11 Oct 2011 11:27
By Syful Islam
DHAKA (AlertNet) - Corruption watchdog Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has launched an initiative to track the use of climate change funds in the South Asian nation, following media reports that the government planned to allocate some money to groups that lack the capacity to spend it well.
As an organisation that fights graft, TIB regards monitoring of climate finance expenditure as a key responsibility. “Bangladesh is on the frontline of climate vulnerable nations,” said TIB executive director Iftekhar Zaman. “That’s why it is getting huge funds from developed nations and also spending its own (funds). The money should go into the victims’ hands.”
In recent years, Bangladesh has experienced a growing number of climate-related disasters caused by cyclones, floods, river erosion, droughts and saline intrusion into water supplies and soil. These events – in line with the predicted impacts of climate change – have led to increased poverty and displacement, particularly in coastal areas.
Zaman told AlertNet that TIB - the Bangladesh chapter of Berlin-based Transparency International - is not alleging any irregularities in climate funding at this stage. But it will check out media reports which asserted several months ago that the government had selected incapable and inexperienced NGOs to carry out local projects such as setting up biogas plants and rainwater harvesting.
Traditional research methods will be applied to “follow the money” to ensure it is spent in a transparent and accountable way, Zaman said.
The process will involve all relevant actors, and information will be sought from fund managers. “We will go after (the money), so that any bid to mishandle the funds can be foiled,” he added.
DONORS WARY?
Atiq Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), concurred with media reports that the initial selection process for NGO projects to receive money from the $300 million Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF) - which is resourced from the national budget - was distorted.
In response to concerns, the government has said it is still reviewing the NGOs and their proposed projects before making a final allocation of funds.
Rahman stressed that Bangladesh must make clear how it plans to spend money for climate change activities, whether from its own budget or donated by developed countries and international institutions.
“Despite the high vulnerability of Bangladesh to climate change impacts, the donors may not release funds unless their proper use is ensured,” the well-known development expert noted.
In June, TIB expressed solidarity with a list of 10 demands from civil society groups to strengthen accountability and transparency in climate finance, with the aim of securing justice for Bangladeshis already affected by climate change.
“Donors' funds have started to pour in. Besides, the government has allocated a huge sum from the national budget for adaptation and mitigation of climate change impacts. But we see no strategies on fund utilisation,” TIB head Zaman told journalists late last month.
TIB will receive 275,000 euros ($374,000) for its monitoring project from the German environment ministry, which is supporting stronger governance of climate finance in developing nations.
NGO PROJECTS ON HOLD
The manager of the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund, Didarul Ahsan, told AlertNet its board of trustees has so far approved 44 government projects and 53 submitted by NGOs at a combined cost of $75 million.
Most of the government projects have now begun, but the NGO programmes are still on hold.
“Since the media has reported mismanagement in NGO project selection, we are again scrutinising those to ensure transparency,” Ahsan said.
Donors have also pledged $125 million to the Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund managed by the World Bank.
So far it has allocated $25m for the construction of cyclone shelters in coastal areas, which is now under way. Two further projects - one to help the agricultural sector adapt to climate shifts and the other in afforestation - are being prepared, according to communications officer Mehrin Ahmed Mahbub.
State minister for environment Hasan Mahmud welcomed TIB’s move to keep track of climate funds. “We are yet to allocate a single penny to NGO projects, which are set to receive between 1 and 2 percent of total BCCTF funds,” he told AlertNet. The negative media allegations are unlikely to be based on accurate investigation, he added.
Mahmud said the national climate trust fund subjects both government and NGO projects to several stages of scrutiny before disbursing any money. “No other funds in Bangladesh follow such procedures,” the minister insisted.
Gareth Price Jones, country director for Oxfam GB, said his organisation also supports the TIB initiative, as it will benefit impoverished communities struggling to cope with climate change.
“Transparency in climate fund management is very much expected from Oxfam,” he said. “It’s Bangladesh’s money. It should be investigated if there is any anomaly. Climate funding is very much essential for Bangladesh.”
Speaking at a recent national consultation on transparency in climate finance governance, Member of Parliament Saber Hosain Chowdhury, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Committee on Climate Change, stressed the need to use climate funds effectively through a coordinated and collective approach.
“In a resource-constrained country like Bangladesh, which is facing adverse impacts from climate change, maximum utilisation of both domestic and external resources should be ensured for better implementation of climate programmes,” the national news agency quoted him as saying.
