Climate change and global warming are considered the biggest issues of the 21st century. Today, there are a lot of scientists from the fields of ecology and meteorology who are monitoring the changes of climate in various regions of the world. The data they collect year after year are disturbing since global warming is a real problem even though it is still ignored by the majority of individuals.
Some countries are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than others, yet this issue should not be viewed as a problem only of a certain group of areas and states. On the contrary, climate change is a global issue, and it has to do with humanity in general. This paper will discuss future climate change impacts on Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is recognized as one of the states that are likely to suffer serious negative consequences due to the developing global warming and climate change.
The factors that make this state particularly vulnerable, are multiple. Among them, there are the economic situation, population density, overall illiteracy, specific features of the landscape, and lack of appropriate infrastructure and institutional setup (Denissen par. 1). This way, the social, cultural, environmental, political, and economic aspects of Bangladesh make a contribution to the country’s vulnerability to the future climate change.
Geographically, Bangladesh is locked between the Bay of Bengal in the south and the Himalayas chain to the north. Such a position exposes the country to a great number of natural disasters such as floods, heavy rains, storms, extreme temperatures, and droughts. Two-thirds of the population of Bangladesh dwells in the rural regions and works in the sphere of farming.
This is an agricultural country; the vast majority of its industries are engaged in fishing or farming. Every time nature strikes. This results in multiple victims among the population due to high density and a serious economic loss since the financial situation in the state is rather difficult. Besides, most of the country’s territory is covered with floodplains, which means that flooding during the rainy seasons is a frequent happening in Bangladesh.
Among the predicted climate change impacts for this country, there are rising sea-level, increasing humidity, heavy rains during monsoon season, shrinking winter, unpredictable cyclones (Denissen par. 1). All of these changes will severely reduce the economic development in Bangladesh, probably, causing a crisis.
Besides, the general population growth in the country is 2 percent a year in rural areas and 4.6 percent in urban regions, which means that during the course of this century, the number of people inhabiting Bangladesh will increase very fast and create more economic issues.
Since the main sources of the country’s budget incomes are fishing and agriculture, future climate change may lead to serious financial losses for Bangladesh. Floods caused by heavy rainfalls during the monsoon season or droughts caused by extreme temperatures and cyclones will harm the farming potential of the country and destroy the harvest. As a result, this might lead to the need to purchase crops from abroad, which would not be good for the country’s budget.
Moreover, agricultural areas and farms located close to the coastline risk to be completely destroyed by the rising sea level. Only a small part of the country is situated in the highlands. The rest is in the low lying regions.
Besides, storms, salinity intrusion, and sea-level changes seriously impact the ecosystems around the coastline with would inevitably lead to migration of fish and other sea life. As a result, fishery might suffer significant losses. All of these negative impacts on the leading industries of Bangladesh are likely to aggravate poverty, which is likely to grow even without climatic influences due to population growth rates.
One more outcome that is likely to occur under the impact of climate change and global warming is the reduced biodiversity since the new climate and environment might not be suitable for a lot of species living in Bangladesh today (Afrin par. 7). This is likely to shift the natural balance and lead to an increase in the number of parasites. As a result, the poor and illiterate population of Bangladesh is likely to start suffering from diseases vectored by insects such as mosquitoes.
Global warming and climate change are the evident happenings that have been confirmed by the data collected by meteorologist professionals over the last several decades. Bangladesh is a troubling example of that kind of future that might come to a great variety of other regions and countries. The most vulnerable places are islands located in tropical climate zones and close to the sea level. Just like Bangladesh, they are likely to be flooded and inhabited by parasites.
The world’s community is aware of the problem, and today, the leaders of over 20 nations are working together to protect the most vulnerable regions from the inevitable climate change and protect their people. In Bangladesh, there are millions of citizens who live in poverty and are predicted to be severely affected within this century.
Works Cited
Afrin, Tamanna. Bangladesh and Climate Change. 2012. Web.
Denissen, Anne-Katrien. Climate Change & its Impacts on Bangladesh. 2012. Web.