Alternative livelihoods stressed to cope with climate change
September 24, 2008
Speakers at a meeting on Saturday emphasised creating alternative livelihoods to cope with the climate change.
The meeting on alternative livelihood in the context of climate change was held at the office of Pradipan, a non-governmental organisation, in Khulna city.
Pradipan arranged the meeting with the help of Bread for the World and Christian Aid for Overseas Development.
The speakers said building awareness among the countrymen on impacts of climate change on livelihood and food security, and creating alternative livelihoods were needed for adapting to climate change.
Chaired by journalist Mallick Sudhangshu, the meeting was also addressed by Professor Salequzzaman, Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon activist Firoz Ahmed, Khulna district livestock officer Obaidul Karim, journalist Mokbul Hossain Mintu, and Prodipan’s Mehedi Azam.
The speakers called for applying local and indigenous knowledge to improve soil fertility and preserve seeds to cope with the situation in the south-western region of the country, and also demanded an immediate land zoning for ecological agriculture and farming.
They said salinity in the region was increasing gradually, and called for restoration of water bodies like ponds and tanks, in stead of extracting ground water, to get water for drinking and household use.
They said new sustainable livelihood options like crab fattening, pig farming, fish farming, mat knitting, and poultry farming should be introduced to the people of the south-western region who are dependant on the Sundarbans for their livelihoods investing a small amount of money.
They also urged all to launch a campaign against the developed countries that are mainly responsible for climate change to get compensation from them for the developing countries to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Source: New Age
Monsoon front intensifies
September 17, 2008
The monsoon front over the northwest Bay of Bengal, off the Orissa coast, moved slightly northwards and intensified into a deep depression, the meteorological department said Tuesday in a special weather bulletin.
Under its influence, a steep pressure gradient lies over the North Bay, the weather office said.
Maritime ports of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Mongla have been asked to keep hoisted local cautionary signal number 3, it added.
All fishing boats and trawlers over North Bay have been asked to take shelter immediately and remain in shelter till further notice.
Low-lying areas of the coastal districts of Noakhali, Feni, Laxmipur, Bhola, Barisal, Patuakhali, Barguna, Pirozpur, Jhalokhati, Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira , offshore islands and chars are likely to be inundated by water surges of 2-3 feet high.
At 3pm, the depression was about 575 kilometres west-southwest of Chittagong port, 560 kilometres west-southwest of Cox’s Bazar port and 365 kilometres southwest of Mongla port.
It is likely to intensify further and move in a north-northwesterly direction, crossing the Orissa coast of India near Paradwip by night.
Squally weather may continue to affect the maritime ports and adjoining coastal region of Bangladesh.
Maximum sustained wind speed within 48 kms of the depression centre is about 50 km per hour rising to 60 kph in gusts or squalls. The sea will remain rough.
Source: bdnews24
Hurricane Ike hits Cuba’s coast
September 8, 2008
Hurricane Ike hits Cuba
Hurricane Ike is battering Cuba’s northern coast, generating winds of more than 195km/h (120mph), giant waves and torrential rain.
Cuban TV has said that some homes along the coast, where hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated, have been damaged beyond repair.
Ike killed at least 47 people in Haiti and reportedly damaged 80% of homes on the main Turks and Caicos islands.
It weakened to a Category Three storm but remains dangerous.
The Cuban Meteorology Institute said the eye of the hurricane came ashore near Punta Lucrecia in the state of Holguin about 510 miles (823km) south-east of Havana.
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RED CROSS APPEAL
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With Hurricane Gustav striking just a week ago, Cuba’s internationally acclaimed emergency services are being stretched to the limit, the BBC’s Michael Voss reports from Havana.
Gustav caused serious damage to the western side of the island, damaging almost 100,000 homes.
Ike is forecast to reach the capital early on Tuesday morning.
A direct hit on the densely populated city of two million people with its precarious colonial buildings could be devastating, our correspondent says.
Among those evacuated before the arrival of Ike were 15,000 tourists.
Haitian appeal
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, endured the onslaught of four tropical storms in a three week period.
