Impacts of climate change mount coastal people’s hardship

Nov 16, 2013

Syful Islam

The impacts of climate change are mounting hardship of Bangladesh’s coastal people where calamities like cyclones, tidal surge, and river bank erosion nowadays hitting in increased number.

People living in these coastal areas are considered as the most vulnerable to the climate change impacts. Most of the people living there are poor and some are at the extreme poor segment.

Two major cyclones -- Sidr and Aila -- which hit Bangladesh coasts in 2007 and in 2009, had destroyed roads and embankments, washed away homes, lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people. These extreme weather events which are considered as impacts of climate change have deepened the misery of coastal inhabitants.

Experts said agony of poor coastal people turned manifold as they are mainly dependent on natural resources for living and livelihoods. The calamities, when hit them, first damage the natural resources further weakening their strength.

With the impacts of climate change starting to be more visible day by day, scientists apprehend that a big portion of coastal areas of low-lying nations will be inundated because of sea level rise.

They said in Bangladesh a 10cm rise in sea level could inundate 2.0 per cent of arable lands by 2020 and 10 per cent lands by 2050 which may cause displacement of 15 million coastal residents.

Non-government organisations working in coastal districts estimate that nearly 5.0 million people living there are at high risk of either being displaced or experiencing extreme impacts of climate change in the near future.

Sea level rise

Sea level rise is a major concern for low lying nations including Bangladesh. Scientists blame manmade hazards for global warming which melts ice in the Himalayan and Antarctic. The incased volume of ice melting causes sea level rise which poses threat to existence of countries like Maldives and inundation of a big portion of Bangladesh territory.

The 2007 report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said a one-meter rise in sea levels may swamp 17 percent of Bangladeshi low lying areas and displace 20 million people by 2050.

A new scientific report released by the World Bank Group in June 2013 said among the South Asian nations Bangladesh will be most affected by an expected 2° Celsius temperature rise in the next decades. It said if temperature is up by 2.5 ° Celsius the flood areas in Bangladesh could increase by as much as 29 per cent.

The IPCC in its Fifth Assessment Report (released on September 27, 2013) projected that by 2100 the sea-level may rise by 28-98 cm, which is 50 per cent higher than the old projections of 18-59 cm when comparing the same emission level and time periods.

Livelihoods under severe threat

Hit by an increased number of disastrous events the lives and livelihoods of coastal people are under severe threat apart from loss of homes and lands. Especially, as saline water enters into the lands and ponds during cyclone and tidal surges, the lands lose their capacity to produce crops while sources of drinking water become polluted.

Due to excessive salinity in the lands, the farmers lose crops frequently which further weaken them financially alongside threatening food security. In most of the coastal districts farmers can produce rice once a year. When a farmer loses a crop once a year, he has no option but to strive with family members.

The other way of earning bread and butter for coastal people is fishing in the rivers and sea. But the increased numbers of cyclones and storms have strongly affected the profession as staying in the sea become highly risky for life while fishes are becoming unavailable day by day.

A study carried out by Campaign for Sustainable Rural Development (CSRL) found that in last 30 years the intensity and frequency of storms had increased by three times. During the 2007-2010 period Bangladesh has had 10 to 14 storms severe enough for a Signal No 3 warning.

Thirty years ago, just four or five such warnings were issued each year. This year the meteorological department also issued Signal No 3 warning for Bangladeshi river and sea ports in an increased number meaning that higher numbers of storms have formed this year compared to last year.

And when a Signal No 3 warning is issued, fishing trawlers in the sea are advised to return to the shore immediately meaning a loss of several thousands of taka in each trip.

Besides, the fishermen nowadays frequently talk about getting fewer numbers of fishes both in the sea and rivers. Many fishermen families starve both in off and peak seasons due to meagre earnings.

Lack of work triggers massive migration

The impacts of climate change are causing displacement of thousands of people from the coastal areas. The 1998 floods made 45 million people homeless while the cyclone Sidr displaced 650,000 in 2007, Aila 842,000 and Bijli 20,000 in 2009.

Failing to ensure livelihoods and losing living places, people from coastal districts are continuously migrating to nearest cities and towns as well as to the already overcrowded Dhaka. Estimations show that every year over half a million people pour into the capital majority of whom are believed to be climate migrants.

