Friday, September 2, 2011
Bangladesh and the Netherlands to share flood research
Syful Islam
28 July 2011, DHAKA
Flood-prone Bangladesh and the Netherlands are planning to exchange research findings and share experience on managing floods, which are projected to worsen because of climate change.
Floods wreak havoc in Bangladesh every year. Last week's floods killed at least four people and stranded an estimated 20,000, according to the Associated Press.
A five-year research programme worth €700,000 (US$1 million) will aim to strengthen the capacity of institutions and communities to deal with moderate and extreme floods. The programme was announced last month (27 June) and will be hosted by the Wageningen University and the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
It will allow the scientists to share experiences and come up with a framework that will link disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and flood management. Funds will go towards four PhD research projects that will analyse flood policies and strategies in the two countries, and one project aimed at putting research findings into practice though local workshops.
So far, both countries have had mixed experiences with building embankments on coastal deltas to reclaim low-lying land.
Bangladesh's coast is a flat plain into which sediment-laden rivers drain. Engineers built embankments to keep seawater out of the deltas and to protect against storm surges, Shah Alam Khan, professor at the Institute of Water and Flood Management and a co-leader of the new programme, told SciDev.Net.
But the embankments stopped rain water draining out, causing heavy waterlogging. Local communities eventually started breaking open the embankments to let the accumulated water out. This community-driven process was later adopted as government policy.
"The consequences of the polder [land protected by an embankment] system were not considered when the technology was adopted," Khan said. "Tidal flooding is a natural process in Bangladesh which was barred through [setting up] polders, leaving the overall ecosystem of the area in a dire state."
Large parts of the Netherlands are below the sea level and are also protected by embankments. But there, too, the embankments caused drainage problems as the land got silted up.
To solve the problem, the Netherlands adopted policies on river management by cutting embankments to allow tidal flooding for up to five years. This helped drain out excess water.
Khan said that engineers' efforts on tidal management have not yielded uniform results in all areas, and exchanging knowledge with the Netherlands could help them improve river management.
The research project dubbed 'Communities and institutions for flood resilience: enhancing knowledge and capacity to manage flood risk in the Bangladeshi and Dutch Deltas'', is funded by WOTRO, a Dutch funding organisation for research on global issues.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/bangladesh-and-the-netherlands-to-share-flood-research-1.html
Climate-friendly kilns could reduce Bangladesh's emissions
Syful Islam
8 July 2011, DHAKA
Bangladesh, which emits relatively fewer polluting gases but is projected to be highly vulnerable to global warming, has embarked on a drive to introduce environment-friendly brick-making technology to curb gaseous emissions.
The UN Development Fund (UNDP) last month (22 June) announced financial and technical support for large-scale adoption of its improved brick-making technology to help the country cut emissions and improve efficiency. The UNDP will invest in 16 demonstration kilns by the end of 2014.
Bangladesh has some 8,000 traditional kilns making 8.66 billion bricks worth US$ 450 million annually. The sector grew by over eight per cent during the last decade, but also contributed three million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually due to "outmoded, inefficient and poorly constructed kilns and the use of substandard fuels such as high sulphur coal, tyres and wood energy in the kilns to fire clay into bricks," a UNDP release said.
It is projected to grow by five per cent each year, burning more than a million tonnes of coal annually and emitting 8.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2014.
The new technology is based on the German ‘Hoffman kiln’ developed in the mid-19th century to bake clay. In 1999, China improvised the German technology into the more environment-friendly 'hybrid Hoffman kiln' (HHK), in which coal and clay are injected into a chamber and mixed to form raw, wet bricks, which are later dried.
The hybrid approach burns 95 per cent of the fuel, is more efficient and emits fewer polluting gases to produce high quality, lower cost bricks.
The UNDP improvised the HHK further by enlarging the drying chamber to suit Bangladesh's coal quality and clay moisture.
UNDP project manager Khondker Neaz Rahman told SciDev.Net that pilot tests initiated in January 2010, in Dhamrai town near Dhaka, showed the new approach producing 40,000 bricks daily, compared to 25,000-30,000 bricks using Chinese technology.
Private brick makers and development experts have welcomed the new technology. Pallab Kumar Moholnobish, project manager of ECO Brick Ltd., Dhamrai, said he can now produce bricks round the year, using less coal — 14 tonnes to make 100,000 bricks, compared to 24 tonnes in the older kilns.
Kiln operators can also earn carbon credits — a provision under the United Nations Framework on Convention for Climate Change that allows countries or groups that reduce their emissions to earn ‘credits’ for carbon dioxide reduced, and trade them in for cash.
Atiq Rahman, chairman of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, Dhaka, observed that the HHK would help reduce emissions as much of the dust, heat and gases remain within the chambers and are not released into the air.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/climate-friendly-kilns-could-reduce-bangladesh-s-emissions.html
8 July 2011, DHAKA
Bangladesh, which emits relatively fewer polluting gases but is projected to be highly vulnerable to global warming, has embarked on a drive to introduce environment-friendly brick-making technology to curb gaseous emissions.
