Climate Change and Bangladesh: Articles on vulnerable areas of Bangladesh
Articles on vulnerable areas of Bangladesh:
Bangladesh
is the most vulnerable nation to the adverse effects of climate change. The
following articles discuss the negative impacts of climate change in
Bangladesh.
SUNDARBANS:
Climate Change and Sundarban: An overview.
The Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world where about 300
species of trees and herbs and about 425 species of wildlife including the
Royal Bengal Tiger exist.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) supposed that the state
of tropical forest ecosystems is likely to get worse due to climate change.
Bangladesh
being in the tropical region, different physical effects of climate change
including increased temperature and precipitation, increased salinity and
extreme weather events such as floods, cyclones and droughts will have profound
negative impacts on its forests.
Climate change due to global warming is predicted to cause an annual
temperature rise of 0.4 degrees Celsius in
Bangladesh and result in greater
frequency and intensity of cyclonic storms. The sea level is also predicted to
rise by
4 mm
every year. These phenomena will result in an increase in salinity and a
decrease in the sweet water flow in the Sundarbans.
The largest mangrove forest Sundarbans
is contributing to the
sustenance of the globe for it bears numerous trees and hence, it also
maintains the safety of living beings in major part of
Bangladesh.
However, unprincipled human interventions are the major threat to nature.
Flowing water in the rivers, canals etc through and around the Sundarbans
flush out saline water intrusion from the sea. Increase in salinity intrusion
due to anticipated sea level rise is one of the major threats to the Sundari
trees, which are already under threat due to increased salinity levels.
Deforestation had previously caused major problems too. The government
and various NGOs have now started to increase more plantation in the Sunderbans
with the help of the local people as they were taught a harsh lesson and were
served an eye- opener.
Effect of climate change in Sundarban.
The Sundarban forest lies in the vast delta on the
Bay
of Bengal formed by the super confluence of the Padma,
Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers across southern
Bangladesh. The
seasonally flooded Sundarbans freshwater swamp forests lie inland from the
mangrove forests on the coastal fringe. The word Sundarban means ‘beautiful
forest’. It is a vast area in the
Ganges delta
comprising a network of 108 swampy, low-lying islands. The area is unique both
ecologically, as the home of the man-eating
Bengal
tiger, and culturally – Hindus and Muslims both worship a deity called
Bonobibi. The region’s low elevation above sea-level and proximity to the coast
made it particularly vulnerable when Cyclone Aila struck in May 2009,
destroying many of the inhabitants’ homes.
Due to the impacts of climate change an impact assessment shows the
following areas are likely to be mostly affected.
Animals:
Deer, hare, porcupine, arboreal monkey, rat and mice, etc. are purely
herbivorous, seedivorous and fruigivorous. They all will face a shortage of
food. Deer will be the worst sufferer due to food shortage and habitat loss.
During high tide deer usually move to high lands in the forests. Carnivores
like tigers, fishing cats, cevets, otters, etc. will face the similar problem:
loss of habitat due to inundation and shortage of food due to lack of
herbivores in the forest.Tigers are the world’s most endangered species and
survive only in a few places including the Sundarbans of Bangladesh in very
small number. Tiger is a good swimmer and may move from one place to another
but the prevailing condition will not be favourable. Tigers of the Sundarbans
usually move to higher places during high tide, but whither that when sea level
rises?
Birds:
Resident and migratory terrestrial birds of the Sundarbans and coastal areas
will create excess pressure and ecological problems on the existing fauna and
flora where they will fly. Aquatic birds like herons, gulls, terns, owls,
nightgers, wagtails, pratincles snipes, sandpipers, finfoot, culew, whimbrels,
spoonbils, wild ducks will also loss their habitats along the coastal belt.
Reptiles:
Particularly the salt water crocodiles and five species of marine turtles,
e.g. olive ridely, green hawksbill and loggerhead are endangered species.
Crocodiles become more dominant because of expansion of habitat in the forests
for preying on fishes and animals as food.
Biodiversity:
There are 375 species of birds, 55 species of mammals and 83 species of
reptiles and amphibians in the Sundarbans. Besides, more than 150 species of
fish, 50 species of shrimp and other invertebrates also live there. A change in
climate will affect the distribution and living pattern of these due a to a
change in their natural way of living.
