Climate-threatened Bangladesh to impose carbon tax in June

By Syful Islam

DHAKA, May 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Bangladesh is set to impose its own carbon tax on fuel next month – despite the hugely climate-vulnerable country producing relatively tiny per capita emissions.

The tax is expected to be put in place on June 1 as part of the country's annual budget and will be part of a larger bundle of "green" measures, Nojibur Rahman, chair of the National Board of Revenue, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview.

Many businesses and environmental groups have welcomed the plan, saying that Bangladesh – one of the countries considered most threatened by climate change impacts – needs to make a strong statement as governments like that in the United States pull back from action on climate change.

The new tax may not make any significant contribution to achieving the Paris Agreement's goal of keeping average global temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, they said.

But "when a country pollutes, the other countries are also affected. So, we need to reduce carbon emission as much as possible and imposing a tax is only way to do it," said Abdul Matlub Ahmad, outgoing president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

He said the tax would not only raise the price of using fossil fuels but the added income could help push more use of renewable energy.

"If the government wants to cut the import duty on environment-friendly renewable energy products, it needs to charge taxes on polluters," he said in a telephone interview.

Bangladesh produces about 0.44 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person, much lower than the United States' 16.4 tonnes, Australia's 16.3 tonnes and Qatar's whopping 40.5 tonnes, according to World Bank figures.

 Brick kilns produce black smoke at a brick producing factory in Bangladesh's Narayanganj district, close to Dhaka. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Shafiqul Alam

RISING RISKS

Carbon taxes – which raise the cost of using fossil fuels by creating a charge for the climate damage they do – are one of the simplest, most market-friendly ways of driving climate action, experts say.

But they have proved politically tricky to put in place, and not just in poorer parts of the world where incomes are low and making fuel more expensive can be politically risky.

But low-lying Bangladesh, which faces huge risks from sea level rise, worsening storms, floods, droughts and other climate change impacts, has made a name for itself as an international leader in climate action, particularly in terms of innovative adaptation to climate change.

"Although our contribution to climate change is very nominal, we are one of the worst victims of climate change. Aware of the problem, we have the most successful and best climate change programmes the world has so far witnessed in any country," Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith, said earlier this month at a Dhaka summit on climate change and disaster risk reduction.

While it seeks international finance to help with programmes to address climate change, Bangladesh also has paid for projects out of its own nationally funded climate change fund.

M.A. Matin, general secretary of the Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bangladesh Environment Movement), said in a telephone interview that any carbon tax would need to be accompanied a "long-term carbon reduction plan" from the government.

In the short term, higher taxes on industry can drive up production costs, with those costs passed on to consumers. That might mean "it's not a right method for reducing emissions," he said.

Md. Khalequzzaman, a Bangladeshi professor at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania, said he believed that in a poor nation like Bangladesh industry – rather than consumers – should bear the cost of the new tax.

"I feel that the financial beneficiaries of carbon emissions should bear the tax as a part of their corporate social responsibility. The ordinary people should not be burdened with the additional cost of using power," he said in an interview.

He suggested that alongside imposing the carbon tax, the government should look at developing renewable sources of energy in the country.

(Reporting by Syful Islam; editing by Laurie Goering :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate)

In threat to food security, Bangladesh moves to burn grain for fuel

By Syful Islam

DHAKA, May 1, 2017 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Bangladesh plans to begin turning some of the grain it produces into ethanol to make its fuel greener – but economists and experts warn the move could hurt food security in a country that is already a grain importer.

Energy ministry officials said in a gazette notification early this year that the country will begin using maize, broken rice grains and molasses to produce ethanol to mix with petrol fuel at a 5 percent ratio.

But in a heavily populated country that produces relatively little in the way of climate-changing emissions and that already relies on imports of maize and other grains, the result could be rising food prices, especially for the poor, economists, business leaders and environmental experts warned.

Moshiur Rahman, who convenes the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Coordination Co
mmittee, called the move to begin using grain for fuel "suicidal".

Much of Bangaldesh's maize is used to feed animals, including chickens. But the country grows only half of the maize it needs, importing the rest from the United States and Brazil, he said, which means rising demand could mean rising prices.

"Maize prices will go up if it is used for ethanol production. The price of eggs and chicken will go beyond the reach of common people," Rahman warned.

He said growing concerns about food security have led other countries – including China – to stop giving permission for new biofuel projects.

FOOD TO FUEL

According to a study by Bangladesh's energy ministry, the country could produce 18 million liters of ethanol a year, or about 75,000 liters each working day. That would require 60,000 tonnes of broken rice each year – about 3.5 percent of the country's total production.

Alternately the county could produce the ethanol with 62,000 tonnes of maize (2.8 percent of production) or 97,000 tonnes of molasses (nearly all of the country's production).

The study warned that if the government scales up ethanol production beyond those levels, it will raise demand for grain to the point that it could hurt food security.

But junior energy minister Nasrul Hamid told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone that Bangladesh needs to go for greener and more varied fuels in the future, like other nations.

"So, we are exploring the possibility of using bio-ethanol with other fuels. You can't remain out from the global trend of energy use," he said.

He confirmed the ministry plans to give permission for ethanol production, and then would judge from early experience whether to scale up the experiment.

"Yes, we are going to give permission for bio-fuel soon. Let's see what happens first. Its impact on food security will be considered than," Hamid said.

But others warn that Bangladesh has decided to burn food grains to produce ethanol without taking into consideration the food security of its 160 million people.

That is a particular worry in a low-lying country that faces severe climate change threats, including loss of crops and crop land to worsening salt-water intrusion, droughts, floods, storms, sea level rise and erosion.

Already many people face daily hunger and can manage meals only once or twice a day, experts say. Last year, Bangladesh ranked in the top 25 percent of the world's most hungry countries, according to the Global Hunger Index of the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Bangladesh today produces about 1.8 million tonnes of broken rice, about 100,000 tonnes of molasses and less than half the 6 million tonnes of maize it needs each year, according to the country's Energy Ministry.

Besides being used as livestock food, maize is eaten by poorer people, mixed with flour as a cereal or made into biscuits. Lower-income people also eat broken rice for breakfast and make it into cakes.

But prices for the grains are rising. A kilogram of coarse rice is now being sold at 42 taka (50 cents) in Dhaka, up 25 percent in price from a year ago, according to the government Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

Rising food prices are a major concern, with a growing portion of people's earnings now being spent on food. The country's food inflation rate in February was 6.8 percent, up from a record low of 3.8 percent a year ago.