The UN Development Fund (UNDP) last month (22 June) announced financial and technical support for large-scale adoption of its improved brick-making technology to help the country cut emissions and improve efficiency. The UNDP will invest in 16 demonstration kilns by the end of 2014.
Bangladesh has some 8,000 traditional kilns making 8.66 billion bricks worth US$ 450 million annually. The sector grew by over eight per cent during the last decade, but also contributed three million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually due to "outmoded, inefficient and poorly constructed kilns and the use of substandard fuels such as high sulphur coal, tyres and wood energy in the kilns to fire clay into bricks," a UNDP release said.
It is projected to grow by five per cent each year, burning more than a million tonnes of coal annually and emitting 8.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2014.
The new technology is based on the German ‘Hoffman kiln’ developed in the mid-19th century to bake clay. In 1999, China improvised the German technology into the more environment-friendly 'hybrid Hoffman kiln' (HHK), in which coal and clay are injected into a chamber and mixed to form raw, wet bricks, which are later dried.
The hybrid approach burns 95 per cent of the fuel, is more efficient and emits fewer polluting gases to produce high quality, lower cost bricks.
The UNDP improvised the HHK further by enlarging the drying chamber to suit Bangladesh's coal quality and clay moisture.
UNDP project manager Khondker Neaz Rahman told SciDev.Net that pilot tests initiated in January 2010, in Dhamrai town near Dhaka, showed the new approach producing 40,000 bricks daily, compared to 25,000-30,000 bricks using Chinese technology.
Private brick makers and development experts have welcomed the new technology. Pallab Kumar Moholnobish, project manager of ECO Brick Ltd., Dhamrai, said he can now produce bricks round the year, using less coal — 14 tonnes to make 100,000 bricks, compared to 24 tonnes in the older kilns.
Kiln operators can also earn carbon credits — a provision under the United Nations Framework on Convention for Climate Change that allows countries or groups that reduce their emissions to earn ‘credits’ for carbon dioxide reduced, and trade them in for cash.
Atiq Rahman, chairman of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, Dhaka, observed that the HHK would help reduce emissions as much of the dust, heat and gases remain within the chambers and are not released into the air.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/climate-friendly-kilns-could-reduce-bangladesh-s-emissions.html
Bangladesh aims for big growth in solar energy by 2015
31 Aug 2011
By Syful Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet) - Rural areas of Bangladesh are to see an increase in solar electricity generation as part of an ambitious plan to boost the provision of power from renewable sources.
The government has set a target of generating 500 megawatts (MW) of green energy – almost ten times the current amount – by 2015, in an attempt to narrow the gap between current supplies of grid electricity and the needs of the country’s 160 million people.
Only 49 percent of Bangladesh’s population has access to electricity from the national grid. Fossil fuels account for almost all the current capacity of 5,500 MW, with renewable sources – mostly solar power – contributing just 55 MW.
The government says there are environmental and developmental imperatives behind its search for alternative energy sources.
“Burning fossil fuel emits greenhouse gases into the air, contributing to the warming of the globe. (And) fossil fuels are depleting very quickly which is a threat to future power generation,” said Tapos Kumar Roy, additional secretary of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.
SOLAR HOME SYSTEMS
Solar home systems (SHS) are the main weapon in the government’s renewable energy armoury, because they can operate independently of the national grid. More than one million such solar systems have already been installed in rural areas where there is no other source of electricity.
Mosharraf Hosein Khokon, a resident of Brammonchak village in Bangladesh’s southeastern Chandpur district, spent 20,000 taka (about $270) to buy a solar home system. He sees little prospect of his village being connected to the national grid in the near future, so solar energy is a great help.
“The SHS system is helping us to light our four rooms. Now young members of our family can study with light from SHS, and we can watch television too,” said Khokon.
Roy said the government has identified about 30 remote sub-districts where grid expansion is not possible in the next 10 to 15 years.
“So we have no alternative to renewable energy to meet the government’s social commitment of electricity for all by 2020,” he said.
Since November 2010, the government has mandated the installation of roof-top solar panels on all new high-rise buildings, and it currently has other solar power projects under development with a total capacity of 35 MW.
Under the plan, 340 MW of new capacity will be generated from systems installed on residential, commercial and industrial buildings, as well irrigation pumps, mini-grid systems and solar parks.
Solar power systems installed on the rooftops of local government buildings, railway stations, and rural health and educational institutions will provide the balance.
WILLPOWER AND SUBSIDIES
Experts predict that the Bangladeshi government will need considerable political willpower and financial subsidies to increase its stake in green energy.
Rezwan Khan, chairman of the technical standards committee of the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), a state-run organization promoting renewable energy, noted that producing electricity from renewable sources is much more expensive than from fossil fuels.
He said that the ability to trade carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol may make it possible for the government to manage the high costs of renewable energy generation.
