4 Bangladesh cities at high climate risk

By The News Desk in Dhaka/The Daily Star | Asia News Network
Mar 21, 2012 –


Dhaka (The Daily Star/ANN) - Dhaka and other large cities in Bangladesh face high risks from climate change, warned a leading climate analyst of the country yesterday.

Prof Ainun Nishat said major cities including Comilla, Chittagong and Rajshahi are also at high risk.

He was speaking at the fifth World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) roundtable on regional cooperation to combat the impact of climate change organised by the WIEF Foundation of Malaysia and South East Asian Cooperation Foundation at the Radisson Hotel in the city.

The warning comes a week after an Asian Development Bank report put Bangladesh on top of a list of the world's most vulnerable countries affected by climate change related factors.

"Climate change will cause too much rainfall over short periods, collapsing the drainage system in cities," the vice chancellor of Brac University said.

Outside Bangladesh, Bangkok, Karachi and Delhi are also at risk, Nishat said.

Experts pointed out yesterday that Dhaka city with its huge population is already experiencing water logging issues.

A rise in sea level is also likely to increase the flood situation in Dhaka. A majority of poor and displaced populations in the city live in slums which do not have proper drainage systems, analysts said.

Prof Nishat said remedial measures such as improved drainage systems in the cities are necessary to tackle the problem.

At the roundtable, experts said climate change will also affect the economy of a country. It poses a great development challenge for countries like Bangladesh where one-third of its 16 crore population is poor.

"It is not a question of ecology alone. It is a question of what we do with the economy," said Chandrashekhar Dasgupta, a fellow of The Energy and Resources Institute of New Delhi.

"Unless we strengthen our capacity to build climate-proof infrastructure we will be affected," he said.

Dasgupta said rapid development could help south Asian countries face the negative impact of climate change.

"Higher the rate of development, lower will be the impact of climate change," he said.

Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies Executive Director Atiq Rahman said climate change threatens water, food, livelihood, health, energy and social security of people.

"All are interlinked with poverty. Poor people will disproportionately be affected because they have the least capacity to face the impact," he said.

In Bangladesh, sea level will rise and saline water will inundate costal land while the frequency and intensity of cyclones and floods may also rise. Climate change will make rainfall erratic and cause droughts affecting our food production, Atiq said.

"Bangladesh will also lose some territory due to rise in sea level while Maldives will disappear," he said.

He summed up the major consequence of climate change with its effect on water as "too much or too little water, wrong type of water and wrong timing of water".

He suggested cooperation in Saarc and Asean blocs in sharing experience and knowledge, development of technology, food security and development of a green economy for adaptation and mitigation of climatic changes.

Prof Daniel Murdiyarso, principal scientist of Centre for International Forestry Research in Indonesia, said protection of mangrove forests such as the Sundarbans of Bangladesh is essential to reduce the impact of climate change.

"Wetlands have a huge potential for climate change adaptation and mitigation," he said.

COPYRIGHT: ASIA NEWS NETWORK