About 13 percent of Bangladesh's people fall below the national poverty line of $2 per day, according to World Bank data.

The country produces about enough rice to meet demand but imported 4.5 million tonnes of wheat last year to meet demand for that grain, according to the country's food ministry.

WRONG-HEADED DECISION?

Despite rising demand for food, Khan Md Aftabuddin, managing director of Sunipun Organics Ltd. – the company that first applied for government permission for ethanol production – said turning grain into fuel would not pose any threat to food security for Bangladesh.

He said the byproducts of ethanol production could be used as poultry or fish food, and that more maize could be grown on delta islands if demand for it rises.

"If needed, we will produce maize in char lands of the country as raw material for our plant," Aftabuddin said. Bangladesh needs to turn to renewable energy to keep its environment clean, he said. But Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah, secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, said creating fuel using maize – which is increasingly being imported to make up for rice and wheat shortfalls – doesn't seem to make sense.

"I do not see any valid reason for using maize and broken rice for ethanol production," he said.

M. Asaduzzaman, a fellow of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and a member of the country's climate change negotiations team, said he also disagreed with the move toward producing ethanol from grain.

"We have tremendous difficulties in livestock nutrition. If maize is now used to produce ethanol, the cost of livestock production will go further up causing further animal protein deficiency," said Asaduzzaman, also a former vice chairman of the International Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change.

"This is a wrong-headed decision," he said.

Bangladesh's per capita carbon emissions are tiny compared to those of more developed countries, and should not be as great a concern as protecting food security, he said.

"When we can't meet basic nutritional need, we don't need to go for clean energy," he said.

Khondaker Golam Moazzem, a research director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, a Dhaka-based think tank, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that he is concerned that ethanol production, once started, could be scaled up in the future, particularly if oil prices eventually rise.

That could lead to more demand for maize and for land to grow it. "Then, staple food production will be hampered since Bangladesh suffers from acute farmland scarcity," he warned.

Flood-hit Bangladesh plans to keep food safe in home silos

By Syful Islam

DHAKA, Aug 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - With millions of Bangladeshis hit by devastating monsoon floods in the past month, the government and aid agencies are helping them with emergency food and shelter, while working to improve protection against future disasters.

By June 2019, the government will distribute half a million "household food silos" to people in areas prone to storms and flooding, to keep their food stocks safe from water and other threats.

Bangladesh's Humanitarian Coordination Task Team - made up of government and U.N. experts, aid agencies and donors - estimates that some 3.7 million people in 19 districts have been affected by the recent floods which began in mid-July.

More than 250,000 houses are reported damaged, including nearly 17,000 houses that have been washed away completely and over 65,000 partially lost to riverbank erosion.

Around 110 deaths have been reported due to drowning, most of them minors, according to government health officials.

The water has now started receding but experts expect another bout of flooding this month as rainfall has increased upstream in India and Nepal, whose rivers flow through Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal.

Of the total number of people affected by the latest floods, around 2 million live in Jamalpur, Kurigram and Gaibandha - Bangladesh's poorest districts, where around a third of the population falls below the poverty line. These northern areas were also hit by severe flooding in September 2014.

RED CROSS APPEAL

Aid workers report that the latest floods are the most devastating of the last two to three decades.

"This flood is the worst in the last 30 years, affected people say," said Adith Shah Durjoy, disaster operations coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Bangladesh.

Some poor families also suffered in the floods two years ago, he noted.

"The self-recovery capacity of these people is destroyed by repeated floods," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

An assessment by the humanitarian team said the food security and livelihoods of people in affected areas had been dealt a serious blow by the recent floods.

There are acute food shortages in some areas, as household food stocks have been damaged and food production hampered.

People are eating only one or two meals a day, instead of three, and a lack of fodder for animals, especially cattle, means rural families face losing important assets.

The government is responding to immediate relief needs, alongside local and international aid agencies, Durjoy said.

The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society has so far distributed food to more than 27,000 people, and is using water treatment kits to provide clean drinking water to 15,000.

On Wednesday, the IFRC launched an emergency appeal for $1.7 million to support its Bangladesh arm in reaching 105,000 people with emergency assistance.

"The floods have inflicted significant damage and hardship across the country," said Mozharul Huq, secretary general of the Bangladesh Red Crescent.

"Homes have been completely destroyed, (and) there's a shortage of clean water and lack of toilets. People's livelihoods have been left in tatters."

CARE Bangladesh is distributing food and other aid to flood-affected communities in northern parts of the country. PHOTO/CARE Bangladesh

Mahbubur Rahman, emergency response and preparedness coordinator for CARE Bangladesh, said humanitarian relief had yet to reach hundreds of thousands of people.

International charity CARE is providing food and basic shelter to more than 2,500 families in Bogra and Kurigram districts, with funding from the British and U.S. governments.

Much of Bangladesh's land is a low-lying delta plain, meaning many parts of the country regularly go under water.

Monsoon floods often inundate homes and fields, causing crop losses and damaging food stocks. But natural disasters exacerbated by climate change are happening more often, according to Atiq Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies.

"In the northern districts, agriculture - particularly rice and vegetables - is damaged, alongside losing lives," he said of the current floods. "Disastrous events are hitting more frequently than before."

There can also be considerable climate variability across the country, he added. For example, in April the northeastern districts of Sunamganj and Sylhet saw flash floods, while Barind Tract in the northwest was suffering from drought.

PLASTIC POTS

Experts say major cyclones and floods are causing fewer deaths than in the past, thanks to alerts and evacuations. But vulnerable households are losing their ability to cope as growing climate stresses push them deeper into poverty.

As part of a government effort to help people manage climate risks, the "household silos" will be given to coastal and river-bank dwellers so they can keep their grain dry when waters rise.

The World Bank is providing $8.37 million to procure the silos from local company Madina Polymer Industries Ltd, under the project to modernise food storage.

Made of polypropylene copolymer food-grade plastic, the silos look like earthenware pots, and can protect grain from chemical, thermal and weather effects. They are equipped with a seal that keeps the food inside dry even if the silo remains underwater for a long time during floods.

The government will also build eight large silos that can store 535,000 tonnes of grain to respond to needs during natural disasters around the country.