External migration is also taking place as many are forced to flee the country failing to repay the loans after losing everything to the river bank erosion and major cyclones. After cyclone Aila hit the area, around 50 per cent people of a village in Satkhira district left it, a handsome of them also migrated to neighbouring countries to secure a living.

In Southkhali union under Bagerhat district almost 30 per cent residents left the area for elsewhere after the cyclone Sidr struck it.

After reaching the cities these climate refugees start living in inhuman conditions in the slums in absence of civic facilities. These slum people suffer from various diseases and children living there suffer from malnutrition and lack of education.

They enter into the severely occupied job market but fail to ensure food for even twice a day. Many of them also start begging in the roadside, while some engage themselves in prostitution to earn foods and living.

Due to the increased number of migration, nowadays new makeshift rooms are being built in the slums everyday while some live in the street further raising public nuisance in the cities. These people, having no family planning measures, also cause baby boom in the already over-crowded urban areas.

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Survey begins to find new route thru’ Sundarbans

26 October 2013

By Syful Islam

The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has launched a survey to find out a route alternative to the present one used by vessels through the Sundarbans harming the mangrove forest’s flora and fauna, sources have said.

A ship has now anchored at the Bogi point, close to the Sundarbans, from where the officials concerned of the BIWTA and the forest department are jointly conducting the survey.

“The survey is underway to find out an alternative route for the vessels plying through the Sundarbans as the present route is causing harm to the mangrove forest,” Director (Hydrographic) of BIWTA Mahbub Alam told the FE.

He said a high-powered team comprising officials from the ministry of shipping (MoS), the BIWTA and the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) would visit the spot Saturday to supervise the survey.

The MoEF early this year gave the MoS environmental clearance for letting vessels ply the Rayenda-Shapla-Harintana-Chandpai route through the Sundarbans as the regular Mongla-Ghoshiakhali route became unusable for ships due to its poor navigability.

However, instead of using that particular route, everyday more than 25 oil tankers and other vessels are plying the 60-kilometre-long Sannasi-Rayenda-Sharankhola-Dudhmukhi-Harintana-Andarmanik route further inside the mangrove forest to shorten the journey by two hours and lower the expenses.

Environmentalists expressed grave concerns that plying of such a large number of vessels through the Sundarbans was doing harm to the mangrove forest and its wildlife.

They said the oil tankers and the cargo vessels passing through the forest with high sound and blowing hydraulic horns were disturbing its tranquillity and thus the free movement of wildlife in the sanctuary. So the biodiversity of the UNESCO-declared World Heritage Site was being threatened.

They also said the unabated and unauthorised passage of vessels deep inside the forest was doing colossal harm to the ecosystem of the Sundarbans.

They also noted that the high sound of hydraulic horns was also disturbing food consumption, plying and breeding of the inhabitants of the forest.

In such a situation months back the government formed a committee comprising officials from the MoEF and the MoS to resolve the problem by choosing an alternative route for the vessels. A subcommittee was also formed on September 17 to assess the depth and suitability of the alternative routes proposed by the forest department.

Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) asked the MoEF and the MoS to take necessary steps for saving the Sundarbans by ensuring plying of the vessels on the particular route already approved by the authorities concerned, but abandoned due to its loss of navigability.

It also directed the MoS to carry out necessary dredging to restore navigability of the approved route.

The PMO said the current short route used by vessels under the pretext of saving costs and reducing distance posed a threat to the ecology of the Sundarbans.

Of the 10,000 square kilometres of the Sundarbans, according to officials, 6,500 square kilometres are considered naturally sensitive.

A senior MoEF official said the Sundarbans was already under a threat from the climate change. The sea level rise squeezed habitat for the wildlife of the mangrove forest.

Quoting some scientific predictions, he said about 28 centimetres of sea level rise may eliminate nearly 96 per cent of the remaining habitat for Royal Bengal tigers in the Sundarbans. “So, we need to be more cautious about saving the forest and its wildlife as much as we can.”

“The forest has been battered by the two super cyclones Aila and Sidr. We should not further destroy it by creating manmade hazards,” the official added.

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