A plea to combating climate change and water scarcity
To everything there is a season; but water is eternal. However, despite the looming crisis of water, the scenario is getting worse day by day because of nature's unpredictability along with industrialisation, illegal encroachment, negligence and ignorance of the authorities, which are turning our once pristine fresh water resources and riverine waterways into sewers. Thus water is becoming increasingly scarce in consequence. After the devastation by Sidr, the coastal zone is again facing the challenges of survival after cyclone Aila. Although it is difficult at this stage to directly link Sidr and Aila to climate change, the nature of these two cyclones is totally consistent with the IPCC's predictions for future weather conditions. Immediately after the cyclone, it was observed that the demand for safe drinking water was the ultimate concern. Trapped between the Bay of Bengal and the Himalayas, and with 20 million people living less than one metre above sea level, Bangladesh has always been particularly susceptible to extreme climatic variability and natural catastrophes like flooding and cyclones. Here, freshwater resources are highly sensitive to variations in weather and climate change. It also compounds the complexity and costs of ensuring water security, particularly in countries and regions with difficult "hydrologic legacies" (Agenda 73, 2007). Water-related issues are critical in determining key regional vulnerabilities also, which we are familiar with from our historical experience of water sharing with the neighbouring countries. The World Commission on Water estimates that water use will increase by about 50% in the next 30 years. An estimated four billion people (half the planet) will, at that time, live under conditions of severe water stress. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) predicts that climate change will have a graver effect, and Bangladesh is no exception to that. The country is highly exposed to adverse impacts of climate change mainly due to its geophysical location, hydrological influence by erratic monsoon rainfall and changes in regional water flow patterns, etc. The projected changes in water use will be driven by the combined effects in water availability, in water demand and management. Sea level rise may bring the wate line further inwards and aggravate the existing situation, and storm surges may cause significant casualties and destroy infrastructure including water supply and sanitation. Climate change induced challenges are mainly: (a) scarcity of fresh water due to less rain and higher evaporation and transpiration in the dry season, (b) drainage congestion due to higher water levels in the confluence with the rise of sea level, (c) river bank erosion, (d) frequent floods and prolonged and widespread drought, (e) wider salinity in the surface, ground and soil in the coastal zone. An assessment of the impact on drinking water and livelihoods in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Conducted by WaterAid 2008) also identified climate change as one of the major reasons for water scarcity problems in the hilly area. According to the study, the dense forest in CHT has drastically been reduced in the recent years. Between 1989 and 2003, an estimated 170,000 hectares of forest (approximately 50%) were lost in the CHT area. Essential natural water sources such as springs (jhiris) and streams (charas), in CHT are reducing; some have already dried up and several Gravity Flow Systems have insufficient flows for use. This type of change facilitates fast surface runoff, thereby reducing the soil's water retention capacity and percolation into the water table, an overall decreasing rainfall pattern, increasing evaporation and sunshine hours due to climatic variability. Thus, the increased degradation of ecosystems, excessive consumption of water, contamination and salination of water bodies, aquifers and dams along with the impact of climate change, have been worsening the overall scenario and increasing the extreme poverty. Adapting to a new climate regime
The socio-economic impacts of floods, droughts, climate and non-climate factors affecting the supply and demand for water depend in large part on how society adapts. However, there is no strong consensus yet about the effectiveness of different coping and adaptation approaches to deal with climate change. It is evident that some climate change may be rapid or some will be of such a large magnitude that they will overwhelm existing systems before current management approaches can react. Therefore, water related actors should begin to re-examine engineering design assumptions, operating rules, system optimisation, and contingency planning for existing and planned water-management systems under a wider range of climatic conditions. Current laws and policies affecting water use, management, and development are often inefficient and unresponsive to changing conditions. The costs of these inefficiencies will significantly rise if water becomes scarcer and supply and demand conditions change. Water is central, as it always has been. The availability of freshwater to meet the demands of a growing and increasingly affluent population while sustaining a healthy environment has emerged as one of the nation's primary concerns at this moment. Although there are several reasons for this, which are not necessarily linked to climate change, a lack of available water, a higher and more uneven water demand resulting from population growth in concentrated areas, an increase in urbanisation, more intense use of water to improve general well-being and the challenge to improve water governance, are variables that already pose a tremendous challenge to providing satisfactory water services. In a situation of climate volatility, supply of and control over water is made more acute -- climate governs the weather, weather dictates water distribution and water distribution controls life (Leonard, nd). As the theme of this year's World Environment Day goes "Your planet needs you-Unite to combat climate change," we need to ask ourselves, "should there be any environmental limit to the number of people and their un-thoughtful acts and quality of life that this mother earth can support?" We have to search for the answer and act now, our time is running out -- we are in the thin red line.
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