burning of fossil fuel, petroleum for transportation etc. Thesecause increasing of CO2 in the environment and affecting the weather.

20. Pressure by Population Growth. The world’s population growth isrising specially in SE Asia at 17,000 people/sq km by 2050. This leads to amassive disruption of traditional land and resource management system. Thus the

nature is charged excessively to meet the demand of huge population for theirlivelihood causing an ecological imbalance to the nature.

IMPACT ON BANGLADESH

24. The poorest countries have always been predicted to be worst hit by thishuman-induced global warming. According to the 3rd Assessment Report of IPCC,Bangladesh ranks high in the list of most vulnerable countries. High vulnerabilityof the country to global warming is due to geographical location, flat deltaictopography with sea-facing low elevation, extreme tropical climate variability, highpopulation density and poverty incidence, dependency of majority of population on

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crop agriculture. However, the major impacts of global warming on Bangladeshare as follows:

a. Sea Level Rise. Global warming causes a thermal expansion of the seawater including melting the polar and Alpine ice sheets. The sea floor is also beingraised by the deposition of the sediments brought down by the rivers. Theseprocesses together are giving rise to sea level. World Bank reported that sea levelwas rising by about 3mm/year in the Bay of Bengal and rise along the coastalareas of Bangladesh will be about 88cm by the year 2100. A TF report predicts a 1meter rise in the sea level will engulf a greater portion of southern region which isabout 16% of BD.

b. Loss of Agri Land Area. The predicted 1 meter sea level rise will lead tothe loss of about 23 thousand sq km of agriland which will cause a 30% decline of rice crop. Bangladesh very often get submerged by flooding which drives awayalmost 80% efforts of Bangladeshi farmers and make them environmentalrefugees. From 1990 to 2008 the total gross losses were $ 2.19 billion/year.Again, 18% land in the coastal region is likely to be water logged by 2050 even

with 4-6 metres dam. This will significantly reduce our cultivating land and willcreate dreadful impact on our mass people.

c. Food Scarcity. A rise of sea water during high tides will enable salinewater extended to agriland and the salinity will deteriorate soil quality includingcause loss of sweet water. This will degrade the growth and production of corpsand ultimately country will have shortage of food than requirement. As a result BDhas to be dependent on foreign countries more to meet this requirement.

d. Increasing of Natural Calamity. Due to global warming, thetemperature in Bangladesh is raising and projected to rise by 1.5 to 2 deg C by2050. As such, followings are the overall affects observed:

(1) Tropical Cyclones Rising. Tropical cyclones and tornadoes isgetting bigger and more frequent. The super cyclone Sidr on 15 Nov 2007has already drawn attention to the devastation that may yet be caused infuture.

(2) Droughts Increasing. Abnormal seasonal behaviour etc thedroughts are increasing. Specially in winter it has been observed more.

(3) Rainfall Increase. BD is receiving heavier rainfall during themonsoon because the rate of evaporation. It is expected to increase by up to12%. Monsoon rainfall may increase by 11% by 2030.

f. Raising Disease. Rise in temperature will cause human health will beat higher risk of some infectious diseases like malaria, diarrhoea, dengue etcspecially in coastal area.

g. Forestry. Because of above reasons mainly due to storm and increaseof sea level rise including salinity of water the forestry is severely affected. Like, infuture it will permanently engulf the Sundarbans.

d. Other Effects. As fol:

(1) Abnormal seasonal behaviour.

(2) Rising of warmed and humid weather.

(3) Increase of salty area etc.

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SUGGESTED MEASURES OF BD

23. Suggested measures are as fol:

a. Raising Voice in Intl Forum. The government should raise it’svoice against carbon production in the intl forum spl in World’s EnvironmentProgramme. Govt should highlight that due to the green house affect causedby the developed countries, ultimately for the global warm BD is severelyaffected with cyclone, drought, heavy rainfall, flood, loss of agricultural land,scarcity of food, increase of diseases etc.

b. Asking for Spl Fund. According to a recent study Institute of WaterModeling (IWM), BD needs at least 4.17 billion US dollars for theconstruction of polders to save the lives of coastal people from sea-level riseand storm surge. As such BD should keep developed countries underpressure for funding as remedy.

b. Policy Formulation. Government should formulate a strict policy forin curbing carbon spl against brick producers, old transports, wood cuttersand users, use of fossil fuel in various industries etc.

c. Punishing Law Breakers. spl illegal forest damagers, brick fields,industries owners, old transports users.

d. Production of Alternate Source of Energy. Like CNG, use of battery driven vehicles, encouraging solar energy production etc.

e. Raising General Awareness. Government should raise ageneral awareness among mass people regarding air and land pollution byseminar/symposium etc.

n. Regional Coop. Government should take necessary stapes toenhance regional cooperation and activating the regional forums fordirectives in reducing carbons and special funds from developed countries toface this challenge.

q. Plantation of Trees. Government should encourage the masspeople for plantation. Also government may provide free seeds and plants

among people for plantation.

p. Other Measures. As follows:

(1) Modernizing weather bureau of BD.(2) Building huge cyclone shelters in coastal areas.(3) Transferring calamity information to victim area earliest.(4) Sea going country boats with proper appliances.(5) Alternate roads for the use of bicycles.

CONCLUSION

24. The climate change impact agriculture, food production and water resourcesaround the world. Recent days the rising of temperature has made the natureuncomfortable. Due to the melting of ice sheets and glaciers the rising of sea levelupto 25 to 28 cm already puts the sociologist in a great thought. In future thetime will come when the people of the low lying land will become part of historydue to the devastating effect of climate change.

