The Delhi protocol on environment has successfully managed to address the problem of global warming, leading to a rising sea water level, presenting itself as one of the major threats to the earth�s future. Bangladesh, the largest delta of the world is at special risk.
Quite recently the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, warned that a rise in sea level could lead to the disappearance of much of the country. Global warming may result in more severe droughts, floods and storms and the inundation of low-lying islands and coastal areas leading to the displacement of hundreds of millions of people. Bangladesh�s vulnerability increases as it is a monsoon area and has a large coastal belt. Bangladesh�s fertile coastland, stretching hundreds of miles, is thickly populated with mostly farming and fishing families already exposed to natural calamities like cyclones and tidal bores surges A large number of Bangladeshis will be affected including those living in the coastal areas.
The severity of the risk can be judged by the simple fact that nearly 17 million people in Bangladesh live less than one metre above sea level. Estimates for a rise in sea levels over the next few years go up to 95 cm � five to six times rise over the last century. That global warming is happening is evident even to the lay person. The last decade of the 20th Century was the warmest in the entire global instrumental temperature record, starting in the mid-19th century. There is scientific consensus that the Earth�s atmosphere is heating up, probably as a result of carbon dioxide emissions causing the �greenhouse effect�. The warming is disrupting the weather systems, resulting in more and more extreme weather, including droughts, torrential rain and hurricanes. One can only imagine the threat posed to Bangladesh which is already plagued by cyclones and floods.
Considering the crisis we are facing the level of preparedness is well nigh absent. However, it is really tough to take any actions where the problem probably lays elsewhere.
"Global Warming" The Independent (Bangladesh) November 03 2002
