“The coast should be given more importance in combating climate change”
Bangladesh has been hit by 185 natural disasters in the last two decades. Bangladesh ranks seventh in the world among countries at risk due to climate change. And the people and nature of the coastal areas of this country are most at risk from climate. Media should be more active in dealing with these risks. All kinds of planning should be done keeping people at the center.
Speakers said these things in a round table meeting titled ‘Coastal Climate Change: Effects and Actions’ organized by Prothom Alo on Saturday. The country’s top climate experts, researchers and policy makers addressed the meeting at the Prothom Alo office in the capital’s Caravan Bazaar. They urged Prothom Alo to do more investigative reporting on climate change.
At the beginning of the meeting, Bangladesh Open University Vice-Chancellor Professor Syed Humayun Akhtar said that the climate is constantly changing. The dangers of climate change are increasing due to human activities in the present world. Bangladesh is a small delta, very close to the sea and located in a low-lying area. Due to this geographical location, the coastal areas of Bangladesh are most vulnerable to storm surges due to sea level rise.
Humayun Akhtar highlighted the damage to the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar railway line due to recent heavy rains and said that in taking up such a big project, the impact of climate change should also be taken into account in addition to the environmental impact study. And in all kinds of projects no work should be done excluding the society and local people.
“The cost of water we consume in Dhaka is 40 times higher than that of coastal areas.”
Hasin Jahan, Resident Director, WaterAid, Bangladesh
Professor Tauhidul Islam, director of Institute of Remote Sensing and GIS of Jahangirnagar University said, ‘For 30-40 years we have been seeing coastal people living through disasters. Project after project is underway. Even after spending thousands of rupees to eliminate waterlogging in Chittagong, the problem is not going away. Then there may be trouble finding where the problem lies. For this, correct information should be presented.
Hasin Jahan, resident director of the non-governmental organization WaterAid Bangladesh, said, “The amount and trend of disasters is increasing due to climate change. We have more advanced shelters than ever before. Do women go there? Is their reproductive health important?’ He said, ‘Women in the family consume less water and food than men. Especially he has to do the work of fetching water. If they are sick, they get less help from doctors. At the price we consume water in Dhaka, people in the coastal areas consume water at a price 40 times higher than that. He suggested bringing forward the views of the affected people.
“185 natural disasters have hit Bangladesh in the last two decades. As the world’s seventh climate-endangered country, Bangladesh has to move on the path of sustainable development.”
Ashraful Haque, Environmentalist, USAID
Mohammad Zahirul Islam, associate professor of North South University, said that he found a family in Shyamnagar, Satkhira, where a son could not be married. Because, the women there have to go two-three kilometers away to fetch water. 60 percent of children and youth there have high blood pressure before the age of 25.
Agriculture and climate expert of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute mentioned that the temperature is increasing in the coastal salty area. Kamruzzaman. He expressed fear that if the temperature rises by one and a half degrees Celsius, there will be no wheat production in the country and rice production may decrease by 10 percent. He also said, “During the dry season, 8 to 1 million hectares of land is lying fallow. 52 percent of the coastal land is exposed to some form of salinity. We have to bring up these issues too.
Atiq Ahsan, senior program manager of the International Drought Research Center Bangladesh (ICDDRB), said that the coastal rivers, which used to have fresh water, are getting salty water. Even the local ponds were reservoirs of fresh water. They are now becoming salty. Biodiversity is being lost due to climate change. As a result, the problem is increasing.
Ashraful Haque, an environmentalist at USAID, the United States government’s foreign affairs development agency, said, ‘Climate change is no longer a theoretical issue. It has disrupted our lives and livelihood. 185 natural disasters have hit Bangladesh in the last two decades. As the seventh climate-endangered country in the world, Bangladesh has to move on the path of sustainable development.
Arif M. Faisal, Program Specialist (Nature, Environment and Energy) of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), said that Bangladesh spends 10 to 12 percent of the budget on the climate sector. But people should be considered first about the climate. Climate change protection should be brought into social security programs in the country.
Disaster expert and author Gauhar Naeem Wara said, ‘We are talking about climate change. But we also have to think about how we are contributing to climate change. We have seven months of rain here in a year. It rains seven days a year in Rajasthan, India. But they retain that water. Diarrhea and cholera are on the rise due to rising salinity in the southern part of the country. As a result, we have to give importance to the solution of these problems first.
Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman said, ‘We have been hearing about climate change since the eighties. Now we see it has turned our lives upside down. The southern part of the country is already neglected. The impact of climate change is most felt there. Therefore, we want to consistently highlight the crises and problems there.
Abdul Qayyum, associate editor of Prothom Alo, opined on giving importance to scientific thinking and research on climate change in Bangladesh. In this case, he emphasized on giving importance to the media in making science-based reports.
Prothom Alo Assistant Editor Feroz Chowdhury also attended the meeting, Executive Director of Management Research and Development Initiative (MRDI) Hasibur Rahman and Prothom Alo News Editor Rajeev Hasan.