Mrinal K. Sarkar
Bangladesh is a country known as the delta of the Asian continent, which has 21 coastal districts out of 64 districts, of which Satkhira is one of them. According to the National Youth Policy 2016 of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, all residents aged 18-35 will be known as youth. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 52 million people are youth which is more than 33% of the total population. In general, one third of the people of Bangladesh are youth and these youths can play a vital and leading role in the development of Bangladesh basically to tackle climate change vulnerability and risks. In number theory, this fact is called the demographic dividend. However, our youth are still discriminated against in many ways, limited access to politics, poverty, lack of quality education, lack of adequate resources, health and sanitation facilities and many other constraints. The youth of Satkhira district especially marginalized young women will enjoy human and democratic rights and develop livelihoods through access to services and other services that will build resilience against climate change, stress and its harmful effects.
Satkhira district is the south west sub-tropical district of Bangladesh where there are many kinds of manmade and natural disasters. Climate change and its adverse effects have the greatest impact on this region. Sidor, Aila, Amfan, Yas of yesteryear are direct examples. All these disasters have a greater impact on people and their livelihoods. Increases the loss of human life and property. Water logging, salinity, river erosion due to climate change in Satkhira district, floods, cyclones and other types of problems are being created. And as a result of all these problems agriculture, fisheries, animal, infrastructure, water, sanitation, health and hygiene sectors are adversely affected. The people of the area have not yet developed the capacity or skills to adapt or adapt to these adverse effects. To get rid of climate change and its harmful effects, youth-centric initiatives should be taken.
Increases the loss of human life and property. Due to climate change in Satkhira district, waterlogging, salinity, river erosion, flooding and other problems are being created. And as a result of all these problems agriculture, fisheries, animal resources, infrastructure, water, sewage and health sectors are adversely affected. The people of the area have not yet developed the capacity or skills to adapt or adapt to these adverse effects. Due to tides in the river, the tide carries a lot of sediment which cannot be completely carried by the ebb and the sediment accumulates, filling the river and creating navigability. Climate change is causing extreme rains, lack of rains, erratic rainfalls and widespread disruption of agricultural activities resulting in reduction in agricultural production. Due to river filling, tidal water overflows into cropland and causes waterlogging. Due to the lack of permanent management of the river banks, the river is frequently eroding and various areas are flooded. As a result, people’s crop lands are being destroyed, people in waterlogged areas are losing their habitats and taking refuge on high roads.
Unplanned construction of enclosures and infrastructure for fisheries causes flooding and loss of human crops, fragility of communication systems, destruction of human infrastructure, destruction of lives and livelihoods.
Climate change and its harmful effects are causing people to lose jobs, increase the rate of human migration, and create new slums in urban areas that are straining people and their livelihoods.
But in a random survey in coastal belt areas there 73% people have no idea about climate change and adaptation and rest 27% people among the 19% people have only idea about climate change. Due to climate change salinity in water is increasing and people are deprived of clean and safe water for drinking, bathing, and agricultural productions. As a result, adolescents cannot manage their menstrual health properly basically in the coastal belt areas of Bangladesh. Due to climate change and its harmful effects, the rate of migration among the people in the area is increasing and child marriage, violence against women and other activities are increasing which is acting as a hindrance to the development of the nation. Union Parishads do not have a system to keep information related to climate change and adaptation, so the people of the area cannot collect new information to adapt to the changing conditions. People are deprived of their necessary information due to lack of regular updates of weather information board of Union Parishad. Local government budgets do not take much initiative to address climate change and sectoral adaptation due to their resource limitation. There is no special budget for the youth in the union and municipal budgets. Especially for the youth, they are not getting the opportunity to do other activities including establishment of special clubs, national day celebrations and World Environment Day celebrations, tree planting. Union and municipal budgets not earmarked for youth employment and development Impact on youth. Due to the absence of any provision for employment and development in the union and municipal budgets, the youth are becoming unemployed day by day. Family, social harmony is getting destroyed, youths are getting involved in various activities due to which the nation is not able to produce skilled human resources.