(Reporting by Syful Islam; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)

Bangladesh declares lightning strikes a disaster as deaths surge

By Syful Islam

DHAKA, June 22, 2016 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Bangladesh has seen a near-record number of deaths this year from a phenomenon that appears to be worsening with climate change: lightning strikes.

So far this year, 261 people have died from lightning in the country, putting the South Asian nation on track to beat last year's 265 deaths. Most lightning deaths usually occur during the warm months of March to July.

India has seen a similar surge in lightning deaths, with 93 people killed just in the past two days, officials said.

The problem has prompted Bangladesh's government to add lightning strikes to the country's list of official types of disasters, which includes floods, cyclones and storm surges, earthquakes, drought and riverbank erosion, among others.

As a result, the government now compensates lightning strike victims or their families with sums between 7,500 and 25,000 taka ($95 to $310). Through mid-May the government had paid 1.5 million taka ($18,400) in claims this year to families of 81 people who died because of lightning.

MORE HEAT, MORE RAIN

Scientists say warmer conditions associated with climate change are causing more water evaporation from the land and ocean, increasing clouds and rainfall and the potential for lightning storms.

"The months of April, May and June are the hottest in Bangladesh and the moist air quickly rises upward to meet with dry north-westerly winds to cool and form large storm clouds," Dipen Bhattacharya, a physics and astronomy professor at Moreno Valley College in California, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"Some specialists think that as the world warms up, we should expect more explosive lightning events  rather than a gradual increase," he said.

During the three-day period of May 12 to May 14, 67 people died from lightning strikes in Bangladesh. Altogether, 132 people died in May after being hit by lightning, according to the Foundation for Disaster Forum, a Dhaka-based disaster preparedness network.

Altogether, 1,476 people have died from lightning in Bangladesh since 2010, Bangladesh Meteorological Department data shows.

According to a 2014 University of Berkeley study, lightning strikes are expected to increase by 12 percent for every degree Celsius of warming, with a 50 percent rise in lightning expected by the end of the century.

According to Bangladesh's Met Office, prior to 1981, the country saw lightning strikes on average nine days each May. Since that time, the country has seen strikes an average of 12 days each May.

I

In this 2007 file photo, lightning is seen over south Mumbai before the first pre-monsoon showers. REUTERS/Arko Datta

LOSS OF TREES

Experts in Bangladesh and internationally say the rise in fatal lightning strikes may also be related to the country's population growth and to deforestation, which has led to the disappearance of many tall trees that earlier would have drawn lightning strikes.

Now fatalities often involve farmers using metal farm equipment in open fields, or people standing near metal cell phone towers or electrical power towers, experts said.

Some said they believed cell phone use also might be leading to more lightning fatalities, but other experts said that link is unlikely.

Lightning continues to kill people who take shelter under trees during electrical storms as well, they said.

Atiq Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that it would not be wise to blame the rise in deaths directly on climate change.

But A.Q.M. Mahbub, an earth and environmental science professor at the University of Dhaka, said rising global temperatures over the last century were driving a range of changing weather phenomenon, including stronger tropical cyclones, thunderstorms, floods, droughts and heatwaves.

"The increased numbers of lightning strikes may be due to global warming but it needs further research to be confirmed," he said.

He said the United States, which once saw 200 to 300 lightning deaths a year, had managed to dramatically reduce that toll by making people aware of the risks of standing in open areas during thunderstorms.

In Bangladesh - or anywhere where storms threaten - "people should take shelter immediately in any (building) and farmers should flatten themselves to the soil when they meet any possibility of thunderstorm to avoid incidents," he said.

Bangladesh set to pursue coal-power push despite opposition

Thu, 14 Apr 2016

By Syful Islam

DHAKA, April 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The government of Bangladesh has indicated it is unlikely to abandon its push to build more coal-fired power plants despite growing opposition among local people and environmentalists.

At least four people died and many were injured at Banshkhali in Chittagong earlier this month, when police opened fire at violent protests against the construction of a 1,320-megawatt (MW) coal plant in the southeastern coastal area.

In response, the government unofficially said on April 9 that work at the $2.4 billion power plant would be suspended for 15 days, while it carries out an assessment of the plant's environmental impact, led by Bangladeshi and foreign scientists.

Dhaka plans to set up 25 coal-fired power plants by 2022, to generate 23,692 MW, in order to meet rising electricity demand. Of the total, 16 will be built by the public sector and nine by the private sector.

Environmentalists say the risks those fossil fuel plants could pose to nature and the livelihoods of local people are not being properly investigated.

Anu Muhammad, member secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, said the Banshkhali plant does not have an approved environmental impact assessment (EIA), yet private company SS Power Ltd - a joint venture between Bangladeshi and Chinese firms - has already started work at the site.

"The site selected is located in a coastal area where climate change risk is high," he said. "Establishing such plants in coastal areas will be dangerous."

POWER-HUNGRY

Monowar Islam, secretary of the government's power division, said Bangladesh is a power-hungry country that needs huge amounts of electricity to develop.

It is highly dependent on natural gas reserves that are dwindling, he said. "We have no other options but to go for coal - the long-term solution is coal-based power plants," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Currently only 2 percent of Bangladesh's power is generated using coal.

Islam said the advanced technology now used in coal-fired plants would curb the environmental risks cited by opponents.

The Banshkhali plant has yet to get its EIA report vetted by the department of environment, but the plant already has site clearance, he noted.

The plant cannot be relocated, as the process to select the site took five years, he added.

SUNDARBANS THREAT

There is fierce opposition to another planned coal plant in Rampal, near the protected Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest. The plant is a joint project between the state-run power companies of Bangladesh and India.

India has previously tried to set up coal-fired power plants in Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, which would have used the same technology, but was forced to cancel those projects amid environmental protests.

"The government of Bangladesh is overlooking people's concerns," said Atiq Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies.

Even the department of environment has raised questions over the EIA for the Rampal plant, conducted by the ministry of energy, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"There was no public and experts' participation in the EIA. Laws have not been followed properly in this case," Rahman said.

The government did not explore alternative sites for the Rampal plant even though environmentalists and local people have waged a long-running campaign against the possible damage it could cause to the low-lying Sundarbans, a world heritage site.

"There is administrative arrogance," Rahman said.

UNESCO officials recently visited the Sundarbans to assess the possible impact of the power plant on the flora and fauna of the mangrove forests.

In the past, when oil tankers and boats carrying fertiliser sank in the Shela River near the Sundarbans, the U.N. body expressed concern over possible harm to biodiversity.