When allocating climate money, priority should be given to the southwest and coastal regions, which are most vulnerable to climate change impacts such as rising sea levels and increasingly intense storms, the politician said.
Syful Islam is a journalist with The Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at: youths1990@yahoo.com
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/anti-graft-group-to-track-bangladesh-climate-spending/
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Natural sediment may shield groundwater from arsenic
Syful Islam
10 October 2011
SciDev.Net
[DHAKA] Contamination of deep groundwater with arsenic from shallower sources may not be as serious as feared — if pumping deep water is limited to domestic use, a study has found.
Exposure to arsenic-contaminated groundwater has been linked to almost one in every five deaths in Bangladesh, and some 100,000 deep wells have been constructed to pump deeper, cleaner water. Recent modelling studies have suggested that these cleaner water sources are also being contaminated — from shallower water seeping down to replenish deeper wells.
But a study published in Nature Geoscience yesterday (9 October) found that natural adsorption of arsenic by sediment — sand in the aquifers — reduces contamination risk in most areas.
"Deep groundwater in Bangladesh is at risk from contamination by arsenic from shallow groundwater seeping downwards if not carefully managed," Yan Zheng, who co-authored the study while he was a senior scientist at Columbia University, United States, told SciDev.Net. "The risk is higher if deep groundwater is used for irrigation, which consumes a lot more water than [use for] domestic purposes."
Modelling studies have suggested that the contamination of deep groundwater results from shallower water seeping down to replenish pumped deep water. But these studies did not consider the influence of sediment, which can adsorb arsenic, Zheng and her team say.
They tested this adsorption in the field in Bangladesh, and used their results to estimate the vulnerability of deep groundwater to arsenic pollution from shallower water seeping down.
They found that sediment removes around 70 per cent of arsenic within a day, reducing the risk of contamination of deep groundwater in most, but not all areas; and more so when the water is pumped for domestic use only, rather than irrigation. This suggests that current contamination of deep wells is either natural or comes from individual cases of badly designed wells that allow more seepage, Zheng said.
She added that the recommendation for the policymakers "is not to use deep groundwater for irrigation", and to regularly and systematically monitor water quality in the areas identified as more vulnerable to contamination.
Zheng also said that the agricultural sector should urgently look for sources of surface water to use for irrigation instead of groundwater.
Wais Kabir, executive chair of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, agreed that irrigation leads to higher risk of arsenic contamination of groundwater and said that Bangladesh needs to "change its food habits" and produce crops that need less irrigation.
S M Ihtishamul Huq, the Department of Public Health Engineering's superintendent engineer, told SciDev.Net: "We have to be more cautious while using groundwater for irrigation where the presence of arsenic is much higher."
He suggested changing crop patterns to reduce dependency on groundwater for irrigation. For example, he said: "We cultivate paddy during the winter using the groundwater irrigation. If we instead produce wheat [in] that period we do not need to irrigate much."
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/water/news/natural-sediment-may-shield-groundwater-from-arsenic.html
10 October 2011
SciDev.Net
[DHAKA] Contamination of deep groundwater with arsenic from shallower sources may not be as serious as feared — if pumping deep water is limited to domestic use, a study has found.
Exposure to arsenic-contaminated groundwater has been linked to almost one in every five deaths in Bangladesh, and some 100,000 deep wells have been constructed to pump deeper, cleaner water. Recent modelling studies have suggested that these cleaner water sources are also being contaminated — from shallower water seeping down to replenish deeper wells.
But a study published in Nature Geoscience yesterday (9 October) found that natural adsorption of arsenic by sediment — sand in the aquifers — reduces contamination risk in most areas.
"Deep groundwater in Bangladesh is at risk from contamination by arsenic from shallow groundwater seeping downwards if not carefully managed," Yan Zheng, who co-authored the study while he was a senior scientist at Columbia University, United States, told SciDev.Net. "The risk is higher if deep groundwater is used for irrigation, which consumes a lot more water than [use for] domestic purposes."
Modelling studies have suggested that the contamination of deep groundwater results from shallower water seeping down to replenish pumped deep water. But these studies did not consider the influence of sediment, which can adsorb arsenic, Zheng and her team say.
They tested this adsorption in the field in Bangladesh, and used their results to estimate the vulnerability of deep groundwater to arsenic pollution from shallower water seeping down.