“But at the initial stage the government will have to provide a huge subsidy,” Khan said. He added that the government’s plan would only be viable if it promotes green energy without considering the economic costs.
At the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Tapas Kumar Roy conceded that the cost of electricity from renewable sources is quite high, but said that solar power is still popular in rural areas for lighting, especially when compared to the cost of kerosene for lamps.
INVESTMENT NEEDED
The government believes investments totalling $2.24 billion will be required to reach its solar power target. It is seeking about $1.6 billion dollars in financing from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other development partners. The plan calls for the remainder to be funded by the government and the private sector.
Roy said that the ADB will hold an international workshop in Dhaka with other donor agencies in late September or early October to try to secure funds for the renewable energy programme.
The government is looking to generate green power from other sources also. An Indian company has proposed a pilot wind power project with a capacity of 15 MW, and private sector financing is in the pipeline for further wind projects with the potential to generate up to 200 MW.
The government is also studying the possibility of constructing geothermal power plants in the country’s northern Panchagarh district.
Abser Kamal, chief executive officer of Grameen Shakti, a pioneering organization in the renewable energy field in Bangladesh, said the government’s goal of generating 500 MW from renewable sources was possible but agreed that it would require huge a financial commitment.
Grameen Shakti has installed some 650,000 solar home systems across the country over the past 16 years.
Ruhul Quddus, head of the Rural Services Foundation, a Bangladeshi charity, said that the government was promoting renewable energy by providing soft loans. Twenty-nine organizations have partnered with IDCOL to install over one million solar home systems across the country. The total is expected to reach 1.5 million by 2015.
“We are going forward gradually. Though the initial investment is quite high, there is a huge prospect for solar energy in Bangladesh,” Quddus added.
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/bangladesh-aims-for-big-growth-in-solar-energy-by-2015
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Bangladesh set to receive carbon credits for composting
By Syful Islam
13 Jul 2011 14:14
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet) – Bangladesh is getting involved in carbon credit trading with the certification of a recycling plant that converts organic waste into compost.
“We collect some 100 tonnes of vegetable waste from two city markets daily and recycle it in our plant in the city’s suburbs through composting. If that waste had been dumped in the landfill it could have emitted huge (amounts of) methane gas,” explained Iftekhar Enayetullah, director of Waste Concern, a Bangladeshi social enterprise.
Waste Concern built and operates the recycling plant in Narayanganj, a suburb of Dhaka, in partnership with World Wide Recycling, a Dutch company. The plant, which began operations in November 2008, currently produces 15,000 tonnes of compost annually, which is sold inexpensively to rural farmers.
Certification of the plant under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is expected by the end of July. The Kyoto Protocol commits most industrialised nations to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, in part by investing in emissions-reduction projects in developing countries.
Under the CDM, projects receive credits that can be traded with industrialised countries, giving the richer countries credit toward their own emissions reduction goals and poorer countries cash.
GERMANY TO BUY CREDITS
Waste Concern will receive credits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 9,500 tonnes a year. The company expects to trade its carbon credits with KfW, the German government’s development bank, and expects to receive $136,000 a year.
The money will be invested in dramatically expanding the plant’s processing capacity to 700 tonnes of waste per day.
Enayetullah said that expansion so far has been hampered by acute power shortages, which have compelled the company to use a diesel generator to run the plant, limiting the overall annual emissions reduction to 95 percent of the original target of 10,000 tonnes.
Waste Concern says the Dhaka plant has created employment for 800 people and reduced the city’s costs for waste removal.
According to the company, its composting model can be adapted for rural and urban areas, including slums, to process anything from three tonnes or more of organic waste daily.
The government and development agencies hope that such projects can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate environmental damage, and promote economic development.
The Asian Development bank plans to replicate the organic waste composting model in four other cities in Bangladesh, and the Department of the Environment is developing five similar projects in cities and municipalities.
Waste Concern is developing strategies for municipal solid waste management in several other Asian countries, including Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as in Africa.
Bangladesh’s state-run Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) also is close to receiving certification under the CDM for its solar power system for rural homes.
IDCOL assistant director Farzana Rahman said that the company has installed some 950,000 systems through its partner organizations across the country, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 220,000 tonnes annually.
A typical home system generates enough electricity from solar energy to power four lightbulbs, a television and a fan. Rahman said that an IDCOL biogas programme is also awaiting certification under the CDM.
Syful Islam is a journalist with The Financial Express newspaper in Dhaka. He can be reached at: youths1990@yahoo.com.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/bangladesh-set-to-receive-carbon-credits-for-composting
Monday, May 23, 2011
Bangladesh sees surge in small-scale solar power
11 May 2011 17:22
Source: Alertnet
By Syful Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet) – Power-hungry Bangladesh has doubled the number of homes with solar-generated electricity systems to 800,000 over the last year.
