Climate Change and Need for Disaster Risk Reduction

Bangladesh is recognized to be one of the most susceptible countries in the world, highly vulnerable to climatic manifestations (short-term and long-term impacts of climate change) due to its unique geographic location, hydro-geological characters like dominance of floodplains, low elevation from the sea and lastly the socio-economical characters like high population density, high levels of poverty, and overwhelming dependence on nature. Unfortunately, the country's future is now trapped between the melting Himalayas in the north and the encroaching Bay of Bengal to the south.
Impact of climate change
Sea level rise: Bangladeshi scientists believe that because of sea level rise coastal Bangladesh has already experienced worst impacts of inundation and erosion, saline intrusion, deforestation, loss of bio-diversity and agriculture, and migration. Increased frequencies of natural disasters: Much of the future vulnerability due to climate change would not necessarily add any new climatic havoc to the already well known ones of floods, droughts and cyclones, but would enhance both the frequency as well as the intensity of such events. Particularly, the areas prone to floods, cyclones and salinity intrusion may increase in the coming decades. The climatic manifestation will in turn be compounded by other factors including land use patterns, water management and control of river flows in the upstream. On the other hand, a severe tropical cyclone hits Bangladesh, on an average, every 3 years.. The very recent cyclones Sidr and Aila in addition to the cyclone in 1991 are the most severe amongst all the natural cyclones that the country has experienced so far. Bangladesh is facing various challenges among which consequences of climate change and frequent disasters are the most burning. Again, the way we are losing our nature sustaining components such as rivers, trees, biodiversity and so forth, we are heading towards a more dangerous age to be faced by the upcoming...