They found that sediment removes around 70 per cent of arsenic within a day, reducing the risk of contamination of deep groundwater in most, but not all areas; and more so when the water is pumped for domestic use only, rather than irrigation. This suggests that current contamination of deep wells is either natural or comes from individual cases of badly designed wells that allow more seepage, Zheng said.
She added that the recommendation for the policymakers "is not to use deep groundwater for irrigation", and to regularly and systematically monitor water quality in the areas identified as more vulnerable to contamination.
Zheng also said that the agricultural sector should urgently look for sources of surface water to use for irrigation instead of groundwater.
Wais Kabir, executive chair of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, agreed that irrigation leads to higher risk of arsenic contamination of groundwater and said that Bangladesh needs to "change its food habits" and produce crops that need less irrigation.
S M Ihtishamul Huq, the Department of Public Health Engineering's superintendent engineer, told SciDev.Net: "We have to be more cautious while using groundwater for irrigation where the presence of arsenic is much higher."
He suggested changing crop patterns to reduce dependency on groundwater for irrigation. For example, he said: "We cultivate paddy during the winter using the groundwater irrigation. If we instead produce wheat [in] that period we do not need to irrigate much."
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/water/news/natural-sediment-may-shield-groundwater-from-arsenic.html
'Extended life' rice could quadruple yields, cut costs
29 Sep 2011 15:00
Syful Islam
DHAKA (AlertNet) - A Bangladeshi scientist has developed new rice varieties with an extended life cycle that can produce up to three crops from one plant. Their yield could be four times higher than traditional varieties, helping boost food security in South Asia and beyond.
The cultivation method for the multi-crop rice also produces less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional paddy farming, in which plants produce only one harvest, and makes them more resilient to excessive rainfall.
Abed Chaudhury, a genetics expert who has worked with the Australian National Rice Research Institute for the past 20 years, describes the approach - developed in consultation with farmers - as “second life” or “extended life”, and will soon apply to the Bangladeshi authorities for seed certification.
"My target is to transform the annual plant into perennial plant. It saves costs as well as giving high yield," he told AlertNet.
Rice plants usually produce only one crop. After the paddy ripens, farmers harvest the rice, cutting the plant down to a height of around 10 cm and leaving it to rot into the ground.
But if farmers adopt Chaudhury's cutting-edge varieties and techniques, they could harvest rice three times from the same plant in one year. Early tests suggest yields could be more than quadrupled at a very low cost.
According to the scientist, a rice plant normally produces 65 sheaves, or clusters of grains, of which around 40 are mature at first harvest. The rest are wasted when the plant is cut down.
In the initial 130-day growing period, the new paddy varieties grow 85 cm to 1 m tall, as do most other rice types. But when farmers come to harvest the first crop, they leave 35-40 cm in the ground, and apply around half the amount of fertiliser again. The immature sheaves continue growing, and can be harvested in 50-55 days.
On a demonstration field in Bangladesh's northeastern Moulavibazar district, a third crop from the same plants is now being awaited, requiring 45-50 additional days to ripen.
TEST YIELDS QUADRUPLE
With the first crop, Chaudhury and his colleagues harvested 6.4 tonnes of paddy from one hectare of land. They then spread urea fertiliser on the field, and left the immature sheaves to ripen, harvesting some 3 tonnes of paddy. More fertiliser was applied to the remaining sheaves, and a further 3 tonnes of rice are expected.
Yields from traditional paddy varieties are around 3 tonnes a hectare. But the new plants are projected to produce more than 12 tonnes of paddy from the same land area, at comparatively low costs.
"The spending on the second and third (crops) is very minimal,” said Abbas Ali, a farmer in Hazipara village in Moulavibazar district. “You have to spread a very tiny volume of fertiliser only. You do not need to plough the land."
He is growing the new rice on five acres of land, and is now waiting to cut the paddy a second time. So far he’s very happy with the experiment. "I will continue to grow this variety of paddy since it is very profitable due to low cost and high yield,” he said.
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
Ferdous Bappi, manager of Chaudhury's project in Moulavibazar, said the new rice types are neither hybrid nor genetically modified, and are similar to traditional varieties developed by the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute. The team’s research has not revealed any other varieties with similar characteristics, he added.
Of 10 varieties the project has bred, four have proved suitable for the “extended life” method. “Now we want to spread the method, as well as the varieties, across the country,” said Bappi. “Many people from different parts of the country have already contacted us."
The farming method has environmental benefits, and could contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from rice cultivation, he added. Rice produces substantial amounts of methane due to its semi-aquatic nature and tilling releases it from the land.