Demand for the systems is growing as the country curbs new connections to its overburdened power grid and as costs for the solar panels come down, according to a range of non-profit groups now providing them across the country.
“You can call it a green revolution since our combined efforts are helping light remote villages and reduce carbon emissions,” said Abser Kamal, chief executive officer of Grameen Shakti, an organization that promotes the use of renewable energy in Bangladesh, in part by installing solar home systems and providing market-rate small loans to help people purchase them.
The company hopes to install an additional half million of the systems this year, largely in rural areas, he said in a telephone interview with AlertNet.
The systems use solar cells to convert sunlight to electricity. A typical $300 home unit allows the user to power light bulbs, a television and a fan.
Over half the households in Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries, lack a connection to the national power grid, according to government statistics. The country’s power plants can generate about 4,200 megawatts of electricity but demand is more than 5,500 megawatts a day, meaning many would-be users regularly lack power.
The government has committed to producing at least 5 percent of the country’s power through renewable sources by 2015, and 10 percent by 2020. As part of that effort, Solarium Power Limited (SPL), a private firm, has been given permission to install an 18-megawatt solar power plant expected to cost 2 billion taka ($27 million). The plant is expected to cut Bangladesh’s carbon emissions by 100,545 tonnes a year.
But home-based solar panels are also playing a role. Groups like Grameen Shakti that are helping install the systems hope to bring them to a total of 35 million users in Bangladesh by 2015. Last year, Grameen Shakti installed 200,600 of the household solar units.
“The demand for (the) system is rising enormously,” said Ruhul Quddus, the head of Rural Services Foundation, a Bangladeshi development charity that is also installing the solar units. “Each month we are connecting 35,000 new households. It has huge potential in the remote villages which have no possibility to be connected to the national power grid for 50 years at its current rate of expansion.”
The home solar units also are providing a new source of income for some Bangladeshi families, particularly in rural areas, he said.
“With a small (solar home) connection one can power four lamps and one black and white television set. Some people use one or two lines and lend the rest (of the power) to others to earn money,” Quddus said.
A typical home solar system costs 20,000 taka ($300), with users paying 15 percent of the cost as a down payment and the rest over 36 months at an interest rate of 6 percent.
The government-owned Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) is supporting the program by providing credit at 5 to 8 percent interest to the charities installing the systems.
Monir Hossain, chief of SolarEn, a foundation launched last year to expand the solar home systems to urban areas, said poor people are now particularly interested in solar energy because the monthly installment payment for a home system are cheaper than the cost of a month’s worth of kerosene and candles.
“The monthly kerosene bill for four lamps stands at 1,600 taka ($23) whereas the installment for a (solar unit) is only 750 taka ($11). This is cutting their costs by almost half and also reducing carbon emissions, saving the environment,” he said.
Solar power use is surging in urban areas in part because the government has stopped providing new connections to the national power grid as a result of continuing power shortages. Recently, solar power systems were installed in the prime minister’s office, the Central Bank building and the new offices of Grameenphone, a telecom giant.
Solar power is also being used increasingly for heating, irrigation, mobile phone base stations and small three-wheel vehicles. Realtors are becoming interested on solar energy since they have no other choice after being refused national grid connections for their newly built projects.
Jamshed Ahmed, a resident in Noakhali district who purchased one of the solar home systems, told Bangladesh’s national news agency that the connection has improved his life.
“My seven-member family and our neighbors can now enjoy TV programmes at home regularly. Now we can become aware of the country's current affairs,” he said.
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com
Source: Alertnet
By Syful Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet) – Power-hungry Bangladesh has doubled the number of homes with solar-generated electricity systems to 800,000 over the last year.
Demand for the systems is growing as the country curbs new connections to its overburdened power grid and as costs for the solar panels come down, according to a range of non-profit groups now providing them across the country.
“You can call it a green revolution since our combined efforts are helping light remote villages and reduce carbon emissions,” said Abser Kamal, chief executive officer of Grameen Shakti, an organization that promotes the use of renewable energy in Bangladesh, in part by installing solar home systems and providing market-rate small loans to help people purchase them.
The company hopes to install an additional half million of the systems this year, largely in rural areas, he said in a telephone interview with AlertNet.
The systems use solar cells to convert sunlight to electricity. A typical $300 home unit allows the user to power light bulbs, a television and a fan.
Over half the households in Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries, lack a connection to the national power grid, according to government statistics. The country’s power plants can generate about 4,200 megawatts of electricity but demand is more than 5,500 megawatts a day, meaning many would-be users regularly lack power.
The government has committed to producing at least 5 percent of the country’s power through renewable sources by 2015, and 10 percent by 2020. As part of that effort, Solarium Power Limited (SPL), a private firm, has been given permission to install an 18-megawatt solar power plant expected to cost 2 billion taka ($27 million). The plant is expected to cut Bangladesh’s carbon emissions by 100,545 tonnes a year.