Heavy rains and flooding sparked by the outer bands of the storm killed at least 47 people, many of them children, in the town of Cabaret, north of the capital Port au Prince, local media report.
The destruction in Haiti has been described as catastrophic.
Police said 500 people were confirmed dead from recent Tropical Storm Hanna while others were still missing and the number could rise.
The newly installed Prime Minister, Michele Pierre Louis, has launched a fresh appeal for international aid.
He called in particular for helicopters to bring those left stranded by the floods to safety. Many lived for days on their rooftops to escape the flood waters.
Florida threat
Ike has been moving westwards at 20km/h (13mph) and is expected to make a 30-hour track along the centre of Cuba, although weakening on the way, the US National Hurricane Center says.
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RECENT MAJOR STORMS
Hurricane Ike: September
Tropical Storm Hanna: September
Hurricane Gustav: August, September
Tropical Storm Fay: August
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It has weakened slightly, from Category Four to Three, but the NHC said it was still potentially very dangerous.
On its current track the storm could threaten the islands of the Florida Keys by Tuesday. Some residents have received evacuation orders.
Emergency management director Craig Fugate urged them to move soon, or they “may find the escape route blocked by a hurricane”.
Weather Bangladesh (Live)
July 8, 2008
Scientist debunks ‘NASA doomsday climate scenario’ for Bangladesh
July 6, 2008
A leading Bangladeshi researcher on climate change has dismissed as an overstatement the doomsday projections that Bangladesh could ‘disappear under the waves by the end of the century.’(The Newage)The gloomy prediction, attributed to the US space agency NASA, was made in a recent report in the British daily the Independent.
Dr Monirul Qader Mirza, a co-author of last year’s reputed Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change reports, suggests that the 25-metre sea level rise, as predicted by the Independent report, could be an exaggeration and had been denied by NASA.
Writing in the editorial page of today’s issue of New Age, Mirza warns that Bangladesh will nonetheless face widespread devastation for a much smaller rise in sea levels as predicted by the Nobel Peace prize-winning IPCC.
‘The 25-metre sea level rise is inappropriately cited in the Independent in the name of NASA and certainly entire Bangladesh is not going to go under water by the end of this century’, writes Mirza in his article.
A report by Johann Hari published in the Independent newspaper on June 20 observed, ‘Bangladesh, the most crowded nation on earth, is set to disappear under the waves by the end of this century’, and attributed the 25-metre sea level rise projection to reputed NASA scientist Dr James Hansen.
According to Mirza, the NASA scientist responded to his queries on this projection via email in which he wrote: ‘I have made no such projection…it is hard to say how much would occur by 2100 – it could be a few metres’.
‘In my long association with the IPCC, I have not come across any literature that has particularly projected a 25-metre sea level rise by 2100,’ writes Mirza.
Mirza, who is currently working at the University of Toronto in Canada, however, warns that ‘impacts of sea level rise on land and water, crops, livestock, human health and livelihood would be significant’, even if the extent of such a rise was far less.
Scientists in Bangladesh have also questioned the veracity of the 25-metre sea level rise projection with many viewing it as ‘too extreme’.
‘Although there may be scope for upwardly adjusting the IPCC projections, I think the scientific basis of a 25-metre sea level rise projection would be quite shaky’, said Mozaharul Alam, a research fellow at the Dhaka-based Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies
Climate change in South Asia
July 2, 2008
The deliberations in Dhaka, against a backdrop of the slide that has been going on in the environment on a global scale, assume a particular dimension precisely because of the vulnerabilities to which Bangladesh and the rest of South Asia are exposed. In other words, if ever there was a time for concrete and collective action to protect the region from common dangers, it is now. And here are the reasons: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that the severity of the risks to the environment will be powerful enough to force as many as 35 million people to move out of Bangladesh’s flooded delta by the year 2050. It is a terrible scenario that is before us, for there is the apprehension that the landmass of the country will stand reduced drastically. And much a similar condition threatens to apply to the other nations in the region, with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India facing various degrees of danger. The Maldives, it is being said with eerie finality, will be no more.
