Climate change adaptation

Bangladesh needs at least 4.17 billion US dollars (Tk 287,634 million) for the construction of polders to save the lives of coastal people from sea-level rise and storm surge, according to a recent study.The study reveals that the sea level will rise at least by three metres due to global warming within 2050 sending the present coastal embankments under the seawater if those are not raised by 4-6 metres.Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) with financial assistance from Denmark conducted the study.A total of Tk 287,634 million will be needed for works for the adaptation to storm surge and sea-level rise while Tk 99,609 million for raising embankments of costal polders, Tk 387 million for turfing, Tk 78,659 million for Toe protection, Tk 21,936 for land acquisition (14,061 hectors), Tk 83,569 million for major protection work (167 kilometers), Tk 81 million for Velivera plantation, Tk 81 million for the improvement of internal drainage system and Tk 332 million forestation, according to the study."There will be water-logging on 18 percent of land in the country's costal region by 2050 while on 25 percent by 2100 even if the embankments are raised at least by 4-6 metres," the study says. The study stresses the need for planting trees in the costal belt to help subside storm surge and thus save lives and assets of the people. "A 600-meter wide forest will reduce the surge level by 50 cm."According to another study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the sea-level rise will wipe out more cultivated land in Bangladesh than anywhere in the world. By 2050, rice production is expected to drop by 10 percent while wheat production by 30 percent due to water logging. Experts fear Bangladesh will suffer most in the near future because of global climate change if it fails to take any effective measures. Emaduddin Ahmed, Executive Director of the Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) and a water expert, told UNB that Bangladesh will face numerous disasters because of climate change and will lose huge assets.He said additional money will be needed for adaptation of the coastal people as 18 percent of the coastal land will go under seawater permanently by 2050. The people of the region will also experience an acute drinking water crisis, while groundwater in the coastal areas will be contaminated by salinity."