But home-based solar panels are also playing a role. Groups like Grameen Shakti that are helping install the systems hope to bring them to a total of 35 million users in Bangladesh by 2015. Last year, Grameen Shakti installed 200,600 of the household solar units.
“The demand for (the) system is rising enormously,” said Ruhul Quddus, the head of Rural Services Foundation, a Bangladeshi development charity that is also installing the solar units. “Each month we are connecting 35,000 new households. It has huge potential in the remote villages which have no possibility to be connected to the national power grid for 50 years at its current rate of expansion.”
The home solar units also are providing a new source of income for some Bangladeshi families, particularly in rural areas, he said.
“With a small (solar home) connection one can power four lamps and one black and white television set. Some people use one or two lines and lend the rest (of the power) to others to earn money,” Quddus said.
A typical home solar system costs 20,000 taka ($300), with users paying 15 percent of the cost as a down payment and the rest over 36 months at an interest rate of 6 percent.
The government-owned Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) is supporting the program by providing credit at 5 to 8 percent interest to the charities installing the systems.
Monir Hossain, chief of SolarEn, a foundation launched last year to expand the solar home systems to urban areas, said poor people are now particularly interested in solar energy because the monthly installment payment for a home system are cheaper than the cost of a month’s worth of kerosene and candles.
“The monthly kerosene bill for four lamps stands at 1,600 taka ($23) whereas the installment for a (solar unit) is only 750 taka ($11). This is cutting their costs by almost half and also reducing carbon emissions, saving the environment,” he said.
Solar power use is surging in urban areas in part because the government has stopped providing new connections to the national power grid as a result of continuing power shortages. Recently, solar power systems were installed in the prime minister’s office, the Central Bank building and the new offices of Grameenphone, a telecom giant.
Solar power is also being used increasingly for heating, irrigation, mobile phone base stations and small three-wheel vehicles. Realtors are becoming interested on solar energy since they have no other choice after being refused national grid connections for their newly built projects.
Jamshed Ahmed, a resident in Noakhali district who purchased one of the solar home systems, told Bangladesh’s national news agency that the connection has improved his life.
“My seven-member family and our neighbors can now enjoy TV programmes at home regularly. Now we can become aware of the country's current affairs,” he said.
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com
Early warning system aims to save fishermen's lives
18 Apr 2011 16:36
Source: alertnet // Syful Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet): Mamtaz Begum still remembers the day 12 years ago when her husband Ansar set off from his village of South Tetulbaria, in Bangladesh’s Barguna district, for a seven-day fishing trip.
“It was a sunny day and there was no sign of storm. So my husband along with his colleagues began the trip to the sea,” she said.
But a sudden storm arose in the Bay of Bengal and the trawler carrying 24-year-old Ansar and other fishermen sank. All the men drowned, leaving Begum a widow in her early 20s, with children to care for and a precarious future.
“My husband’s disappearance left us in the sea,” she said. “We are now leading a very poor life.”
Serious storms off the coast of Bangladesh are increasing in frequency, endangering the lives and livelihoods of Bangladeshi fishermen. According to Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, executive director of the Dhaka-based Centre for Global Change (CGC), between 140,000 and 160,000 households of coastal Bangladesh depend on fishing for their livelihood.
Ziaul Hoque Mukta, a policy manager for Oxfam in Bangladesh, said that in each of the past three years the country experienced 10 to 14 storms significant enough to earn a Signal III warning level, which indicates the likelihood of very rough and potentially dangerous seas. Thirty years ago, just four or five such warnings were issued each year, he said.
“The increased number of dangerous signal storms indicates that (an) unstable situation has risen in the sea,” Mukta said. An Oxfam study suggests this is likely due to climate change, he said.
To address the growing problem, the Centre for Global Change and Oxfam, along with CARE Bangladesh and the Campaign for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods have teamed up with Airtel Bangladesh Ltd for a venture that aims to use the latest telecom technologies to make coastal fishermen less vulnerable to sudden storms.
Working together, staff at the rural livelihoods campaign and at the Centre for Global Change will look for signs of rough seas and try to generate warnings 48 hours in advance of incoming serious storms. Airtel then will use newly constructed telecommunication towers to disseminate recorded warnings through digital telecom devices supplied to each fishing boat.
If a boat is caught in rough seas and capsizes, Airtel will be able to track its position and forward the information to the Bangladesh navy and coast guard. The new system is due to begin operating at the start of the rainy season, which typically begins in mid-June.
Accurate storm warnings are essential to help fishermen maximize profits while remaining safe, experts say. Many fishermen take high-interest loans from money-lenders to purchase fuel and provisions for two-week trips. If a Signal III warning is issued by the government’s Disaster Management Bureau, they are required to return to shore.
TOUGH CHOICES
Curtailing a trip can lead to a loss of income and drive fishermen into debt, but ignoring a signal can endanger their lives. More advance warning of coming storms could help them avoid such binds.