Ainun Nishat, a respected environmentalist and professor emeritus at Brac University in Dhaka, said the department of environment had approved the EIA report for Rampal - but with many conditions attached.

"Everything should be as per the laws concerned. The government should fulfill all these conditions before setting up the plant," he said.

IMPORTANT ECOSYSTEMS

Md Khalequzzaman, professor of geology at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania, said Rampal was not the best place for a coal-fired power plant.

"There are valid concerns about the proposed plant being so close to the Sundarbans," he said by e-mail.

"No country with a commitment to preserve ecologically sensitive areas, including India, will allow such a plant on their ground, and Bangladesh should not allow it either."

Bangladesh's past record points to a risk of spills, thermal pollution and air pollution associated with power plant operations, he added.

"The Sundarbans is too important an ecosystem to fiddle or experiment with," he said.

Bangladesh needs electricity, but it should be produced in less environmentally valuable areas, and at least 25 kilometres away from forests, he added.

Khalequzzaman urged the government to look at alternative energy scenarios, and to come up with a long-term energy policy that fits with the global shift towards sustainable development.

Abu Naser Khan, chairman of the Save Environment Movement, said the Rampal plant would one day turn into "cancer" for the Sundarbans.

"The government should give importance to environmental concerns and local people's anxiety before setting up any coal-fired power plant," he added.

Bangladesh fires up large-scale solar to boost power generation

Syful Islam 

 

DHAKA, Nov 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The government of Bangladesh has approved construction of a large-scale solar park as part of a push to increase the share of power from renewable sources in this electricity-starved country. 

The new solar park, which is due to begin generating within the next 18 months, will supply up to 200 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the national grid. 

Sun Edison Energy Holding (Singapore) Pte Ltd will build the park in Teknaf sub-district, the southernmost point in mainland Bangladesh. 

The solar power will be cheaper than electricity from conventional power stations. The tariff rate has been fixed at Tk 13.26 per kilowatt/hour ($0.17), two-thirds the price of electricity generated by oil-fuelled plants.

Teknaf is one of several large projects in the pipeline as the government aims to reach a target of 2,000 MW, or 10 percent of overall capacity, generated from renewable sources by 2020. 

Current daily grid generation is 7,000 MW, against a peak demand of 8,500 MW, although the actual need is certainly higher since only 62 percent of the population have access to electricity through the grid. 

The government plans to increase installed capacity to 20,000 MW by the end of the decade. Ahmad Kaikaus, an official at the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources, said in an interview that the government hopes that 500-600 MW of this will be generated by public-sector solar power plants.

"We have asked public-sector power companies to set up equipment for generating electricity from solar," Kaikaus said. "They are carrying out feasibility studies." 

Kaikaus said that in addition, scores of local and foreign private-sector companies are submitting preliminary proposals to invest in solar power generation, with projects ranging in size from 5-100 MW, and the government is so far considering 14 of these. 

Taposh Kumar Roy, chairman of the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA), identified a shortage of uncultivated land in this densely populated country as a significant constraint to planning large-scale solar plants. 

"Large-sized solar power plants need a huge area of land to install solar panels. In Bangladesh such barren field is hardly available. Our policy is to set up such plants only in non-agriculture lands to keep food production unhampered," he said. 

Among the places solar panels could be placed is on rooftops of residential, commercial and industrial buildings, he said. 

At present, renewables account for 405 MW, or around 5.7 percent, of Bangladesh's total daily electricity generation. 

This includes 150 MW from solar home systems, and 11 MW from rooftop systems. A further 230 MW are generated by hydropower. 

The government also is collecting data on wind power potential from 13 locations, he said. 

COST OF THE CHANGE

 

According to Roy, some $2.76 billion will be required to implement both large- and small-scale solar projects in the country, of which $2.23 billion is expected to come from development partners, with the rest from government and the private sector. 

Ruhul Quddus, a World Bank consultant on solar home systems in Bangladesh, said renewable energy has become cost-effective as technology constantly improves. 

Quddus said an investment of around $1 billion by the state-owned Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL) has enabled the installation of some 3.7 million solar home systems since 2009, as well as solar-powered irrigation pumps and mini-grids. 

The home systems have eliminated the need for 180,000 tonnes of kerosene fuel, saving an estimated $225 million annually, he said. 

According to IDCOL, more than 65,000 solar home systems are now being installed each month. The company aims to finance 6 million systems by 2017, increasing the estimated generation capacity from the systems to 220 MW. 

Quddus said there also are about 1.4 million diesel-fuelled irrigation pumps in Bangladesh which could instead run on solar energy. 

SREDA's Roy said most of the ongoing renewable energy projects in Bangladesh are financed by donors, with the funds managed and distributed by IDCOL. 

"Since solar projects need big investment, we can't take those from our own resources," he said. 

The government is exploring the possibility of getting money for projects from the Green Climate Fund, Roy said. 

Dipal C. Barua, president of Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association, is optimistic that the government's 10 percent target can be met through public-private partnerships. 

Barua said large-scale renewable projects had not been implemented successfully in the past because of insufficient attention from the government, including a lack of feasibility studies and the absence of a tariff policy. 

The government is now preparing a tariff policy to procure electricity from big renewable power grids, and this will encourage the private sector to invest, Barua added.

Boat schools bring classroom to Bangladesh's flood-hit children

By Syful Islam

Mon Mar 9, 2015 6:20am EDT

DHAKA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Anna Akter, a nine-year-old student at a floating school in Bangladesh's remote Natore district, says she might have missed out on her education during annual monsoon floods without her boat-based classroom.

The same goes for Khushi Khatun, who also studies at the boat school where she gets free tuition and materials.

“Had there been no such school, she would have had to walk two kilometers along a muddy path or take a boat journey during monsoon which may have discouraged her to study,” said her father Nazir Uddin, a farmer in Pangasia village.

Hundreds of students in the northern Bangladesh district are taught in floating schools, an initiative to make education available to children whose lives are complicated by regular flooding.

“Instead of the students going to school, the school reaches them,” said Mohammed Rezwan, founder of Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, the non-profit organization that introduced the country’s first floating school system.

It also trains farmers to grow vegetables in floating gardens and raise ducks and fish, as well as offering free farm inputs.

The boat schools are the kind of measure that can help education in developing nations like Bangladesh become more resilient to extreme weather and worsening climate impacts.

Governments meeting in Japan from March 14-18 to adopt a new action plan to reduce the risk of disasters are expected to call for better ways to protect education before, during and after crises.