Which is why the urgency of action is there. For these meetings in Dhaka, devising a common plan of action is now an imperative. The suggestions that have been made, notably the formation of a climate group geared to adaptation and funding adaptive technology, must be given the attention they call for. The generation of resources from within the region as also garnering every form of cooperation from international organisations will be a necessity if the future of the 1.5 billion people of South Asia is to be saved.
We expect the experts’ conference as well as the ministerial meeting to come up with concrete plans to meet the challenge. The apocalyptic may not be here yet, but it looms over the immediate future.
Monsoon rains set in
July 2, 2008
Dhaka, June 29: Unrelenting overnight downpours in the capital and elsewhere across the country signalled that the monsoon season, which officially started in mid-June, might have truly set in.
The Metrological Department said in a forecast Sunday morning that more heavy showers might be expected through the day.
Met office duty officer SM Mahmudul Haque told bdnews24.com: “The overhanging rainclouds might induce further rainfall countrywide throughout the day, accompanied by very heavy showers at places.”
Monday might see the wet spell drying up somewhat, he added.
Precipitation over 24 hours from 9am Saturday was recorded as 111mm in Dhaka, 88mm at Cox’s Bazaar, 27mm in Chittagong, 46mm at Comilla, 49mm at Bogra, 21mm at Mongla, 38mm in Patuakhali and 23mm at Faridpur, the weather office said.
Source: bdnews24
Dhaka rain-hit
July 1, 2008
Heavy downpour for most of the day yesterday sent many areas in the city under ankle- to knee-deep water, meaning immense sufferings to the residents, particularly the office-goers and students.
According to the Met office, moderate to heavy rain across the country has been brought on by monsoons, and it is likely to continue till July 5.
Dhaka received 67mm of rainfall between 6:00am and noon yesterday while the highest rainfall during the same period was recorded 73mm in Kutubdia.
The ceaseless deluge that began the previous night turned much of the capital into a swamp, disrupting life and trade. Commuters were the worst sufferers as traffic remained stuck for hours in long tailbacks.
Public utilities digging up roads added to their plight. CNG-run three-wheelers breaking down for water getting in exhaust pipes compounded traffic jams on the arterial roads and crossings including Mouchak, Kakrail, Karwan Bazar, Bijay Sarani, Fakirapool, Paltan, Dainik Bangla, Rampura and Rokeya Sarani.
Office-goers and students struggled to find vehicles in the rain beating down for most of the rush hours. Many had to wade knee-deep through water and muck leaked out of sewers to reach destinations.
Rickshaws were in great demand in places where motorised vehicles were few in number.
Taking advantage of the rain-lashed conditions, many rickshaw pullers and CNG drivers charged the passengers more than twice the usual fare.
Raihan of Kazipara said, “I had to pay Tk 15 for a rickshaw ride that usually takes not more than Tk 5.”
Nurjahan, a garment worker in Pallabi, said, “I had to walk through waist-deep water to be at work this morning.”
Anwar, a private firm employee, said he failed to show up at his workplace in Karwan Bazar by 12:30pm and missed an emergency appointment as his motorcycle had stopped moving in water at Gulistan.
Badda, Demra, Madartek, Basabo, Manda, Trimohoni, Gulistan, Shantinagar, Monipuripara, Shewrapara, Kazipara, Mirpur-10, Pallabi, Mohammadpur, Manik Mia Avenue, roads near Azimpur graveyard, Tongi Diversion Road, parts of old town and DND area were the worst affected in waterlogging, which is a common sight for the city residents even in moderate rain.
Urban experts blame it on unplanned urbanisation, absence of proper sewerage system and indiscriminate filling of the natural waterbodies.
They suggest formulating a comprehensive drainage plan as well as a master plan for city development to rid the capital of waterlogging. As immediate measures, they recommend retrieving the canals grabbed by influential quarters and excavating those afresh.
An official of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) said the primary cause of waterlogging in the city is inadequate and outdated drainage system. A proper drainage system connecting drains and sewers with waterbodies such as ponds, lakes and canals is a must to spare the people of sufferings during the monsoons.
An official of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) said the storm sewerage lines and surface drains of both Wasa and DCC do not function properly for lack of cleaning and contribute to waterlogging.
Source: The Daily Star (Internet)