By Henry Srebrnik, [Moncton, NB] Times & Transcript
At the recent COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called on wealthy nations to fulfill their pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions and provide the promised $100 billion to less wealthy countries to help them adapt to climate change and mitigate further rises in temperature.
Only a tiny fraction of global warming can be attributed to Bangladesh’s carbon emissions, Hasina stated. In an article published in October in the Financial Times, Hasina called for a “climate prosperity plan” instead of “empty pledges.”
Bangladesh currently spends about $2 billion annually on climate change-related adaptation measures, with 75 per cent of the money coming from domestic sources. The country would need almost three times that amount by 2050 to achieve its climate goals.
Hasina said Bangladesh was “committed to leading the path to a solution” to fight climate change “not only because we wish to avert the worst of climate change; it also makes economic sense.” Under the plan, Bangladesh intends to obtain 30 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by the end of the decade.
“We will enhance resilience, grow our economy, create jobs and expand opportunities for our citizens, using action on climate change as the catalyst,” Hasina wrote of the plan. Bangladesh will develop wind farms along its coast to revitalize the mangrove forests that help stabilize shifting shores, and so protecting the country against storms and flooding.
“We will empower banks to offer favorable terms to fossil fuel-free infrastructure projects and pursue co-operation with developed nations in areas such as green hydrogen.”
There’s certainly little time to lose. Over the last two decades, the annual Global Climate Risk Index has rated Bangladesh as the seventh most affected country in the world from extreme weather events. Depending on the extent of sea level rise in the coming decades, an estimated 15 to 30 million Bangladeshis could be displaced from coastal areas.
A 2018 U.S. government report, “Fragility and Climate Risks in Bangladesh,” noted that 90 million Bangladeshis, 56 per cent of the population, live in “high climate exposure areas,” with 53 million subject to “very high” exposure.
Bangladeshis in coastal communities have already begun migrating inland, mostly to urban areas. The main motives are better employment opportunities and education. About a third are displaced by flooding that created loss of arable land.
Over the last decade, the capital city Dhaka has been among the fastest growing cities in the world. Today, its population is estimated at over 20 million and projected to keep rising. But Bangladesh’s rapid urbanization has not been met with infrastructure improvements and environmental protections, which has deepened daily challenges.
The United Nations estimates that around four million people inhabit the city’s 5,000 slums. And Dhaka is itself prone to floods.
The number of Bangladeshis living in poverty had been in steady decline since 2000, but recent studies suggest that extreme poverty is rising in urban Bangladesh, and that was before COVID-19, which drove a 20-point increase in poverty in 2020.
As well, minority groups, particularly Hindus, have faced violence. In recent years, the Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh has had growing social influence. A Bangladeshi human rights organization has documented over 4,000 attacks on minorities since 2007.
In October Muslim fundamentalists went on a rampage. Hindu temples were desecrated, and hundreds of houses and businesses of the Hindu minority torched.
Hindus constitute less than nine per cent of Bangladesh’s more than 165 million population. Though there have been several attacks on religious minorities in the past, but community leaders said this was the worst large-scale mob violence against the community in the country’s history.
Climate change could further exacerbate this problem. Bangladesh’s coastal areas have large Hindu populations. As displaced persons from these communities move into Muslim majority areas in Bangladesh, increased interaction and competition for jobs and land are likely to exacerbate tension and conflict.
Some displaced Muslim Bangladeshis will also end up at the border with India to seek work. Rising Hindu nationalism under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is inflaming anti-Muslim sentiment in India. Recent Indian actions perceived as anti-Muslim have caused strains with the Awami League government in Dhaka and contribute to growing support for Islamists.
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