FROM BUS TO CLASS

Rezwan, an architect, was born and brought up in Natore district. He was lucky as he didn’t miss school in the rainy season thanks to his family’s boat, unlike many of his friends.

“From school age, I thought there must be a solution to this problem,” Rezwan told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone from his office in Natore.

While at university, it occurred to him that if children couldn’t make it to school, their classroom should go to them.

Rezwan established Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha in 1998 with $500 from his savings and scholarship money, and the floating school concept was launched in 2002.

The boats first serve as school bus, collecting children from different riverside stops. Once they have docked, class begins.

Rezwan’s organization now has 22 wooden boats, each able to accommodate 30 students. The boats have a classroom, a library and internet-connected computers powered by onboard solar panels.

Each year, much of the Bangladesh countryside is hit by flooding, forcing schools to close, Rezwan said. In 2007, for example, some 1.5 million students were estimated to have been affected by floods, he noted.

Around two thirds of the country’s 160 million people live in rural areas. During a normal rainy season, over a fifth of the country’s land is submerged, while in extreme years, up to two thirds can be inundated.

As climate change impacts become visible, disasters caused by extreme weather, including floods and storms, are increasingly hitting the low-lying nation, Rezwan said. Sea-level rise could exacerbate the situation in coastal areas in the coming years, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted.

IDEA SPREADS

The floating schools cover an area of 2 square km, offering primary level education to local children who might otherwise have stayed away from school.

Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha now also trains adult villagers on children’s and women’s rights, nutrition, health and hygiene, and how to farm ducks and fish alongside vegetables in “floating gardens”, helping them adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Some other flood-prone countries, including Cambodia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Vietnam and Zambia, have introduced floating schools, following Rezwan’s model.

Nazma Khatun, a teacher at the Natore boat school, said the nearest government primary school, located some 2 km away, could not be reached by students from her area during seasonal flooding.

“The floating school has brought many benefits,” she said. “The students can easily go to school and stay close to their parents. The literacy rate is growing here,” she added.

Her daughter also attended the floating school and is now studying at secondary level nearby. It has changed Khatun’s life for the better, too.

“After I got married, I stayed at home as a housewife,” she said. “Now I am teaching in this school alongside pursuing my graduate studies.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/09/us-disaster-risk-education-idUSKBN0M50RP20150309

Noakhali farmers now produce great grass instead of food crops

03 January, 2015

Syful Islam (RTNN): Many farmers in Nokhali district have started producing great grass (hogla pata) instead of cultivating food crops in some lands as part of their effort to get adapted to the impacts of climate change.

They said cultivating great grass in salinity-affected and water-logged lands is possible while other crops can hardly grow there.

The increased salinity in soil, nearly six months long water-logging each year, and lack of irrigation facility had put the farmers in Ramharitalu village of Noakhali Sadar upzila in immense difficulties with farming. In many lands of this area even the stress-tolerant rice varieties are not suitable for cultivation.

The salinity and water-logging in lands had increased in the recent years as the impacts of climate change have started to be more visible. Noakhali, a South Eastern Bangladeshi district, represents an extensive flat, coastal and delta land, located in tidal flood plain of the Meghna river delta. Climate change-induced disastrous events often hit the district and seawater frequently enters the land.

Once the farmers of the village had been producing a handsome volume of rice and other food crops, which is badly affected in the recent years. So, the farmers have turned to producing great grass as it can tolerate stresses.

Earlier, great grass was being produced in these lands naturally and poor people of the village produced different household items with those as an extra income. Since salinity and water-logging have affected rice and other food crop production there, farmers have started to produce great grass as main crop as this can withstand stresses.

Nearly ten years back Abul Bashar of Ramharitalu village started great grass business. He collected great grass from the locality and sold the same at nearby Khalifar hat and Rab market.

He established a small cottage farm five years back and appointed scores of workers, mainly women, to prepare different types of household products from great grass.

Mr Bashar now sells those products even in capital city of Dhaka among the owners of different handicraft shops. Being encouraged by Bashar’s success some 12,000 men and women of Nokhali Sadar upzila now produce eye-catching household items and sell those at nearest markets and other towns.

Bashar said producing food crops in the saline-affected and water-logged lands was not profitable and “we had been losing crops frequently”. “As a result we had no option but to find out a stress-tolerant crop and we found cultivating great grass to be a suitable option.”

“Cultivation of great grass has brought financial solvency to many farmers in Noakhali district,” said Mr Bashar.

Nurul Alam Masud, chief executive of Noakhali based Participatory Research Action Network (PRAN), said great grass is a water-borne tree which once grew naturally near the rivers and seashores.

“Nowadays farmers cultivate great grass commercially and its farming is expanding fast in Noakhali district. You don’t need to take care of great grass a lot and no fertilisers nor pesticides are needed for its cultivation,” he said adding presently more and more new lands are coming under great grass farming as farmers get good return from it.

Mr Masud said with impacts of climate change having started putting adverse effects, farmers themselves are finding out ways to get adapted with the changed situation.

http://www.english.rtnn.net//newsdetail/detail/1/4/60815#.VKjUXih0io4

Northern dist. farmers prefer mango farming to paddy

01 January, 2015

Syful Islam (RTNN): With water level continuously going down many farmers in country’s north-eastern districts nowadays prefer growing mango to paddy, posing a threat to food security.

The impacts of climate change are causing droughts in several north-eastern districts leading to a significant fall of water level. At the same time, the average rainfall in those districts nowadays has also reduced significantly creating water shortage which hampers rice cultivation.

Statistics collected from Hardinge Bridge area shows that during the last twenty years water levels at the river during rainy season were between 17 and 20 metres and in summer between 7 and 10 metres. The low water flow from upstream has caused riverbeds to be filled up with excessive sediments creating massive water crisis during rainy season.

Farmers of these drought-prone districts say they need to depend on irrigation to grow rice which becomes much costlier and minimises return. As a result farmers of a large area of the district are now growing mango in paddy fields finding it more profitable than rice cultivation.

Officials at department of agriculture said the volume of arable lands in Rajshahi district has come down to 185,666 hectares in 2013 from 202,803 hectares in 2010. The rest 14,000 hectares of land is now being used in mango farming.

They also said the diversion of farmers to mango farming from rice or wheat cultivation is posing threat to food security of the area. Farmers of the area had produced 672,337 tonnes of rice in 2010 which in 2013 came down to 598,435 tonnes.