"If you follow the 'extended life' method you do not need to plough the land, and there is no chance of greenhouse gas emissions," Bappi explained.
The farming technique also makes the plants more resilient to excessive flooding. Usually, young paddy plants are 15 cm high when transplanted into the land, meaning they rot if submerged in too much rainwater for too long.
"Since, in our method, the crop is harvested keeping 35 cm of the paddy plant in the land, during the second and third sessions, there is no chance of them being swamped or rotten," Bappi said.
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at: youths1990@yahoo.com
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/extended-life-rice-could-quadruple-yields-cut-costs/
Syful Islam
DHAKA (AlertNet) - A Bangladeshi scientist has developed new rice varieties with an extended life cycle that can produce up to three crops from one plant. Their yield could be four times higher than traditional varieties, helping boost food security in South Asia and beyond.
The cultivation method for the multi-crop rice also produces less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional paddy farming, in which plants produce only one harvest, and makes them more resilient to excessive rainfall.
Abed Chaudhury, a genetics expert who has worked with the Australian National Rice Research Institute for the past 20 years, describes the approach - developed in consultation with farmers - as “second life” or “extended life”, and will soon apply to the Bangladeshi authorities for seed certification.
"My target is to transform the annual plant into perennial plant. It saves costs as well as giving high yield," he told AlertNet.
Rice plants usually produce only one crop. After the paddy ripens, farmers harvest the rice, cutting the plant down to a height of around 10 cm and leaving it to rot into the ground.
But if farmers adopt Chaudhury's cutting-edge varieties and techniques, they could harvest rice three times from the same plant in one year. Early tests suggest yields could be more than quadrupled at a very low cost.
According to the scientist, a rice plant normally produces 65 sheaves, or clusters of grains, of which around 40 are mature at first harvest. The rest are wasted when the plant is cut down.
In the initial 130-day growing period, the new paddy varieties grow 85 cm to 1 m tall, as do most other rice types. But when farmers come to harvest the first crop, they leave 35-40 cm in the ground, and apply around half the amount of fertiliser again. The immature sheaves continue growing, and can be harvested in 50-55 days.
On a demonstration field in Bangladesh's northeastern Moulavibazar district, a third crop from the same plants is now being awaited, requiring 45-50 additional days to ripen.
TEST YIELDS QUADRUPLE
With the first crop, Chaudhury and his colleagues harvested 6.4 tonnes of paddy from one hectare of land. They then spread urea fertiliser on the field, and left the immature sheaves to ripen, harvesting some 3 tonnes of paddy. More fertiliser was applied to the remaining sheaves, and a further 3 tonnes of rice are expected.
Yields from traditional paddy varieties are around 3 tonnes a hectare. But the new plants are projected to produce more than 12 tonnes of paddy from the same land area, at comparatively low costs.
"The spending on the second and third (crops) is very minimal,” said Abbas Ali, a farmer in Hazipara village in Moulavibazar district. “You have to spread a very tiny volume of fertiliser only. You do not need to plough the land."
He is growing the new rice on five acres of land, and is now waiting to cut the paddy a second time. So far he’s very happy with the experiment. "I will continue to grow this variety of paddy since it is very profitable due to low cost and high yield,” he said.
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
Ferdous Bappi, manager of Chaudhury's project in Moulavibazar, said the new rice types are neither hybrid nor genetically modified, and are similar to traditional varieties developed by the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute. The team’s research has not revealed any other varieties with similar characteristics, he added.
Of 10 varieties the project has bred, four have proved suitable for the “extended life” method. “Now we want to spread the method, as well as the varieties, across the country,” said Bappi. “Many people from different parts of the country have already contacted us."
The farming method has environmental benefits, and could contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from rice cultivation, he added. Rice produces substantial amounts of methane due to its semi-aquatic nature and tilling releases it from the land.
"If you follow the 'extended life' method you do not need to plough the land, and there is no chance of greenhouse gas emissions," Bappi explained.
The farming technique also makes the plants more resilient to excessive flooding. Usually, young paddy plants are 15 cm high when transplanted into the land, meaning they rot if submerged in too much rainwater for too long.
"Since, in our method, the crop is harvested keeping 35 cm of the paddy plant in the land, during the second and third sessions, there is no chance of them being swamped or rotten," Bappi said.
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at: youths1990@yahoo.com
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/extended-life-rice-could-quadruple-yields-cut-costs/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)