A RECENT study has shown that Bangladesh is among the countries ‘most at risk’ as over one billion people in the world are lack of air conditioning and refrigeration to keep them cool and to preserve food and medicines while global warming increasing temperatures. More electricity demand for fridges, fans and other appliances will add to man-made climate change unless power generators shift from fossil fuels to cleaner energies. Cooling becomes more and more important with climate change with the reduction of winter season and increase of greenhouse gases.
In summer, high daytime and night-time temperatures, high humidity, intense sunshine and lack of wind make life in Bangladesh paralysed. In 2007, a heat wave killed 22 people in Bangladesh, when temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celsius. Deadly heat wave also swept most part of the country last year.
The UN’s health agency said heat stress linked to climate change is likely to cause 38,000 extra deaths a year worldwide between 2030 and 2050. About 1.1 billion people in Asia, Africa and Latin America – 470 million in rural areas and 630 million slum dwellers in cities – are at risk among the world’s 7.6 billion people. In remote areas of tropical countries, many people lack electricity and clinics are often unable to store vaccines or medicines that need to be chilled while in slums, electricity supplies are often intermittent.
Due to lack of cheap chilling facilities farmers could not store their production that ultimately put the food security in risk.
Experts say nearly one-quarter of Bangladesh is less than seven feet about sea level; two-thirds of the country is less than 15 feet above sea level. Country’s majority people live along coastal areas where alluvial delta soils provide some of the best farmland in the country.
In the recent years, the sea surface temperatures in the shallow Bay of Bengal have significantly increased, which, scientists believe, has caused the country to suffer some of the fastest recorded sea level rises in the world. That means, it is clear that Bangladesh is now at risk of global warming.
In this situation, the government will have to come forward and take pragmatic step to save the country from the climatic danger –the sooner the better.
