AS one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, Bangladesh could lose more than 9 percent of its gross domestic product by the end of this century due to the impact of climate change, says a report of Asian Development Bank as reported in the media on Tuesday. Since Bangladesh consumes relatively lesser amounts of energy and thus also pollutes the environment proportionately, the country is set to suffer the most from the climate change impact. Combating climate change effects by rehabilitation, alternative agricultural products, food habits, internal migration adaptation, and renovation of damaged infrastructure demands billions of dollars, and the leaders of polluters should fund this.
The ADB report, titled “Assessing the Costs of Climate Change and Adaptation in South Asia”, warned that global warming might cause the country’s annual rice production to fall by 23 percent by 2080. Low-lying Bangladesh is at the front line of ‘at-risk countries’ from climate change, given the vulnerability of the country’s coastline to extreme weather events, said the report. With nearly half the country’s population depending on agriculture, human and financial losses could be even higher if the damages caused by from floods, droughts and other extreme weather events are calculated on detailed accounts. Only a one metre rise in sea levels would inundate the coastline and affect 95 million people. And another 100 million would be affected if there were any storm surges, the report disclosed. Vast crop losses, disappearing arable land, displaced communities and poisoned groundwater-this is not a horror tale but a very real possibility in the not too distance future for Bangladesh unless current destructive global resource use patterns are changed, the ADB Vice-President Bindu Lohani said.
With a predicted economic loss of up to 9.4 percent by 2100, Bangladesh could be one of the hardest-hit countries in South Asia after the Maldives and Nepal, which might lose up to 12.6 percent and 9.9 percent of their economies respectively every year due to the impact of climate change. It is predicted that this GDP loss will be 2 percent by 2050 and increase progressively in subsequent decades. The loss for India could be 8.7 percent, Bhutan 6.6 percent and Sri Lanka 6.5 percent, said the ADB. The annual rice production in Bangladesh and other countries could drop by 23 percent by 2080. It is a serious threat in deed.
If the world does not change its resource use patterns, South Asia might need to spend at least $73 billion every year between now and 2100 to adapt to climate change. The impacts and costs of climate change in South Asian countries would depend largely on how the global community tackles the issue. All countries must respond individually and collectively to cope with rising sea levels and disrupted water, food and energy supply, and outbreak of diseases. The developed nations should come out with aid to combat global warming effect as they pollute the climate more by emitting carbon into the atmosphere, this is our request.