In Bholahat union under Chapainawabaganj district some 30 to 35 per cent lands have now come under mango farming instead of paddy or wheat. A number of researchers of Rajshahi University found that during the drought season farmers need to depend on irrigation to produce rice. As a result the cost of rice production goes significantly up which led their diversion to mango from rice production.

Akbar Mia, a mango farmer in Bholahat union, said water scarcity has pushed them towards mango farming.

“We sometimes see that rice and other crops wither before maturity due to water shortage. So, we switched to mango production from paddy getting no other options,” he said.

At the same time mango farming is also increasing in Charghat and Godagari upzilas under Rajshahi district. As a result livelihood of several thousands of day-labourers in those areas is under threat as mango farming needs less manpower.

The area is under Barind Tract which is the largest Pleistocene era physiographic unit in Bangladesh and the Bengal Basin. Officials said water level in the Barind Tract has gone down by 15 feet in last ten years.

In Bangladesh farming with deep tube well water had started in 1960s which in Barind Tract began in 2012. According to a report of Barind Multipurpose Development Authority some 14,620 deep tube wells were installed in the area. The excessive water extraction through these tube wells has caused fall in water level.

Senior Scientific Officer of Mango Research Centre, Rajshahi Alim Uddin acknowledged rise of mango farming each year as it costs lower than cultivating other crops there.

He said mango is a very important agricultural item in this region. “Farmers find mango cultivation more profitable than other crops since mango farming needs less volume of water, pesticides, and nurturing.”

Chief Scientific Officer of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) Shajahan Kabir said mango farming is rising in high drought-prone areas since cultivation of rice and other crops is not suitable there.

He said BRRI has recently introduced three drought-tolerant rice varieties to encourage farmers in drought-prone districts in rice production to keep food basket intact.

“We requested farmers to cultivate Aus varieties which need less irrigation than Boro rice,” he added.

http://www.english.rtnn.net//newsdetail/detail/1/3/60777#.VKjSIyh0io4

Crab farming in saline water instead of paddy

25 December, 2014

Syful Islam (RTNN): Farmers in Khulna and Satkhira districts nowadays produce crab in saline affected lands instead of other crops as those can hardly survive there due to excessive salt in soil.

Seawater frequently enters the lands of these districts because of increased number of flash floods and storm surges. The water remains in the lands for long raising their salt level to so much high that no crops can grow or survive there.

Failing to produce rice or other crops in those lands, years back farmers had started to cultivate shrimp there bringing water from sea. As seawater remained in the lands for several years due to shrimp cultivation, their salinity level now reached further high.

Aziz Tarafder, a crab farmer in Sonachar of Khulna district, said when shrimp is cultivated in one piece of land, salinity spreads to the nearest land and no crops can be produced there next year. So, the farmers find no other options but to cultivate shrimp or crab there.

He said shrimp and crab cultivation in these districts has expanded manifold in this way in the recent years causing a drastic fall in production of rice and other crops.

Mr Tarafder said reducing the salinity level of land to ready them for producing other crops is too much time consuming and very expensive. “So, the lands which come under shrimp cultivation once cannot be freed from producing the same.”

Another farmer, Jamal Uddin, said in the recent past farming crab in those saline affected lands was also found to be profitable. As a result nowadays farmers of these areas have started crab fattening in those lands instead of trying to produce paddy or other crops.

He said coastal farmers collect immature crabs from the nearest river and sea and keep those in the lands full of saline water for weeks. Those are being exported to different countries once they become matured. Both the demands and prices of these matured crabs are much high in those countries.

Mr Uddin said the production cost of crab is much lower than that of shrimp and almost no disease affects it. As a result farmers of the areas nowadays are increasingly growing crab instead of paddy.

“Many of us these days have started crab fattening business since it brings them a good return,” he added.

According to officials of department of fisheries presently, crab is being grown in some 4,000 farms in Khulna district, 350 farms in Satkhira district, and 340 farms in Bagerhat district. The handsome return from crab farming has brought solvency to many farmers in those districts.

They said crab farming is also bringing foreign currencies to the country alongside their local sales. A significant volume of crab, produced here, is being exported every year bringing the growers handsome return.

Agriculture officials said crab growing has brought a good area of lands under farming otherwise those would remain barren because of excessive salinity. Farmers should identify more adaptation measures in the face of growing impacts of climate change which in the coming days will bring more challenges for them, they added.

http://www.english.rtnn.net//newsdetail/detail/1/4/60720#.VJwAEcEA

Hanging, floating gardens help farmers grow vegetables

24 December, 2014

Syful Islam (RTNN) : Farmers in Bangladesh’s coastal districts nowadays grow vegetables in hanging and floating gardens as lands in many areas remain under water for nearly six months a year following sea level rise.

Water of nearest rivers, swell during the summer monsoon, flooding croplands, leaving poor farmers at bay, as they find no work nor can grow crops. During the period many coastal families have to strive to earn livelihood and many pass days without food.

Years back, it was a very common scenario in many coastal areas as the impacts of climate change including flash flood, cyclone, storm surge, water-logging, salinity, and drought had started to hit Bangladesh frequently. The sea level rise, as an impact of global warming, has caused river water to swell easily and drowns coastal areas almost every year.

Bangladesh, situated almost inside the belly of Bay of Bengal, is criss-crossed by more than 230 of the world’s most unstable rivers. Due to low water flow from the upstream and poor dredging, the depth of river beds have become very low, thus in every rainy season water swells up and maroons nearest lands and villages.

However, coastal farmers in the recent years have invented alternative ways to grow vegetables, making hanging and floating gardens, thanks to their endeavour to get adapted to the impacts of climate change.

Hanging garden is an innovative strategy to grow vegetables amid water-logging. And a floating garden is built using aquatic weeds as a base where vegetables can be grown.

The lands in Nazirpur sub-district under Pirojpur district remains under water for a significant period every year where farmers can grow nothing after Boro season. Farmers nowadays produce vegetables in those lands setting up floating gardens.

Abdur Rashid Molla, a farmer of Mugarjhore village under the sub-district, said to earn some money utilizing the water-logged lands, he makes raft from water hyacinth, a common weed, paddy straw, nalkhagra – a freshwater wetland tree, or other organic materials like azola, coconut straw, bamboo, and old rope.