Plants:
The pnematophores (roots of mangrove plants) regularly go under water
twice daily during high tide for 1-3 hours. In the inter-tidal period trees in
mangrove and coastal mud flat areas use to respire by specially growing roots
called pneumatophores. Each tree has thousands of such pnumatophores growing up
about
10 cm
to 1m high in the air and spreading 2-5m around the base. These air roots are
smaller in golpata, hantal, goran, etc. and longer in sundri, gewa, amur,
keora, etc. If the sea level rises from 0.5 to 1m the pneumatophores will
remain under water permanently and trees will die due to problem of respiration
and sand deposition.
DHAKA:
Dhaka is one of the most populous
megacities in the world. The area of
Dhaka
city is 1,353 square kilometers, with 14 million people. This sheer number of
people living in the city means that the negative consequences of climate
change are likely to be felt by a large number of people, especially the urban
poor who live in flood-prone and water-logged areas. Experts working on the
impact of climate change on
Dhaka, predict
that the city will be affected in two major ways: Floods and earthquake risks.
Earthquake:
The earthquake disaster risk index has placed
Dhaka
among the 20 most vulnerable cities in the world. Geographically,
Bangladesh is
located close to the boundary of two active Plates: the Indian Plate in the
West and Eurasian Plate in the East & North.
Soil:
Thirty-five per cent of
Dhaka, including
middle & North part and Old Dhaka, is on standing on red soil and it is
less susceptible to an earthquake, whereas the East and West areas are built on
landfills, that are more susceptible to earthquake. Moreover, high urban
growth rates and high urban densities have already made
Dhaka
more susceptible to human-induced environmental disasters.
Challenges to mitigate earthquake risks:
- Poorly engineered building
construction, slum
- Densely built-up area with
unplanned narrow lanes
- Violation of building code
- Loose soil & filled soil
in few areas
- Shortage of evacuation space
- Unplanned public utilities
- Lack of disaster management
equipments
- Ignorance of fire fighting
- Lack of data & education
on earthquake
- Lack of community involvement
- Lack of disaster drill
- Unstable population growth
- Technological disadvantage
- Lack of training and
awareness.
Floods and prolonged water logging in Dhaka
city:
Floods occur most commonly when water from heavy rainfall, from melting ice
and snow, or from a combination of these exceeds the carrying capacity of the
river system. Every year near about one-fifth of
Bangladesh undergoes flood during
the monsoon season. Four major floods in last 20 years: in 1988, 1998, 2004 and
2007. Floods of 1998 and 2004 were worst in terms of inundation and duration of
flood water in the city fringe areas.
SYLHET:
Sylhet is considered one of the most charming
and archaeologically rich regions in
South
Asia. Its boosting economy has contributed to the regional
attractions of landscapes filled with fragrant orange and pineapple gardens,
and breathtaking tea plantations. Sylhet has the area of
12,595.95 km
2 where 9,807,000people live in the
division as per 2011 population census. This beautiful city is geographically
vulnerable to flash flood, water logging and earthquake. This division is also
famous for wetland area, but due to climate change those wetland is facing
untimely flood, heavy flood and drought also.
Flash flood:
Syhlet is bordered by the Meghalaya,
Assam and Tripura states
of
India to
the north, east and south, so it is on threat of flash flood frequently.
Especially in monsoon the possibility of flash flood increases drastically.
Heavy rainfall on upper basin induces the flash flood in Syhlet. In other hand
hill degradation, unplanned cultivation, deforestation increases the damage
caused by flash flood in this region.
Challenges to mitigate:
- Unplanned upland cultivation
- Deforestation
- Unplanned urbanization
- Population increase
- Hill degradation
CHITTAGONG:
Chittagong
is 168 km
2, the port city and only extensive hill area of
Bangladesh.
Chittagong has
a tropical monsoon climate.
Chittagong
situated in the south-east part of
Bangladesh. This area is well known
for ethnic people resident. Chakma (48%) and Marma (28%) is the majority of
ethnic minorities in
Chittagong
hill tracts. However,
Chittagong
also exposed to climate induces changes. There traditional cultivation “jhum”
on the hill tract, for which they have to clean up the hill.
Land slide and Cyclone:
Chittagong
is vulnerable to landslide and cyclone threat. For example, land-slide in 2007
recognized as climate induce disaster but flash flood and land slide mostly
related to human made soil erosion and deforestation. Unplanned cultivation,
hill degradation and deforestation are increasing the possibility of climate
induce hazard. The high intensity cyclone of 1991 caused large-scale
damage to coastal embankments along the Patenga area in
Chittagong, destroyed runways of
Chittagong airport,
ceased port activities by sinking a number of ships in the Patenga channel and
also in offshore dock.
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