I spent the past week in Bangladesh, visiting the countryside on a fascinating and heartening trip from the country’s massive capital, Dhaka, to the south, a region being hammered by climate change. I came to give some speeches and took the opportunity to see for myself how foreign aid and local sweat and equity are being used to fight the rising seas in a country so low that 30 million people may become refugees. For them to secure a livelihood in their home places, the developed countries need to be engaged, with our resources, our hands, and our minds. We simply cannot afford not to be here.
After being asked for years to come, I’d finally made the trip to attend the 2nd annual Gobeshona conference, a gathering of researchers seeking to understand the reality and best p...
Representatives from coastal and island countries from across Asia gathered in Bangkok yesterday to discuss how they can forge stronger inter-regional cooperation to promote Blue Economy approaches to address marine and coastal conservation challenges in the region.
The meeting, entitled “A Thematic Consultation on Blue Economy for Climate Change Resilience: Towards Partnerships and Collaboration” was jointly organized by the Embassy of Bangladesh in Bangkok and IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Asia Regional Office, to create a platform for dialogue amongst South, Southeast and East Asian countries towards greater inter-regional cooperation to sustainably use coastal and marine resources.
Of all the countries in the world, Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The regular and severe natural hazards that already batter the country - tropical cyclones, river erosion, flood, landslides and drought - are all set to increase in intensity and frequency as a result of climate change. Rising sea levels will increasingly inundate Bangladesh’s coast, and dramatic coastal and river erosion will destroy land and homes. These and the many other adverse effects of climate change will have profound repercussions for the economy and development of the country.
One of the most dramatic impacts will be the forced movement of people throughout
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Every day without fail Munsheer Suleiman, 69, follows the same ritual. He dips a small cup into the stream that flows through his village of Chenchuri, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) southwest of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and uses a light blue salinity monitor to measure the salt level in the water.
If Suleiman, who heads the village water-operating committee, is unable to take the measurements, he makes sure someone does it on his behalf. The reading is essential to the health of Chenchuri’s crops, telling the community if the water is safe to use that day.
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Suruj Miah walks through his village carrying two large pots of water, one in his hand and the other on his shoulder. His 8-year-old granddaughter, Rozina, lugs a small pot by his side.
“It is one of our daily duties,” Miah says. “We have to walk almost three kilometres to collect fresh water for our daily needs.”
Miah used to be a farmer in Bangladesh’s coastal southwest district of Satkhira, but rising salt
Every day without fail Munsheer Sulaiman, 69, follows the same ritual. He dips a small cup into the stream that flows through his village of Chenchuri, about 300 kilometres southwest of Dhaka, and uses a light blue salinity monitor to measure the salt level in the water.
If Sulaiman, who heads the village water operating committee, is unable to take the
