Compensation for climate change
Sundarbans mangrove
BANGLADESH including those who are badly affected by global climate change should be compensated from the developed countries who are mainly responsible for it. This demand became stronger at a seminar in observance of World Environment Day in the country as elsewhere in the world on June 5. It is time that the developing countries including Bangladesh should unite to initiate international advocacy at the United Nations level for the compensation and to protect the environment from further change, speakers at the seminar, organized by Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon(BAPA) said. BAPA president Professor Muzaffar Ahmed sounding a note of warning said, “Climate change would jeopardize the right to food. Regional food production is likely to fall as a result of increasing temperature, which causes grain sterility , desertification and also rise in sea level.” In this regard it needs to be recalled that the G-77 grouping of 134 developing countries have long been demanding for additional one per cent of the GNP of the developed and industrial countries for tackling the adverse effects of climate change including climate refugees in the least developed countries including Bangladesh, Maldives, Marshal Island and Mozambique. The demand was raised rather loudly at the just concluded Bonn climate change conference, organized by UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, according to a member of Bangladesh delegation at the conference. The G-77 grouping also expressed its serious concern over the non compliance of existing one per cent Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments of the developed industrialized countries who are mainly responsible for causing global warming by emitting green house gases and asked the rich countries to pay for their pollutions by providing extra one percent grant support to combat the ever increasing risks of the most vulnerable developing nations. Meanwhile, NASA scientists apprehend that least developed countries like Bangladesh and small island countries like Maldives would face considerable sea level rise within this century while Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),which won noble prize for popularizing the science of adverse effects of climate change, made a prediction of 0.50 meter to two meter sea level rise by the year 2050. All these apprehensions are indeed matters of serious concern for countries like Bangladesh. Whether such predictions would come true in totality or partially is not important. But the predictions are indeed made on the basis of analytical studies. It needs to be mentioned that destructive land use on unplanned watersheds in Asia, Africa and Latin America is producing consequences whose cost, in both financial and human terms, is virtually incalculable. As soil erosion leads to the sedimentation of rivers, dams and reservoirs, floods become more severe and more lives, crops, buildings and livestock are lost. Watershed damage results in disrupted irrigation systems and reduced crop yields, which means increase in number of hungry people. Soil erosion has been described by environmental experts as a quiet crisisand a creeping catastrophe because it is not generally visible to the farmer until much of the damage has already been done. The case of Guatemala needs special mention, where 40 per cent of the productive capacity of the land has been lost because of erosion and different areas of the country have been abandoned as agriculture is not beneficial. As early as 1986 a massive reafforestation programme was undertaken in Zimbabwe, as part of a campaign to make the country's people responsible for their environment. Every able-bodied citizen was urged to plant at least one tree a year with a target for 12 million trees, half of which by the country's 5,500 schools. The school children were asked to plant and nurture the new trees and to cherish their environment. In the initial years tree plantation scheme was an annual school competition through the country's education ministry. There were experiments to plant indigenous trees aimed at protecting the country's natural habitat. Tree plantation campaign has become quite popular here in our country for the last couple of decades and we are aware of the fact that more than half of the world's forest cover has disappeared in the past three decades. There are government efforts to enlighten the people about the long-term adverse effects not only of random felling of trees, but also of unplanned crop cultivation. The question is being raised whether felling of trees so to say plunder of forest resources can be stopped. With the arrest of some forest officials revealing stories of plunder of forest resources started coming out in the national press. A job in the forest department was seen by a section of officials as having Aladdin's lamp in their hands to become millionaire overnight. It is time to take effective steps to stop plunder of forest resources permanently as the country's environment and ecology are already in bad shape. The Sunderbans--shared by Bangladesh and India--house the richest mangrove swamps in this part of the world. The area supports dense brackish water forests and is the principal habitat of the Royal Bengal tiger, and also several other endangered species. Over the past 200 years, the natural wealth of the Sunderbans has been reduced which has led to steady rise in the level of the Ganges delta, which again has resulted in insufficient flow of river water, essential to leach out excessive salts from the soil. This has contributed to the gradual death of the mangroves. During the past century at least 1,500 square kilometers of mangroves in the Sunderbans have been cleared for agriculture, according to an estimate. Several million people continue to remain dependent on the Sunderbans mangroves. The compulsive need to extend farming into the delta has caused a steady regression of the mangroves, exposing the lands to soil erosion and associated eco-degradation. The Sunderbans in Bangladesh part suffered more than it suffered in the Indian part as many of the wildlife of this part reportedly migrated to the other part. The plunder of the resources of the Sunderbans should be stopped with an iron hand and those given the task to protect the valuable resources should get properly paid and rewarded for their honest work. As regards the demand for compensation there is need for mounting pressure on the developed countries so that they adhere to internationally agreed upon environmental targets and commitments to support the developing countries. Bangladesh can take pioneering role in this regard.
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