Bangladesh is at risk of adverse effects of climate change
The year 2023 was the warmest year in recorded history. Global climate change has made the world so warm.
Scientists say that adverse effects of climate change will be felt in every aspect of human life. Today, people and nature have to deal with extreme weather conditions compared to 20 years ago. Heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones, and abnormal weather changes have increased in the world.
For the past few decades, scientists have been warning the world about the adverse effects of climate change. They are also predicting the dire crisis that the human race will face if immediate action is not taken.
At least for the last two decades, the impact of climate change is also evident in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is always prone to disasters due to its geography.
Experts say Bangladesh is one of the biggest victims of global climate change. Geographically, Bangladesh consists of plains and lowlands. More than 80 percent of the country’s land is prone to flooding.
Bangladesh ranks first among countries at risk of floods due to climate change. About 41 percent of people in Bangladesh depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Heavy rains, floods or prolonged floods have a direct negative impact on people.
To prevent climate change, developed countries promised to cut annual carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 by using less fossil fuels in the Paris Agreement.
Additionally, the rate of carbon emissions in the atmosphere has increased over the past decade. Carbon greenhouse gases are heating the atmosphere a lot, which worries scientists because they think global temperatures could increase by up to 3 degrees Celsius in the next few decades. These rising temperatures will make it unbearable for people to cultivate crops or carry out normal activities during summer.
The Global Climate Risk Index 2021 by German Watch predicts that by 2050, one out of every seven people in Bangladesh could be forced to leave their homes due to climate change, becoming ‘climate refugees’.
Research shows that if the sea level rises by 19.6 inches (50 centimeters), Bangladesh could lose about 11% of its land, displacing around 180 million people.
Scientific American reports that nearly two-thirds of Bangladesh’s land is less than 15 feet above sea level.
By 2100, a 5 to 6 feet rise in sea level could displace around 50 million people in Bangladesh, turning them into ‘climate refugees’.
In 1973, around 8.3 million hectares of agricultural land in Bangladesh were flooded by sea salt water, as reported by the Bangladesh Soil Research Development Institute.
But in 2009, its amount stood at 105.6 million hectares. In the last 35 years, the salinity of agricultural land in Bangladesh has increased by about 26 percent.
