ENVIRONMENT
# Per capita per year carbon emission of the world is 6 tons.
The people of Bangladesh average emits 0.3 tons CO2 per year.
# If at the current rate the greenhouse gas increase, the average temperature of the world will increase up to 4 degree centigrade by the end of this century.
# Current years the global average sea level is rising about 3 mm per year.
# The most carbon emitter country –
1. China
2. USA
# UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
# On the basis of Environmental Performance Index (EPI) in 2010. The ranking is-
1. Iceland.# Many countries will suffer for climate change. But 90% of them are poor countries.
# Bangladesh will be most severely affected country of the world for climate change. Maldives and such low island countries, Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua, Myanmar, Vietnam, etc will come after Bangladesh.
# Bangladesh is facing the risk of losing of its 17 percent land and displacement of 20 million people due to climate change.
# Firstly the position of Bangladesh is in deltaic region, where the sea is funnel shaped, making it susceptible to sea surge and cyclones.
# Infections like malaria, dengue, etc will rise for hot climate.
# Crop production will decrease by 30% in 2050 in Bangladesh.
# High temperature will create variable precipitation, extreme weather, severe drought and intrusion of saline water in more arable land.
# Winter season is shrinking, autumn and dewy seasons are vanishing. These disappearing seasons will also affect the cropping pattern. Drought and floods will affect crop production.
# Bangladesh government has approved 134 climate change action plans. To meet the costs government has established a US $100 million climate change fund; and also a multi-donor trust fund with US $150 million from friend countries.
# Bangladesh has already started some self-preservation programs for adaptation to climate change. The measures are:
1. Dredging of major rivers
2. Land reclamation
3. Homesteads for displaced people
4. Introduction of climate change-tolerant crop varieties and protection of biodiversity.
# According to the “Brussels Program of Action" – The developed countries will provide 0.7 percent of their GNI for developing countries and 0.2 percent for LDCs through ODA (Official Development Assistance).
# In 1979 aid to agriculture was 18 percent of the global official development assistance that declined to 4.3 percent in 2008 when the world saw one of the worst food crises in recent history. Government investment in agriculture in developing countries also fell during this period; by one third in Africa and by as much as two thirds in Asia and Latin America.
# The government is designing a long-term strategic plan to turn the southern coastal belt into a major rice producing region. The authorities are considering the issues of increasing salinity in the southern coastal districts that might take a serious turn due to sea level rise in future.
# They also designing the plan to turn water-scarce northern districts into high value crops zone during dry season. The headache is fall of underground water table in the northern region during dry season.
# The country has 82.9 lakh hectares of cultivated land, and 3.23 lakh hectares of arable land remain fallow round the year.
# Bangladesh produces three crore tonnes of rice in a year. 60% is boro rice which is produced in dry season in the northern and north-western regions. But excessive withdrawal of underground water for irrigation and shortage of river water are causing desertification in many areas of the region. Soil in these regions is also good for production of high value crops like wheat, pulses, oil seeds and spices, but these cannot be grown widely because of boro cultivation in vast tracts of lands.
# The country is almost self-sufficient in rice but is highly dependent on import of most other high value crops. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the country produced 8.5 lakh tonnes of wheat in fiscal 2008-09, which met 30 percent of the domestic demand. And it produced 2.31 lakh tonnes of pulses that met 40 percent of the demand and five lakh tonnes of oil seeds meeting a small portion of the demand. The country is also heavily dependent on import of onion, ginger, garlic, sugar and fruits.
# There are about 700 rivers in our country.
# The flow of water on the Teesta has weakened significantly in last 24 years for Gajoldoba barrage and some dams built by India in the river’s upper basin. Now the flow of water comes down less than 1000 cubic feet per second.
# Teesta river originated from Cholamo Lake of the Himalays.