Ahmed, who directs the Centre for Global Change, cites the loss of life from super-cyclone Sidr, which struck the Bay of Bengal and coastal regions of Bangladesh in November, 2007, as an example how the tensions between protecting incomes and protecting lives can be difficult to resolve.
Before Sidr hit, taking more than 3,000 lives in coastal Bangladesh, many fishermen had repeatedly abandoned fishing trips, accepting financial losses, in response to bad weather during the monsoon season. By the time that the warning for Sidr came, many cash-strapped fishermen “remained in the sea with a hope that the warning would be proven false,” Ahmed said. For some, taking such a chance was a fatal mistake, he said.
Former fisherman Barek Dafader, of South Tetulbaria, fell into poverty after he lost two of his three fishing boats to a 2005 storm. The unreliability of storm forecasting played a role in his decision to stay at sea after a warning had been issued.
“The signals were found (to be) wrong many times. That’s why I didn’t return with my two trawlers even after the signal was given” during the 2005 storm, he said.
Dafader had to sell his remaining boat in order to repay his debts and support the seven members of his family. He is currently unemployed.
“I was working on other trawlers, but now my children don’t allow me to go to the sea since they don’t want to lose me,” he said.
Oxfam’s Mukta explained that the initiative with Airtel aims to increase the frequency of updates on storms, so that fishermen can make better-informed decisions about whether to start their return journey.
“This may help them save their lives and livelihoods,” Mukta noted.
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com
Source: alertnet // Syful Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet): Mamtaz Begum still remembers the day 12 years ago when her husband Ansar set off from his village of South Tetulbaria, in Bangladesh’s Barguna district, for a seven-day fishing trip.
“It was a sunny day and there was no sign of storm. So my husband along with his colleagues began the trip to the sea,” she said.
But a sudden storm arose in the Bay of Bengal and the trawler carrying 24-year-old Ansar and other fishermen sank. All the men drowned, leaving Begum a widow in her early 20s, with children to care for and a precarious future.
“My husband’s disappearance left us in the sea,” she said. “We are now leading a very poor life.”
Serious storms off the coast of Bangladesh are increasing in frequency, endangering the lives and livelihoods of Bangladeshi fishermen. According to Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, executive director of the Dhaka-based Centre for Global Change (CGC), between 140,000 and 160,000 households of coastal Bangladesh depend on fishing for their livelihood.
Ziaul Hoque Mukta, a policy manager for Oxfam in Bangladesh, said that in each of the past three years the country experienced 10 to 14 storms significant enough to earn a Signal III warning level, which indicates the likelihood of very rough and potentially dangerous seas. Thirty years ago, just four or five such warnings were issued each year, he said.
“The increased number of dangerous signal storms indicates that (an) unstable situation has risen in the sea,” Mukta said. An Oxfam study suggests this is likely due to climate change, he said.
To address the growing problem, the Centre for Global Change and Oxfam, along with CARE Bangladesh and the Campaign for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods have teamed up with Airtel Bangladesh Ltd for a venture that aims to use the latest telecom technologies to make coastal fishermen less vulnerable to sudden storms.
Working together, staff at the rural livelihoods campaign and at the Centre for Global Change will look for signs of rough seas and try to generate warnings 48 hours in advance of incoming serious storms. Airtel then will use newly constructed telecommunication towers to disseminate recorded warnings through digital telecom devices supplied to each fishing boat.
If a boat is caught in rough seas and capsizes, Airtel will be able to track its position and forward the information to the Bangladesh navy and coast guard. The new system is due to begin operating at the start of the rainy season, which typically begins in mid-June.
Accurate storm warnings are essential to help fishermen maximize profits while remaining safe, experts say. Many fishermen take high-interest loans from money-lenders to purchase fuel and provisions for two-week trips. If a Signal III warning is issued by the government’s Disaster Management Bureau, they are required to return to shore.
TOUGH CHOICES
Curtailing a trip can lead to a loss of income and drive fishermen into debt, but ignoring a signal can endanger their lives. More advance warning of coming storms could help them avoid such binds.
Ahmed, who directs the Centre for Global Change, cites the loss of life from super-cyclone Sidr, which struck the Bay of Bengal and coastal regions of Bangladesh in November, 2007, as an example how the tensions between protecting incomes and protecting lives can be difficult to resolve.
Before Sidr hit, taking more than 3,000 lives in coastal Bangladesh, many fishermen had repeatedly abandoned fishing trips, accepting financial losses, in response to bad weather during the monsoon season. By the time that the warning for Sidr came, many cash-strapped fishermen “remained in the sea with a hope that the warning would be proven false,” Ahmed said. For some, taking such a chance was a fatal mistake, he said.
Former fisherman Barek Dafader, of South Tetulbaria, fell into poverty after he lost two of his three fishing boats to a 2005 storm. The unreliability of storm forecasting played a role in his decision to stay at sea after a warning had been issued.
“The signals were found (to be) wrong many times. That’s why I didn’t return with my two trawlers even after the signal was given” during the 2005 storm, he said.
