Md Sanaul H. Mondal
Department of Social Relations, East West University, Bangladesh
Population growth, Climate change, Sustainable development, Bangladesh
Socio-economic and Policy
Climate change
Jàmbá vol.11 n.1 Cape Town 2019
Bangladesh is successful to reduce population growth rate, TFR, infant mortality rate and so on. The country is also a role model for developing countries because its GDP has more than tripled since 1971. Despite those socio-economic progresses, the country is at high risk of climate change which may undermine the social and economic stability of the country.
Bangladesh has already invested millions of dollars to adapt (structural adaptation and non-structural adaptation) with changing climate variability, for example, construction of cyclone shelters, strengthening the early-warning system, allocation of more budget in agriculture research, etc. Nevertheless, climate victims are not waiting for support from the top and have already started to cope with the adverse situation. But adaptation has its elastic limit. It is quite unclear, how much adaptive capacities of the communities can make the people climate proof? However, the cost of adaptation is somehow difficult to ascertain for Bangladesh. Indeed, various laboratory works estimate the cost of adaptation for Bangladesh; nevertheless, it might fall into a fallacy because ground reality for adaptation and mitigation efforts would be different from that of the laboratory.
Bangladesh is now self-sufficient to feed its large number of people at the cost of maximum intensification of agricultural lands. But the national priority to ensure food security might face severe challenge by the population growth, over cultivation, unplanned utilisation of lands and above all change in climate variability, and these factors might lead the country towards short-term or chronic food insecurity, which will hamper the development efforts of the country. The impact of 2017 flood is the reflection of the above assumptions. The question asked is: how best can the country prepare for climate change? This actually lies in population control, increasing access to quality education, raising income level through creating sustainable employment opportunities, enhancing community-level resilience to disasters, and above all ensuring good governance.
Bangladesh should take cohesive actions on climate change for eliminating extreme poverty and inequality and promoting sustainable development. Impacts of climate change in this country are not a future threat - they are already pervasive through increased frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones, increasing sea levels, decreasing crop yields and water shortages during dry seasons. Actions on climate change are very imperative, as climate change will pose threats to its achievement of SDGs. These actions must be integrated, balanced and inclusive, irrespective of social, economic, environmental and political arena to sustain the achievements of SDGs beyond 2030. To sum up, Bangladesh should prioritise population growth and climate change as an apex development agenda in the coming decades to achieve sustainable development.
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