Addressing climate change through sustainable adaptation techniques

Global climate crisis has been one of the pressing concerns over the last some decades. Climate change is affecting peoples lives, livelihoods and biodiversity severely around the world. Floods, landslides, storms, droughts, heatwaves and cold spells are becoming more unpredictable causing severe food and water insecurity, rendering millions of people homeless, bringing more health risks and casualties and threatening biodiversity to a worrying level.

Coastal communities and island nations are bearing the most brunt of climate change in the world, especially the South Asian countries are exposed as the most vulnerable ones due to global climate change. Reasons are many which contribute to making South Asian countries vulnerable to climate change but the geographical location is the key to add more burdens to them. The rise of sea level, cyclonic activity and changes in ambient temperatures and precipitation patterns are the direct and indirect consequences people are enduring in these territories due to escalating climate crisis.

Due to the location of much of Bangladeshs territory in the low-lying delta plain, it is prone to cyclones, storm surges, riverine flooding, and droughts risking people with multiple climate hazardsalthough its global emissions are only 0.56%.

According to the report of the German Watchs Climate Risk Index (CRI), Bangladesh ranked the seventh extreme disaster risk-prone country in the world, fighting the effects of climate change for decades. Between 2000 and 2019 the country experienced 185 extreme weather events costing a combined total of $3.72 billion. According to a 2018 USAID report, 89% of Bangladeshis (approximately 143 million) live in "high" or "very high climate exposure areas.

It is estimated that the country is likely to lose 11% of its land by 2050 with a projected 19.6-inch rise in sea level leading one out of every seven people in Bangladesh to displacing from their homes. Different sources also claim that more than 18 million people are likely to face forced displacement due to sea level rise alone by 2050.

Salinization threatens drinking water supply of the people in coastal communities, infiltrates agricultural land and hinders crop growth by limiting their ability to take up water. People in the coastal areas are exposed to health risks consuming salty and contaminated water.

Climate crisis takes a toll on wetland ecosystems and their biodiversity destroying habitats, making loss or shift of breeding grounds of the Gangetic major carps in the Halda River, Chittagong. It accelerates the loss of Royal Bengal Tiger habitats in the Sundarbans, sanitizes rice lands, freshwater aquaculture facilities, and aquifers, causes water quality problems in wetlands and accelerates the loss of tourism and recreational business due to loss of biodiversity.

As a country with the highest risks of climate crisis Bangladesh has been chalking out many action plans to mitigate the concerns of climate change over the last fifteen years. Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP, 2009), Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan, climate inclusive updated National Environment Policy (2018), updated Standing Order on Disaster (2019), etc. are the mentionable action plans contributing to strengthening climate resilience. Meanwhile, the adaptation action plans not only havemitigated the woes of the climate affected communities to an extent but also have shown many alternative ways to survive amid climate crisis.

However, it is imperative to ensure sustainable adaptation by addressing swift and effective climate adaptation practices with enhanced climate finance from promised countries and international agencies. Finally, priority should be given to introduce comprehensive climate adaptation measures including strategies, policies and actions to address the adverse impacts of climate change on societies, economies and ecosystems with a view to strengthening resilience, minimizing vulnerabilities and promoting sustainable development amid escalating climate crisis.

The writer teaches at Prime University. He is also a Research Scholar at the IBS