Dafader had to sell his remaining boat in order to repay his debts and support the seven members of his family. He is currently unemployed.
“I was working on other trawlers, but now my children don’t allow me to go to the sea since they don’t want to lose me,” he said.
Oxfam’s Mukta explained that the initiative with Airtel aims to increase the frequency of updates on storms, so that fishermen can make better-informed decisions about whether to start their return journey.
“This may help them save their lives and livelihoods,” Mukta noted.
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Climate shifts spur fish bonanza on Bangladesh coast
07 Feb 2011 15:12
Source: AlertNet // Syful Islam
By Syful Islam
DHAKA (AlertNet) - Fishermen are finding unexpectedly large quantities of Bangladesh's national fish Hilsa in coastal estuaries out of season, a trend scientists believe is caused by the impacts of climate change and pollution on their breeding patterns.
The silvery Hilsa fish, popular for its tasty flesh, normally migrates from the Bay of Bengal into Bangladeshi rivers between June and October, where it breeds.
In winter, fishing communities in the southern coastal district of Barguna often suffer from hunger as the government bans river fishing between November and May to help Hilsa minnows mature. Families struggle to get by, despite receiving financial assistance from the state.
This year is different. Azhar Ali, a trader waiting at Machkhali fishing station for boats to return from the estuaries, explains that Hilsa fish went for 350-400 taka ($5-$6) per kilo in the peak season, but now, unusually for the off season, they are selling for 200-250 taka per kilo because there are so many around.
Naznin Begum, the wife of a Machkhali fisherman, is happy that her husband is getting a good catch at this normally lean time of year, because it gives them the rare assurance of having enough to eat. "Every year in this period, our rice pots remain empty. Children shout for food. But this year we have no such tension (thanks to) God's kindness," she explains.
For the past two weeks, fishing stations in this remote coastal district have been bustling with fishermen and traders. Boats have been returning from the estuaries full of large Hilsa, and traders have been snapping them up for clients in the capital Dhaka and other parts of the country.
Sagir Alam, head of the Patharghata Fish Traders Association, says his members are transporting fish worth 15 million taka (around $211,000) each day. But he admits it's a puzzling situation. "We can't imagine such large Hilsa fish during the winter. But now we are getting fish of 1 to 1.5 kg each. We are little bit mystified."
WARMING SEAS
Scientists say the recent surge in Hilsa fish out of season is one sign of the growing effects of climate change on ocean ecology.
Dr Sultan Mahmud of the fisheries faculty at Patuakhali Science and Technology University explains that rising sea temperatures are disrupting breeding patterns, and are contributing to a shift in the mating and migration of the Hilsa fish.
The Bay of Bengal has four fishing grounds, but recently Hilsa fish have been found outside these zones. Mahmud and his university colleagues plan to launch intensive research on the issue soon.
Climatic variability is affecting the fish's growth and reproductive cycle, according to Mahmud. The large fish being found in estuaries out of season may be coming in from the deep sea for late breeding.
"This is a sign of climatic pressure on the bay. The effect will also put pressure on other sea mammals," he notes, adding that the whole food chain is being impacted.
The Hilsa fish isn't the only species being affected by environmental changes linked to global warming, including more intense monsoon rains and tropical cyclones.
Last October, Olive Ridley turtles on Saint Martin's island laid eggs three months earlier than usual. And, in December, fishermen in the Bay of Bengal caught unusually large volumes of Red Snapper fish over a period of several days.
RIVER ECOSYSTEMS UNDER STRESS
Extreme weather and pollution are compounding the shifts out at sea. The Hilsa fish is losing considerable stretches of its river breeding grounds, as many rivers have changed course and narrowed due to siltation caused by droughts and reduced water flow upstream.
River ecosystems are also being damaged by the dumping and run-off of untreated sewage, fertilisers, pesticides and industrial chemicals.
Fishermen used to catch Hilsa in many Bangladeshi rivers, including the Padma, Jamuna and Meghna. But as many dry up into thin canals during the summer months, the fish can no longer head hundreds of kilometres upstream, which they naturally do to breed.
The building of dams and barrages upstream is also preventing their normal migration, cutting their numbers upstream. The loss of their spawning grounds seems to be driving the fish to breed too early or too late, and in rivers much closer to the sea.
Abdur Rashid, 65, a fisherman in Bishkhali in Borguna district, says he hasn't seen this many Hilsa fish during the winter in the 50 years he has been working.
"Usually, we can't fish in this period as the government doesn't allow us to go to the river. We starve with family members, and struggle to survive," he explains. "This year the scenario is totally different. We are getting a huge volume of Hilsa fish and can earn money to buy food."
Fishermen Md Aslam, Alamgir Sarder and Sagir Hosen agree, saying they would expect to find only young fish at this time of year. For them, what's happening now is a "miracle".
But some worry this new phenomenon could bring trouble. "We may not get adequate Hilsa fish next season," frets fisherman Ahmad Hosen. "I am afraid there may be danger in the offing."
