Lavtliggende og tætpakkede Bangladesh med dets 230 floder og 150 millioner indbyggere har længe været udsat for oversvømmelser, jorderosion og indtrængning af saltvand, men klimaforandringerne kan forværre situationen, advarer eksperter og embedsmænd ifølge IRIN NEWS torsdag.
DHAKA: In a report entitled A Global Report: Reducing Disaster Risk: A Challenge for Development, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has identified Bangladesh as the country most vulnerable to tropical cyclones and sixth most vulnerable to floods.
According to data from the government’s Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Systems (CEGIS), two-thirds of the country is only five metres above sea level, rendering it particularly vulnerable to sea level rises and tidal waves.
Melting Himalayan glaciers and an encroaching Bay of Bengal in the south, further increase the risk of flooding, experts say. The fourth assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that an increase in monsoon rainfall across South East Asia and melting Himalayan glaciers will result in increased water volumes in rivers that flow into Bangladesh from India, Nepal, Bhutan and China.
Low-lying southern coastal regions are the most vulnerable, despite being protected by a 5,107km-long network of flood embankments.
Almost half of this embankment network was damaged by recent cyclones (Sidr and Aila), leaving the whole region vulnerable to the tides, according to Bangladesh’s Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme.
“There are four indicators to measure the extent of damage that a country will have to face due to global climate change: the direct harmful impact of climate change; increasing natural disasters; the number of people facing these dangers; and the measures already undertaken by that country to reduce the negative impacts of climate change. Bangladesh is eligible on all counts,” State Minister Hasan Mahmud said.
The 2009 Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan published by the Ministry of Environment predicts that within the next 50 years, over 20 million people could be displaced and become “climate change refugees”, if sea and salinity levels rise.
The Plan recommends combating the effects of climate change by focusing on social security, disaster management, infrastructure development, research and knowledge management, low carbon development options and institutional capacity development.
Meanwhile experts warn of the increasing frequency and/or intensity of tropical storms in the Bay of Bengal.
“For Bangladesh, effects of climate change are no longer a future threat. It is already a reality for us,” Mahmud said.
– IRIN NEWS writes on Thursday
