Bangladesh is located at the heart of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, the largest delta in the world. Due to the country’s location in low-lying areas of the delta, Bangladesh is exposed to some of the major threats posed by climate change - with one-third of the population at risk of being displaced due to the rising sea levels.
The huge population residing in the coastal areas of the country are the most vulnerable as the rising sea levels will wipe out their livelihood from existence. Around 60% of Bangladesh’s land is just 5 meters above the sea level. Hadley Center for Climate Prediction and Research (HCCPR) predicts that the country’s sea level will rise by around 40 cm by 2080. According to the estimates of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Bangladesh will lose around 17% of its land by 2050 due to climate change.
The Global Climate Risk Index 2021 by Germanwatch placed Bangladesh at the 7th position as the most vulnerable country to climate change. The index also shows that Bangladesh lost 11,450 lives, incurred $3.7 billion in economic losses, and experienced 185 extreme weather events as a result of climate change between 2000 and 2019. Providing Regional Climates for Impact Studies (PRCIS) predicts a 4%, 2.3% and 6.7% increase in Bangladesh’s annual average rainfall by 2030, 2050 and 2070 respectively. The General Circulation Model projects that the country’s annual average temperature will rise by 2.4 degrees Celsius, while annual average precipitation or rainfall will ascend by 9.7%.
To address such challenges the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has formulated several policies that aim to protect its citizens from the negative consequences of climate change.
Bangladesh’s enriched biodiversity is vulnerable to major threats caused by climate change and environmental degradation. Thus, to navigate the environmental challenges and conserve biodiversity, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has formulated the ‘National Environment Policy 2018’. The policy has identified 24 areas of intervention that have been subsequently mandated to different ministries, regulatory bodies, and agencies. The 24 implementation plan or activities are:
Land Resources Management
Water Resources Management
Air Pollution Control
Safe Food and Water
Agriculture
Public Health and Health Services
Accommodation, Housing and Urbanization
Education and Mass Awareness
Forest and Wildlife
Biodiversity, Ecosystem Conservation and Biosafety
Hill Ecosystem
Fisheries and Livestocks
Coastal and Marine Ecosystem
Ecotourism
Industrial Development
Energy and Mineral Resources
Communication and Transportation
Human Resources Management
Climate Change Preparedness and Adaptation
Disaster Management
Science, Research, Information, and Communication Technologies
Management of Chemical Substances
Other Pollution Control
Environment Friendly Economic Development, Sustainable Production and Consumption
Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009
Bangladesh has become one of the first countries among the developing nations to formulate an integrated climate action plan. In 2009, the GoB designed the ‘Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP)’. The plan envisages addressing the most pernicious impacts of climate change by identifying achievable, realistic, and local-context specific adaptation and mitigation efforts for combating the climate crisis. The plan was completely formulated by Bangladeshi experts with financial assistance from GoB’s own funds – without seeking any international assistance in terms of consultation and funding. A wide range of stakeholders from grassroots to urban regions were consulted before formulating the plan to make BCCSAP pro-poor, and pro-citizen. Each year, GoB has allocated around USD 100 million to fund all the 44 programs spotted based on 6 pillars in the BCCSAP 2009.
- Improvement of flood forecasting and early warning;
- Improvement of cyclone and storm surge warning;
- Awareness raising and public education towards climate resilience;
- Risk management against loss of income and property.
- Improvement of flood forecasting and early warning;
- Improvement of cyclone and storm surge warning;
- Awareness raising and public education towards climate resilience;
- Risk management against loss of income and property.
- Repair and maintenance of existing flood embankments;
- Repair and maintenance of cyclone shelters;
- Repair and maintenance of existing coastal polders;
- Improvement of urban drainage;
- Adaptation against floods;
- Adaptation against tropical cyclones and storm surges;
- Planning and design of river training works;
- Planning, design, and implementation of resuscitation of rivers and khals through dredging and de-siltation work.
- Establishment of a center for knowledge management and training on climate change;
- Climate change modeling at national and sub-national levels;
- Preparatory studies for adaptation against sea level rise;
- Monitoring of ecosystem and biodiversity changes and their impacts;
- Macroeconomic and sectoral economic impacts of climate change;
- Monitoring of internal and external migration of adversely impacted population and providing support to them through capacity building for their rehabilitation in new environment;
- Monitoring of impact on various issues related to management of tourism in Bangladesh and implementation in priority action plan.
- Improved energy efficiency in production and consumption of energy;
- Gas exploration and reservoir management;
- Development of coal mines and coal fired power stations
- Renewable energy development;
- Lower emission from agricultural land;
- Management of urban waste;
- Afforestation and reforestation program;
- Rapid expansion of energy saving devices, e.g., Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL);
- Energy and Water Efficiency in Built Environment;
- Improvement in energy consumption patterns in the transport sector and options for mitigation.
- Revision of sectoral policies for climate resilience;
- Main-streaming climate change in national, sectoral, and spatial development programs;
- Strengthening human resource capacity;
- Strengthening gender consideration in climate change management;
- Strengthening institutional capacity for climate change management;
- Main-streaming climate change in the media.