25. For Bangladesh, the climate changes caused by global warming leading tomore rainfall, massive floods, great cyclones, droughts diseases, food insecurity,

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loss of land and many more. The developed countries are much more responsiblethan that of BD itself. In international forum, BD should continue raise her voice tocurb green house effect highlighting her bad impacts and ask fund as remedy.

26. However, world’s leaders effort in the conservation of the environment andsustainable development strategies will definitely protect the earth and itsenvironment and will particularly save countries like Bangladesh from thecatastrophe which can be induced by global warming. At last, it is to be said thatglobal warming is a global issue and thus it should be treated globally and actedlocally.

RECOMMENDATIONs

26. Recommendations are appended below:

a. A technology based, efficient system to deal with natural disasters andother global warming global impacts should be put in place is an urgent

need.

b. Bangladesh should highlight her bad impacts, vulnerability and raiseher voice strongly for funding BD as remedy.

c. BD should keep the world’s leaders under pressure for settling up ageneral policy in emission of green house gases.

d. BD govt should ensure that the unlawful acts in this aspect mainlydamaging forestry, reducing brick fields, minimizing old vehicles etc as cited

above in the measures of BD are diminished in strong hand and the lawbreakers are exemplarily punished.

e. A general awareness at both global and BD national level should beenhanced. Seminer, symposium, round table talk, highlighting in the mediaetc should be endeavoured.

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Fol to be included in case of ‘global climate change’

GENERAL IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

8. Global Effects. As follows:

a. Weather. In recent days the world’s weather patterns are expectedto be unpredictable and more extreme in nature. Heat waves are becomingmore frequent and intense. Hurricanes, violent storms that draw their forcefrom warm ocean water are likely to become more severe. The intensity of hurricanes has already increased since the 1970s.

b. Ice Sheets and Glaciers (in bangla: ice melt).Warming temperatures are already causing significant changes to mountainglaciers around the world and ice sheets over the 20th century.Glaciers on Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, have lost 82% of their ice since 1912 and are estimated to be gone completely by 2020.Glaciers in the Himalayas of Asia are melting at a rate of 9 to 15 m/year.

c. Sea Level. By the end of the 21st century, sea level is projectedto rise another 28 to 58 cm if greenhouse gas emissions continue toincrease. 1 meter rise in sea level as the result of melting the Himalayanglaciers and green land ice sheet will cause flooding 1/3 of S Asia, displaceas many 40 million people, increase salinity in coastal area and likelihood of winter drought.

d. Agriculture. Due to climate change, the world’s rain-fedagriculture will be reduced up to 50% by 2020 and a short fall in cropproduction would threaten the food security worldwide.

e. Plants and Animals. Plants and animals will find it difficult toadjust due to the effects of global climate change. Scientists have alreadyobserved shifting in the lifecycles of many plants and animals and theirannual migration patterns have also been changed due to warmertemperatures.

f. Human health. Berlin-based NGO ‘German Watch’ reported 6 lacpeople died as a direct consequence of more than 11 thousand extremeweather events around the world from 1990-2008. Scientists predict that

more people will get sick or die from heat stress due not only to hotter daysbut more importantly to warmer nights.

g. Water Stress. Three-quarters of African countries are in zoneswhere small reductions in rainfall could cause large declines in river water(nodite pani kom). By 2020, between 75 and 250 million people areprojected to be exposed to an increase of water stress due to climatechange.

GENERAL REMEDIAL MEASURE TO COMBAT & ACCOMMODATE CLIMATE

CHANGE

15. Controlling of the climate change will require fundamental changes in energyproduction, transportation, industry, government policies, and developmentstrategies around the world. These changes take time. The challenge today ismanaging the impacts that cannot be avoided while taking steps to prevent moresevere impacts in the future.

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16. Mitigation (reduction) of Green house Gases. Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, also called greenhouse gas mitigation, is one of the mostimportant strategy for controlling global warming. There are two major approachesto slowing the building up of greenhouse gases. One is to reduce the consumptionof fossil (joibo shila) fuels, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The other

is to keep carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by storing the gas or its carboncomponent somewhere else, a strategy known as carbon sequestration or carboncapture.

17. International Agreements.International cooperation is must for thesuccessful reduction of greenhouse gases. The first international conferenceaddressing the issue was held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil known as EarthSummit. In 1997 in Japan, 160 nations drafted an agreement known as the KyōtoProtocol, which sets mandatory targets for the reduction of greenhouse gasemissions. In March 2007 the European Union (EU) called a “Green Summit” where EU leaders agreed to reduce emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2020—or by as much as 30% if nations outside the EU joined in the commitments.

18. Voluntary Programs. At a national level, the United States has so farrelied on voluntary programs to reduce emissions named Energy Star program.This program rates appliances for energy use and gives some money back toconsumers who buy efficient machines.

19. Regional Cooperation. Regional governments need to include disastermanagement in their policies for coping with climate change. Governments areasking the scientific community to advise them on reducing disaster risks.

20. International Cooperation. All the developed countries should realizethat because of their carbon emission the poor and developing countries are

suffering a lot. So they should stretch out their cooperating hand to the sufferers.They can make funding for the sufferers by collecting donations from othersfrontiers.

21. Carbon Tax. Some observers believe the simplest way to reduceemissions is through a carbon tax (a tax on fuels in proportion to their carboncontent). The main purpose of the tax would be to raise the price of carbon-basedfuels and generate a global fund to encourage energy efficiency and technologicaldevelopment.

22. Altering Human Activities. According to UNFCCC it is the humanactivity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere. So if it is possible tocreate general awareness among the people regarding the appalling effect of climate change then it may reduce the terrible effect of climate change to a someextent.

23. Forestry. Taking initiative for safe guarding the forest and strictimplication of law against deforesting can make the environment more live worthy.It’s a true fact that if we can restrict deforestation, it will help a lot in opposing thishuge challenge.

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Climate Change in Bangladesh