He said the water hyacinth is placed onto the bamboo layer several times to build up its thickness. Later, soil, compost and cow dung are added to cover the base of the raft to a depth of around 25cm. The compost is made up from azola, a good nitrogen fixing plant, and other readily available organic matters.

Molla also said after that the seeds are sown by making round balls of compost comprising of decomposed water hyacinth and an organic fertilizer known locally as tema. A couple of seeds are planted into each ball and kept in a shaded area while germination takes place. Once the seedlings have begun to grow they can be planted out onto the raft.

He said crops like Kang Kong (leafy vegetables), okra (lady’s finger), gourd, brinjal (aubergine), pumpkin, bean, and onions can be grown in the raft.

Molla also said he earns some Tk 10,000 to Tk 12,000 each season buy growing vegetables in the floating gardens. In Nazirpur now vegetables are being grown in several thousand acres of land in floating gardens which has made many farmers financially solvent.

Many non-profit organizations like Practical Action Bangladesh and Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha are providing training to farmers to grow vegetables in floating and hanging gardens.

Shova Rani Sarker of Manirampur under Jessore district in south-western Bangladesh now produces vegetables in hanging gardens as her lands remain under water due to water-logging.

The water-logging has become a permanent problem after implementation of Khulna-Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project, which was later rated as unsuccessful, less effective, inefficient, and unlikely to be sustainable.

Due to the permanent water-logging in lands many families of the areas, like Shova Rani Sarker’s, have become poor failing to grow paddy and other crops there. Many had started fish farming or fishing in the rivers but become unsuccessful to ensure livelihoods.

At one stage Shova Rani, in consultation with other neighbours, had started growing vegetables in ganging gardens. To create a hanging garden farmers of that area collect daily household wastes and keep those in a hole to decompose. After that they mix soil with the decomposed wastes and put those in big pots.

Later, the pots are hanged by building bamboo structures where seeds of vegetables are sown.

Shova Rani said nowadays many farmers in her area grow vegetables in hanging garden system. “I earn a good sum by selling those vegetables in nearby markets alongside meeting the nutritional needs of family members,” she said.

http://www.english.rtnn.net//newsdetail/detail/1/4/60699#.VJwAGcEA

Bangladesh farmers turn back the clock to combat climate stresses

By Syful Islam

Wed Nov 26, 2014 6:34pm IST

DHAKA, Bangladesh (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Indigenous varieties of rice are making a comeback in Bangladesh as farmers abandon high-yielding hybrid rice in favour of more resilient varieties that can cope with more extreme climate conditions, researchers say.

About 20 percent of the rice fields planted in the low-lying South Asian nation now contain indigenous varieties that can stand up to drought, flooding or other stresses, said Jiban Krishna, director general of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute.

At its peak, high yielding varieties of rice are accounted for 90 percent of total rice grown in Bangladesh.

“In places where newly invented varieties fail to cope with stresses, farmers cultivate local varieties,” Krishna told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.

Bangladesh’s government first introduced high-yielding rice in the 1960s, in an effort to promote food security and meet rising demand, Krishna said. Over time, most farmers adopted the new varieties, which brought in higher incomes.

But in recent years, as climate change has brought more irregular rainfall – including worsening floods and droughts – farmers have had more difficulty producing consistent crops of high-yielding varieties.

That has led to a growing share of farmers returning to more resilient varieties capable of coping with the extreme conditions, or planting both old and new varieties side by side.

The switch back to traditional varieties has happened with the help of non-governmental organisations that have reintroduced the varieties in an effort to protect “heritage” species and help farmers cope with adverse weather conditions , Krishna said.

In C’Nababaganj district, for instance, the Bangladesh Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge has helped farmers return to planting varieties that had almost vanished.

‘Saika’ rice, for instance, ripens in just 60 days – well short of the 90 to 110 days needed by hybrid varieties used in the area – and ‘Sashi Mohon’ needs hugely less water, said Pavel Partha, coordinator of the centre’s food security programme.

CHANGE IN GOVERNMENT POLICY

The government previously never promoted such varieties, considering them too low-yielding, he said. But in the face of growing climate impacts, it is now actively encouraging their cultivation as part of efforts to help farmers adapt to climate change, Partha said.

Farmers say returning to the old varieties has been a big help in ensuring they get a harvest each season.

“Cultivation in this area is facing immense trouble due to low and irregular rainfall. Even cultivation of rain-fed Aman (rice) is now totally dependent on irrigation which raises production costs,” said Hasan Ali, a farmer in Barandra village.

“In this situation we have brought in these indigenous aromatic varieties which are tolerant to many stresses," he said.

Another farmer, Anisur Rahman, said cultivation of the old varieties is expanding in part because they need almost no chemical fertiliser or pesticides – which makes them cheaper and easier to grow – and because their yields are good in tough conditions.

Abdus Sattar Hiru, a farmer in Traltalia village in Tangail district agreed that the ‘Afsara’ traditional rice he is now cultivating has brought in consistently good crops.

“The variety (grows over a) short duration and can be cultivated once the rainy season is over and water starts receding. In that period, modern or high yielding varieties can’t be cultivated but this local variety can,” he said.

Returning to ‘Afsara’ rice has also allowed him to bring back into production land previously left barren because high-yielding rice varieties did not grow there, he said.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/11/26/bangladesh-rice-idINKCN0JA15O20141126

Bangladesh hopes storm warning system will cut deaths from lightning

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Wed, 16 Jul 2014

Author: Syful Islam

DHAKA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Bangladesh is working on a new scheme that will give early warning of storms and lightning strikes in a bid to combat rising deaths from the hazards.

“We are going to set up 10 thunderstorm observation centres in maritime ports, aiming to provide early warning to avoid deaths from increasingly frequent lightning strikes,” Local Government and Rural Development Minister Syed Ashraful Islam told parliament last month.

The centres will track storms across the whole country but are being built near ports, as coastal and river areas are especially vulnerable to extreme weather, with fishermen often working out on the open water.

The government-funded centres have been built and equipment is now being installed. The project is due to be up and running by next year.

Ashraful Islam said the number of thunderstorms hitting the South Asian tropical region has increased significantly in recent years, which he attributed to global warming. “If we can give early warning through examining the instability of the atmosphere, we may be able to reduce unwanted deaths,” he said.

In recent years, reports of deaths from lightning strikes have become frequent – although comprehensive figures have not been recorded.