Patuakhali university expert Mahmud echoes his concern. "Getting Hilsa fish in winter is not only astonishing but also alarming," he says. "Climate change could be the knock-out punch for many species which are already under stress from habitat loss."
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com.
Source: AlertNet // Syful Islam
By Syful Islam
DHAKA (AlertNet) - Fishermen are finding unexpectedly large quantities of Bangladesh's national fish Hilsa in coastal estuaries out of season, a trend scientists believe is caused by the impacts of climate change and pollution on their breeding patterns.
The silvery Hilsa fish, popular for its tasty flesh, normally migrates from the Bay of Bengal into Bangladeshi rivers between June and October, where it breeds.
In winter, fishing communities in the southern coastal district of Barguna often suffer from hunger as the government bans river fishing between November and May to help Hilsa minnows mature. Families struggle to get by, despite receiving financial assistance from the state.
This year is different. Azhar Ali, a trader waiting at Machkhali fishing station for boats to return from the estuaries, explains that Hilsa fish went for 350-400 taka ($5-$6) per kilo in the peak season, but now, unusually for the off season, they are selling for 200-250 taka per kilo because there are so many around.
Naznin Begum, the wife of a Machkhali fisherman, is happy that her husband is getting a good catch at this normally lean time of year, because it gives them the rare assurance of having enough to eat. "Every year in this period, our rice pots remain empty. Children shout for food. But this year we have no such tension (thanks to) God's kindness," she explains.
For the past two weeks, fishing stations in this remote coastal district have been bustling with fishermen and traders. Boats have been returning from the estuaries full of large Hilsa, and traders have been snapping them up for clients in the capital Dhaka and other parts of the country.
Sagir Alam, head of the Patharghata Fish Traders Association, says his members are transporting fish worth 15 million taka (around $211,000) each day. But he admits it's a puzzling situation. "We can't imagine such large Hilsa fish during the winter. But now we are getting fish of 1 to 1.5 kg each. We are little bit mystified."
WARMING SEAS
Scientists say the recent surge in Hilsa fish out of season is one sign of the growing effects of climate change on ocean ecology.
Dr Sultan Mahmud of the fisheries faculty at Patuakhali Science and Technology University explains that rising sea temperatures are disrupting breeding patterns, and are contributing to a shift in the mating and migration of the Hilsa fish.
The Bay of Bengal has four fishing grounds, but recently Hilsa fish have been found outside these zones. Mahmud and his university colleagues plan to launch intensive research on the issue soon.
Climatic variability is affecting the fish's growth and reproductive cycle, according to Mahmud. The large fish being found in estuaries out of season may be coming in from the deep sea for late breeding.
"This is a sign of climatic pressure on the bay. The effect will also put pressure on other sea mammals," he notes, adding that the whole food chain is being impacted.
The Hilsa fish isn't the only species being affected by environmental changes linked to global warming, including more intense monsoon rains and tropical cyclones.
Last October, Olive Ridley turtles on Saint Martin's island laid eggs three months earlier than usual. And, in December, fishermen in the Bay of Bengal caught unusually large volumes of Red Snapper fish over a period of several days.
RIVER ECOSYSTEMS UNDER STRESS
Extreme weather and pollution are compounding the shifts out at sea. The Hilsa fish is losing considerable stretches of its river breeding grounds, as many rivers have changed course and narrowed due to siltation caused by droughts and reduced water flow upstream.
River ecosystems are also being damaged by the dumping and run-off of untreated sewage, fertilisers, pesticides and industrial chemicals.
Fishermen used to catch Hilsa in many Bangladeshi rivers, including the Padma, Jamuna and Meghna. But as many dry up into thin canals during the summer months, the fish can no longer head hundreds of kilometres upstream, which they naturally do to breed.
The building of dams and barrages upstream is also preventing their normal migration, cutting their numbers upstream. The loss of their spawning grounds seems to be driving the fish to breed too early or too late, and in rivers much closer to the sea.
Abdur Rashid, 65, a fisherman in Bishkhali in Borguna district, says he hasn't seen this many Hilsa fish during the winter in the 50 years he has been working.
"Usually, we can't fish in this period as the government doesn't allow us to go to the river. We starve with family members, and struggle to survive," he explains. "This year the scenario is totally different. We are getting a huge volume of Hilsa fish and can earn money to buy food."
Fishermen Md Aslam, Alamgir Sarder and Sagir Hosen agree, saying they would expect to find only young fish at this time of year. For them, what's happening now is a "miracle".
But some worry this new phenomenon could bring trouble. "We may not get adequate Hilsa fish next season," frets fisherman Ahmad Hosen. "I am afraid there may be danger in the offing."
Patuakhali university expert Mahmud echoes his concern. "Getting Hilsa fish in winter is not only astonishing but also alarming," he says. "Climate change could be the knock-out punch for many species which are already under stress from habitat loss."
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com.
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