Natural Resource Management
Water, Bay of Bengal, Biodiversity and Soil
Ensure and Sustain Food and Nutrition Security
Industry and Power
Health
Social Protection and Gender
Regional and Urban Dimensions of Climate Change
Comprehensive Disaster Management
Infrastructure
Low Carbon Development and Mitigation
Research and Knowledge Management
Governance: Legal, Institutional and Policy Aspects
Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) Plan
Bangladesh is committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions despite not being a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. The country has already devised the ‘Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) Plan’ as part of its mitigation efforts. The NDC plan aims to regulate GHG emissions and intends to reduce emissions by 15% and decrease carbon release by 5% within 2030.
The government is also preparing an NDC Implementation Road Map and NDC Mitigation Action Plan in order to facilitate the implementation of the NDC.
Following are some of the key action plans of the NDC that will link the country’s Seventh Five Year Plan (7FYP) and climate policy
- Ensuring that the expanding manufacturing sector of the country reduces carbon and becomes energy efficient.
- Invigorating low carbon practices in the agricultural sector and ensuring agro-sector’s impunity from climate change.
- Modernizing the transport system through decreasing congestion and facilitating lower carbon transport modes.
- Developing the capacity of local governments to promote climate action at the grassroots level.
- Making the residential sector of the country energy efficient.
National Adaptation Plan (NAP)
The Bangladesh National Adaptation Plan (2023-2050) outlines the country’s timely, realistic, proactive, and competent approach to climate change adaptation, as mandated by Article 18A of the Constitution’s 15th Amendment.
The NAP aims to strategize integrated adaptation in order to address the long-term effects of climate change by enhancing adaptive capacity and resilience. The NAP will facilitate the integration of climate change adaptation into pertinent new and existing policies, programs, and activities, including development planning processes and strategies, across all relevant sectors.
Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100
Bangladesh is one of the very few countries in the world that has devised a comprehensive and integrated 100-year-long plan to tap into the country’s blue economy, and deal with overall climate challenges. By collaborating with the Netherlands and the World Bank, the GoB adopted the ‘Delta Plan 2100’ to navigate the adverse consequences of climate change caused by Bangladesh’s deltaic formation in 2018. The plan has 6 overarching goals to realize the full potential of Bangladesh’s unique geographic location-
- Ensure safety from floods and climate-related disasters;
- Enhance water security and efficiency of water usages;
- Ensure sustainable and integrated river systems and estuaries management;
- Conserve and preserve wetlands and ecosystems and promote their appropriate use;
- Develop effective institutions and equitable governance for in-country and trans-boundary water resource management;
- Achieve optimal and integrated use of land and water resources
The strategies outlined in the BDP are devised to implement at 3 levels. At the first level, the plan aims to tackle flood risk and freshwater management at the national level. Then, BDP targets the hotspot levels of the country by adopting zone-based strategies, tailor made to address challenges for a specific geographic location. The plan designed these strategies for coastal zone, barind and drought prone areas, haor and flash flood areas, Chattogram hill tracts, urban areas, and river systems and estuaries. In the last level, BDP intends to deal with cross-cutting issues such as agriculture, trans-boundary water resources, blue economy etc.
A total of 80 projects will be undertaken by the GoB under the Delta Plan. 65 of these are physical, infrastructural development projects, which include river training, disaster-resistant infrastructure and coastal afforestation and 15 are institutional and knowledge development projects.
Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan (MCPP)
During Bangladesh’s second term as president of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), the country chaired the ‘Vulnerable Twenty’ (V20)- Climate Vulnerable Forum’s Summit in 2021 where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unveiled the ‘Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan’. The event was organized to address the compound, destabilizing effect of climate disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic on low- and middle-income economies.
The Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan has been devised to protect Bangladesh’s economy from upcoming hazards caused and/or fueled by the climate crisis. The plan has envisaged to secure Bangladesh’s future economic prosperity threatened by climate change while facilitating robust delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to Bangladesh’s citizens, and has also focused extensively in financial mechanisms to implement such initiatives. The plan will be a role model for other climate vulnerable countries from the developing world to adopt similar climate preparedness plans.
Following are some of the key initiatives under MCPP:
- Locally Led Adaptation Hubs
- Comprehensive Climate and Disaster Risk Management and Financing Strategy
- Resilient Well-Being Programs
- Bay of Bengal Independence Giga Array
- Strategic Energy Hubs
Bangladesh Climate Change and Gender Action Plan (ccGAP)
Women are often neglected while designing policies to fight climate change. However, if included effectively, women will be able to play a pivotal role in mitigating the effects of climate change and take a lead to adapt to the upcoming climate challenges. Thus, to include the ‘other half’ of the population in the context of climate change, GoB has formulated the Bangladesh Climate Change and Gender Action Plan (ccGAP) to ensure gender equality in all climate related policies undertaken by the Bangladesh government. The ccGAP takes on 4 priority sectors mentioned in the BCCSAP 2009: food security, social protection and health, comprehensive disaster management, infrastructure, and mitigation and low carbon development and actively targets women to become inclusive towards women.
About the Author
Shah Adaan Uzzaman is the Blog Administrator at The Confluence. A former Bangladesh Television Debate Champion and winner of several policy & debate competitions, he is currently a student of IBA, University of Dhaka.