How Climate Change Deepens Bangladesh’s Fragility: Policymakers Must Recognize that Climate Change Is a Long-Term Problem with Short-Term Effects on Human Rights, Governance and Conflict
Publisher: US Institute of Peace
Author(s): Mubashar Hasan, and Geoffrey Macdonald
Date: 2021
Topics: Climate Change, Governance, Humanitarian Assistance, Land, Renewable Resources
Countries: Bangladesh
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its sixth report on the state of the earth’s climate in early August — and it paints a dire picture. The report argues that unless governments take appropriate measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions and spur behavioral change, the world is moving toward a climate crisis of rising sea levels, warmer temperatures and more extreme weather. The report’s findings are particularly relevant in Bangladesh, where low elevation, high population density and weak infrastructure make it highly vulnerable to climate change.
Over the last two decades, the Global Climate Risk Index rates Bangladesh as the seventh most affected country in the world from extreme weather events. Depending on the extent of sea level rise in the coming decades, an estimated 15 to 30 million Bangladeshis could be displaced from coastal areas, if not more. A 2018 U.S. government report noted that 90 million Bangladeshis (56 percent of the population) live in “high climate exposure areas,” with 53 million subject to “very high” exposure. The United Nations Children’s Fund’s 2021 Children’s Climate Risk Index rates the climate risk facing children in Bangladesh “extremely high”— the index’s most severe rating.