Floods in Bangladesh - Climate Variability

Climate Variability

Widespread flooding in Bangladesh, as seen in 1988 and 1998 has caused widespread destruction in one of the least developed countries in the world. With three of the world's mightiest river systems and being situated in the world's largest delta, river bank erosions are taking away precious land from the small nation with a growing population every year. The economic development of the rural sphere is largely intertwined, as every year the populace loses property and livelihood. South Asian people, 70 per cent of whom lives in rural areas also account for 75 per cent of the poor, most of who rely on agriculture for their livelihood. Each year they are disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change. Two catastrophes alone, 1991 Bangladesh cyclone-1997 and cost the nation around a quarter of a million of its residents. There needs to be serious considerations to mitigate the effects of climate change and invest in capacity building of each system component to secure the future of this country.

This global change is likely to have a more dramatic effect on the global agriculture than previously predicted meaning that the world hunger situation and Bangladesh's food security issues will only get worse. The difference between historical and projected average temperatures each season throughout the world has revealed that harvests from major staple crops could drop by 40 per cent by the end of the 21st century due to high temperatures in the growing seasons. A research study predicted this by using the patterns and characteristics of 23 global climate models. Not only do the harvests get affected, the grain yield is also predicted to decrease anywhere from 3 to 15 per cent.

The overall damage:

• Half of the districts were affected
• 100,000sq km (66%) of the country was overwhelmed
• 1,050 deaths reported
• 30 million people affected
• 25 million people left homeless
• 26,000 livestock lost
• 575,000 hectares destroyed
• 20,000 education facilities damaged
• 300,000 wells damaged
• 16,000 km of roads flooded
• 4,500 km of river embankments destroyed