For example, on May 30, at least 7 people died and many were injured in lighting strikes across Naogaon district in northern Bangladesh. In 2010, Bangladesh recorded a quarter of annual global deaths due to lightning strikes when some 102 people were killed, according to the New Age newspaper.

Bangladesh currently has no lightning detectors, but that will change under the new system, according to meteorologist Sadekul Alam.

STAY INDOORS

Atiq Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies (BCAS), said early warning of lightning strikes through examining cloud movements is possible, and could help avoid some deaths.

Rahman said that, in recent years, winds have become stronger, accompanied by more frequent thunderstorms. Climate change has clear linkages with this rise in extreme weather, he added.

Yet if the new warning system is to help avoid deaths, people must know how to act on alerts, Rahman stressed. Experts recommend staying inside during thunderstorms, and away from windows and doors.

Abul Kalam Mallik of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department in Dhaka said the country’s weather offices advise people about weather conditions as part of their routine work. “If there is anything unusual due to happen, a special bulletin is also broadcast to inform people of possible danger,” he told Thomson Reuters Foundation.

High temperatures and humidity in Bangladesh mean weather conditions can be unstable, resulting in thunderstorms and lightning strikes, he added.

LOCAL-LEVEL WARNINGS

The thunderstorm observation centres will be equipped with modern technology that can provide customised warnings about possible lightning strikes in specific areas, even narrowing the risk down to particular districts. The alerts will be disseminated via radio and television bulletins, as well as by megaphone in some coastal areas.

Shamsul Alam, a climate change expert and member of Bangladesh’s Planning Commission, said many other countries, including the United States and India, are successfully providing warning of storms and lightning strikes.

“Global temperature rise has caused various changes, including an increased number of thunderstorms, cyclones and other natural calamities. As the weather is becoming more extreme due to warmer temperatures, we need more advanced technology to predict weather movements and their impacts,” he said.

If locally tailored warnings can be issued, and people are made aware of the need to follow advice, deaths from lightning strikes may be reduced, he added.

LOSS OF TREE COVER

Ainun Nishat, an eminent environmentalist and vice chancellor of Brac University, said rising temperatures have caused more evaporation and cloud formation in recent years.

At the same time, Bangladesh’s population has grown. “Due to high population density, one lightning strike kills many people,” he said.

“Earlier we saw the tops of many big trees being burned by lighting strikes. But nowadays, due to massive urbanisation and increased use of cultivable lands, large trees are removed. So during thunderstorms, when a farmer or anyone else stays out in an open field, they are being hit by lightning,” Nishat said.

Raising awareness among people - especially those likely to remain outdoors during storms - and providing early warning would certainly help reduce casualties, he added.

Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at: youths1990@yahoo.com

Bangladesh to slash its own climate adaptation fund

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Wed, 18 Jun 2014 10:30 GMT

Author: Syful Islam

DHAKA, Bangladesh (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Bangladesh plans to cut spending from its own budget on climate change adaptation and rely more in the future on funds from donors, government officials said.

The low-lying South Asian nation, considered one of the countries most at risk from climate impacts such as sea level rise, worsening erosion and erratic rainfall, has been a leader in the developing world in committing its own funds to climate adaptation. Officials allocated $320 million from the country’s budget over five years to a domestic climate adaptation fund, said Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith in a budget speech to parliament.

But “this allocation will be reduced in the future and instead steps will be taken to increase (funding to) the Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund, established with the assistance of our development partners,” Muhith said in a June 5 speech. That fund has so far received $187 million from international donors, with some of the money going to adaptation projects.

The minister proposed no new funding for the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF), the country’s own adaptation funding initiative, in the next budget.

The change comes as part of an update to the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan of 2009.

MISUSE OF FUNDS

Critics of the decision said the change in strategy comes in part because of questions raised about the alleged misuse of funds from the country’s adaptation trust fund, and the government’s desire to avoid further controversy in the future.

Last October, the Bangladesh chapter of Transparency International said it had found evidence of political influence, nepotism and corruption in the way funds were allocated.

“A significant amount of money had been allocated for the BCCTF in the last five years but the spending was poor. Besides, the way the fund was managed has raised questions for many, which led no fresh allocation in the new budget,” Shamsul Alam, a member of the Bangladesh’s Planning Commission, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation over telephone.

He said one advantage of relying on donor-funded climate adaptation projects it that they help transfer expertise and modern technology on adaptation, something Bangladesh in some cases lacks. “Capacity building of people on the ground is a must to adapt to climate change impacts,” he said.

Asked if donors might feel less willing to channel money to Bangladesh as a result of the government cutback in its own spending, he noted that in the new budget the government has imposed a “green tax” on industries that do not have a waste treatment plant.

That change “proves Bangladesh’s sincerity to climate change adaptation and keeping the environment free of pollution,” he said.

Atiq Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies (BCAS), told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview that Bangladesh still has a lot to do to adapt to climate change, particularly as it is so vulnerable.

He said the southern part of the country is particularly vulnerable, with 20 million people already lacking sufficient food, safe drinking water and sanitation systems. Drought-prone northern districts will also need large-scale climate adaptation programmes, he said.

DISCOURAGING DONORS?

Rahman said he thinks the government’s decision to cut its own spending on climate adaptation is the wrong one.

“The BCCTF should be kept well funded and replenished to encourage donors to pay more in the resilience fund. Unless you pay a portion on your own, why will donors feel interested to pay for your adaptation programmes?” he asked.

But greater transparency needs to be put in place in the spending of climate funds, to ensure the money goes to support people in the most need of help.

Hasan Mahmud, a member of parliament and Bangladesh’s former environment minister said adaptation projects costing less than $25 million will suffer the most if Bangladesh’s adaptation trust fund has no resources.

Donors for the most part only sponsor climate resilience projects larger than $25 million, he said in a telephone interview, but many of the projects Bangladesh needs most cost in the range of $5 million to $10 million.

“Big projects are not needed everywhere,” he said.

The government’s decision to create its own adaptation trust fund was highly praised by donor agencies and countries and a major encouragement for them to channel money to Bangladesh, he said.

“Donors felt (the depth of) Bangladesh’s seriousness about adaptation, despite not being responsible for climate change, following formation of the fund. Now the donors may get a wrong message and raise questions about whether we need any more adaptation funds since we have stopped spending from our own,” Mahmud warned.

Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at: youths1990@yahoo.com

http://www.trust.org/item/20140618092711-072sy/?source=hpeditorial&siteVersion=mobile#