One of the significant challenges that Bangladesh faces is ensuring food security for a growing population. The most viable and holistic solution to this problem is regenerative agriculture, writes Rayhan Ahmed Topader
BANGLADESH is considered one of the most at risk countries to the effects of climate change and its coastal area is the most vulnerable. This article tries to explore the experiences of people affected by cyclones Sidr and Aila in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. This study was conducted in the cyclone Sidr affected Amtali upazila of Barguna district and in the cyclone Aila affected Koyra upazila of Khulna district. Primary data collection was done using focus group interview and then a thematic analysis approach was used for analysis. Three core themes emerged from the analysis and they are, firstly, impacts of climate change on the socioeconomic condition of the people, secondly, the impact on the health status of the population, and finally the impact on vulnerable people.
Findings show that the effects of climate change have serious consequences on the livelihood patterns of the affected population and on their overall health status. As a result, the unfavourable health condition of these affected people makes them more vulnerable to various emerging diseases. Human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases have raised global temperatures, causing major impacts on ecosystems and human society, as the first instalment of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made unequivocally clear in August. The second instalment of that report, released on February 28, makes the stark and game-changing revelation that these adverse impacts will only get worse and that there is an urgent need to adapt to those impacts.
Over the last two decades, the Global Climate Risk Index rates Bangladesh as the seventh most affected country in the world from extreme weather events. Depending on the extent of sea level rise in the coming decades, an estimated 15 to 30 million Bangladeshis could be displaced from coastal areas. A 2018 US government report noted that 90 million Bangladeshis (56 per cent of the population) live in high climate exposure areas, with 53 million being subject to very high exposure. The 2021 Children’s Climate Risk Index rates the climate risk facing children in Bangladesh extremely high, the index’s most severe rating. Amid the complex interaction of poverty and climate change, Bangladeshis in coastal communities have already begun migrating inland, mostly to urban areas.
With weak local governance, poor urban management and existing ethno-religious tension driving underlying domestic fragility, climate-driven migration and poverty will drive or amplify conflict and human rights challenges. Bangladesh is one prominent example of why policymakers should adopt a robust climate strategy that accounts for the short-term effects of climate change on conflict, human rights and governance. Urbanization has been a key part of Bangladesh’s development strategy. Although most Bangladeshis still live in rural areas, the urban population has been on a steady rise since the country’s founding in 1971, as citizens seek economic and educational opportunities in better and developed areas. Over the last decade, Dhaka has been among the fastest growing cities in the world. Today, Dhaka’s population is estimated at over 20 million.
But Bangladesh’s rapid urbanisation has not been met with needed infrastructure improvements and environmental protections, which have deepened daily challenges. Over the past 44 years, Bangladesh experienced a 0.5°C temperature increase. The summers are getting hotter and longer, winters warmer, and the monsoon seasons extended from February to October. With these patterns, the country’s distinct seasonal variations are becoming blurred. By 2050, the temperatures are predicted to rise by 1.4°C in Bangladesh. Erratic weather conditions played a key role in the 2019 dengue outbreak in Dhaka city, where 77 per cent of the country’s total dengue-related deaths occurred. That year, Dhaka recorded more than three times the average February rainfall followed by high temperature and humidity between March and July. Compared to monsoon, the likelihood of contracting an infectious disease is about 20 percentage points lower in the dry season. Respiratory illness rises with the increase in temperature and humidity. For a 1°C rise in temperature, people are more likely to suffer from respiratory illnesses by 5.7 percentage points; for a 1 per cent increase in humidity, the chances of catching a respiratory infection rise by 1.5 percentage points. The weather pattern also affects mental health. More people suffer from depression during winter while the level of anxiety disorders increases with temperature and humidity. Further, women are at higher risk than men for depression, while men are more susceptible to anxiety. It is quite evident from the literature that human actions are responsible for changing the global climate and it is increasing at an alarming rate. The impacts of climate change have been a major topic of discussion for researchers and scientists.
As climate change proceeds, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as cyclones, heat waves, flooding, droughts, and heavy precipitation are going to increase noticeably. Although the global frequency of tropical cyclones is expected to decrease or remain essentially unchanged, they may become more intense. Geographically, Bangladesh is located in the danger zone and the country is more vulnerable to natural disasters like cyclone and flooding every year; and the coping strategy and new policies of adaptation for the vulnerable population in the coastal areas are weak and inadequate. Proper physical measures can be taken by the government to prevent these vulnerable people from future catastrophic disasters. Stakeholders and policymakers should take the initiative to develop skills and experience to analyse the changing climate and to identify the causes for change and assess the health effects. To reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities, capacity building programmes should be run at household levels to adapt to climate change impacts and different livelihood strategies. Adaptation measures at community level will help local people to strengthen their barriers against climate-related disasters. There is limited research on the likely health impacts of climate change through natural disasters and the extent to which climate change will affect the health of the general population. The research gaps and other information provided in this research lead to a great number of potential research ideas. What is new is that the scientists who study the attribution of those enhanced climatic events can now say that the impacts have become more severe as global temperature has risen by more than one degree Celsius.
This means that while countries make efforts to curtail emissions to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius as was agreed by all countries under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the world has already entered the era of loss and damage, or impacts that are unavoidable. The government has invested billions of dollars in efforts to reduce the effects of climate change, but more is needed. As the Biden administration rejuvenates America’s focus on climate change and the world grapples with the IPCC’s latest report, policymakers must recognise that climate change is a long-term problem with short-term effects on human rights, governance and conflict. International donors, international NGOs and domestic stakeholders in Bangladesh and other similarly vulnerable countries should begin ramping up programmes to address the human cost of climate change that is imminent. The message for all leaders, and indeed for all people around the world, is that efforts to adapt to climate change have to be redoubled everywhere while addressing present loss and damage at the same time. For the poorer countries that are unable to do so on their own, the rich countries need to step up to provide such funding, at least in the spirit of solidarity, if not in compensation as polluters. The report also highlights the need to make adaptation a whole-of-society effort in every country, as well as globally.
However, so there is a need for greater collaboration with global scientists to accelerate the adaptations. Although we have not solved all the problems yet, we have made significant progress in saving human lives from floods and cyclones. The kind of loss of life from flooding seen in Germany and the US would not have happened in Bangladesh. Over the past couple of decades, the country has improved cyclone-tracking by satellite, as well as early warning by radio, mobile phones and even volunteers going out with megaphones. High school students are trained in cyclone preparedness, and every household in vulnerable areas is visited in person to inform residents of the nearest cyclone shelter, all located within walking distance. An example of the effectiveness of these measures occurred in May 2020 when super cyclone Amphan hit the country but resulted in fewer than 30 deaths, most of them fishermen out at sea who did not get back to land in time. More than three million people on land received the warnings and were able to take shelter. We in Bangladesh can help other countries learn how to adapt to climate change, yet we need their help as well. Let us make this a whole-of-world effort. Bangladesh needs to gradually transition to regenerative agriculture to curb the impacts of environmental and climate vulnerabilities to ensure food security for a growing population. One of the significant challenges that Bangladesh faces is ensuring food security for a growing population. The most viable and holistic solution to this problem is regenerative agriculture. Although the term may not sound familiar to many, it has become a game-changing initiative to sustain agriculture worldwide.
Rayhan Ahmed Topader is a researcher and columnist.