Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque and Nasir Uddin :
The theme of World Environment Day is on ‘Small Islands and Climate Change’. The slogan for the year 2014 is ‘Raise Your Voice Not the Sea Level. The 2013 theme for World Environment Day was Think Eat Save. The campaign addressed the huge annual wastage and losses in food, which, if conserved, would release a large quantity of food as well as reduce the overall carbon footprint. The campaign aimed to bring about awareness in countries with lifestyles resulting in food wastage. It also aimed to empower people to make informed choices about the food they eat so as to reduce the overall ecological impact due to the worldwide production of food. The theme for the 2012 World Environment Day was Green Economy: Does it include you? The theme aimed to invite people to examine their activities and lifestyle and see how the concept of a “Green Economy” fits into it. The host country for the year’s celebrations was Brazil. The theme for 2011 was Forests-Nature at Your Service. Thousands of activities were organized worldwide, with beach clean-ups, concerts, exhibits, film festivals, community events and much more. This year’s global host, India, is a country of wide biodiversity ‘Many Species. One Planet One Future’, was the theme of 2010. It celebrated the diversity of life on Earth as part of the 2010 International Year of bio-diversity. The theme for WED 2009 was ‘Your Planet Needs You – Unite to Combat Climate Change’, and Michael Jackson’s ‘Earth Song’ was declared ‘World Environment Day Song’. It was hosted in Mexico. The slogan for 2008 was “CO2 Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy. The topic for World Environment Day for 2007 was “Melting Ice – a Hot Topic. 2006’s slogan was “Don’t desert dry lands”. The theme for the 2005 World Environment Day was “Green Cities” and the slogan was “Plan for the Planet!
Now the global community gravely concerned about the continuing damage of global warming think to help out the small island state to help them. Global warming has turned out to be an important policy issue in response to increasing ‘greenhouse gas accumulation. According to a recent report ‘the sea level rise may be about 20cm by 2030 and this could be as much as one meter by the end of the next century. The possible physical effects from global warming and climate change may pose threats to many a developing country like ‘damages to coastal infrastructure, increased incidence of diseases, increased flooding, degradation of eco-systems, changes in water supply in urban areas and changes in cropping patterns and other agricultural activities.’ It may lead to ‘rise in water levels in various rivers and streams’.
There has been a grave concern abut the deluge of global warning in coastal areas. According to the recent reports ‘about half of the world population lives in coastal areas’. Of course there is a large variation among countries. Changes in climate will affect coastal systems through sea level rise and increase in storm-surge hazards and possible changes in the frequency of extreme antecedents. The people in developing countries are four times more likely to die in natural disasters than people in developed countries. An increase in the global temperature is likely to potentially result in a sea level rise as much as one meter that may cause inundation of costal areas and high frequency of submersion of vast area under water. The consequences are being faced by the people in different parts of the world regarding health hazards, natural calamities, draught, acid rain, desertification, sea level rise and so many greenhouse effects.
The concerns of the government of the small island states deserve mention. Maldives, for illustration, is a small island state vulnerable to changes in sea level. Due to climate change there are possibilities of being badly damaged by cyclone, floods, tidal surge, and tsunami. The Maldives and Bangladesh are among the SAARC countries with clean air having much less incidence of emission of greenhouse gas. Despite this reality these two countries are going to be the worst victims of global warming and ‘consequential sea-level rise’. Scientists apprehended Maldives would go under sea water and one third of Bangladesh would go under sea water.
Realizing that its’ time for action and contemplation the Maldives President Mohammed Nasheed ‘led his entire cabinet in Scuba gears to a meeting under about 20 feet of shimmering emerald green waters of the archipelago making everyone sit up and take notice’. There seems to be a growing tension among the policy actors in Maldives arising out of prediction that doomsday is about to come when a country by the name Maldives would have no trace. Other low-lying coastal countries will follow suit with the possibility of being badly affected by the colossal devastation caused by rising sea-level. The whole small island state like Maldives is exposed to ‘global menace’ with uninhabitable risks even with a ‘sea-level rise of less than two feet’. This underwater cabinet meeting is an eye opener. Maldives is most likely to be submerged as a consequence of global warming and climate change. The cabinet signed a resolution ‘urging global action to cut carbon emissions’ The Maldives leaders happened to believe in ‘less talk and more work’. This was a clear and louder message of the historic cabinet meeting under the water. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and 22 other ministers travelled by helicopter to the Kalapattar plateau, where they held a cabinet meeting 5,262 metres (17,192 feet) up in the world’s highest mountain range. Under clear blue skies, they took part in a traditional Sherpa prayer. Speaking to reporters after what the government was calling the world’s highest cabinet meeting, the Nepalese leader spoke of the “huge challenge” climate change posed for the desperately poor country.
Community Radio Stations (CRS) in Nepal launches the Campaign. Electronic media including TV & Radio Breakings are raising Environment Slogans and Informations. Nepal Government launches various programs in collabration with UNESCO. It also sends the Gurkha Army out of barracks on the road to clean the environment and for afforestation programmes where all the media personalles also gathers giving the live coverage.
There has been a high frequency of ‘natural and man-induced disasters’ in recent years. In fact over population in Asian and African countries has caused environmental degradation. The natural resources are under tremendous pressure subject to wanton exploitation. In a recent published research work of a scientist it was reveled that the temperature rise will spell ‘bad news for the ocean and under the worst scenario; warmer seas and a slowdown of ocean circulation would lower marine oxygen levels, creating dead zones that could not support fish, shellfish and other higher forms of marine life.’ Of course slowly it will happen by the end of this century. According to the research work ‘deep cuts in the world’s carbon emissions are needed to break a trend capable of wrecking the marine ecosystem and depriving future generations of the harvest of the seas’.
So far as Bangladesh is concerned , as an environment scientist forecast, ‘with one meter sea-level change, area of high salinity intrusion will increase from existing area of 13 per cent of Bangladesh land area to 31 per cent. The entire south and southwestern part of the Ganges-Padma-Lower and Meghna river system will be affected by high salinity penetration. This will reduce the crop-yield substantially in the affected areas.
(Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Professor of Public Administration, Chittagong University, and Nasir Uddin, Lecturer of Public Administration, Chittagong University)