Major issues related to climate change in the area and what initiatives have been taken to address them: Due to climate change major problems like flooding, salinity, natural disasters, river erosion, migration etc. in the coastal belt areas of Bangladesh. People of coastal belt areas suffer the following effects like difficulty in livelihoods, increased crop losses and displacement, increased poverty and unemployment, increased violence against women.
Main causes of the above said problems like unplanned enclosure and infrastructure development, climate change, lack of labor resources and finally the following cooperation will be needed from whom to solve the problem like taking various public and private initiatives locally and centrally that may be the part of governmental/private initiatives to address the problem.
On the other hand, sector wise impacts due to climate change are emerged like agricultural production, fisheries production, livestock production, WASH Sector (Water, Sanitation and Sanitation), Infrastructure, Human Health. Then the consequences are relatively the crop is decreasing. Fish production is decreasing. Salinity is increasing. Animal resource production is declining. Waterlogging is caused due to lack of water drainage system. Traffic problems and crops not being produced; the sustainability of infrastructure is decreasing. Various sores on the body are itching, having seasonal problems and resulting crop production is decreasing due to high salinity. Lack of knowledge about salt tolerant varieties, crop production is decreasing due to high salinity. Animal resources are not producing food. Cyclone and waterlogging causing problems in WAS sector, hyper salinity, hyper salinity.
In this regards what solutions to be needed to address the problem? Here we can do the following things like production of salt tolerant varieties, water inlet and outlet management, rearing of salt tolerant varieties and cultivation of salt tolerant grass, production of disaster tolerant WASH products and providing services, creating salt tolerant and disaster tolerant infrastructure. Cultivation of salt tolerant vegetables in the backyard is very much essential.
What kind of cooperation will be needed and from whom and this is also indeed for the community like Agriculture Department, Fisheries Department, Animal Resources Department, DPHE and Health Department, LGED, Health Department. After then if we say what kind of initiatives have been taken to solve the problem then it is very much clear that in terms of local initiatives then we can see that indigenous adaptation efforts have been continuing by the locals but need more initiatives from the other government and non-government end.
We can do the following to tackle the climate change in wider range:
1. Adequate shelters should be provided in disaster and flooded areas so that the people of the area can take shelter during various disasters.
2. Immediate provision of flood forecast to the public is necessary so that people can take necessary precautions.
3. Establish effective linkages with various financial institutions to ensure climate resilient and job oriented training and employment for the youth.
4. Adaptation to climate change in agriculture, fisheries, animal resources, water-sanitation, and infrastructural development and more demonstrations and field days on demonstration crops/breeds should be organized to bring new varieties to the public. Also, in the salinity area, it is necessary to implement other adaptive methods such as sack method vegetable cultivation, cage method fish farming, sheep rearing, high foundation and super structure strengthening toilets.
5. To get rid of waterlogging, government should arrange river dredging and planned construction of fish enclosures to provide water inlet and outlet. Besides, various infrastructures should be developed in a planned manner.
6. It is necessary to organize more and more awareness programs by various government and private initiatives so that the people of the community understand about climate change and its impacts.
7. It is absolutely necessary to arrange river dredging by the government to reduce the navigability of the river.
8. Students in all educational institutions should be sensitized about climate change, disaster and disaster response so that they respond to various disasters without collapse.
9. All necessary initiatives should be taken to engage the youth community in various income generating activities as there is demand in the market and suitable for the youth.
10. It is necessary to develop a system of rapid response at the government and private levels among the victims of various disasters.
11. In order to get rid of climate change and its harmful effects, it is necessary to implement various social activities at the community level, including youth-led tree planting.
12. For climate affected districts and upazilas, various government level plans such as fifth anniversary plan, perspective plan and delta plan need to be planned separately and special allocations are needed to implement the plan.
13. There is an urgent need to include and implement specific measures to address climate change and its harmful effects in various plans by local governments.
14. Provision of information related to climate change and adaptation in Union Parishads from where local people can get new information to adapt to changing conditions.
15. Union Parishad Meteorological Information Board to be regularly updated so that people can get regular weather related information and plan their agriculture and other needs.
16. Local government budgets for youth security can include budget allocation and sector-wise spending and ensure youth are present during budgeting.
17. Before the budget, various meetings and seminars can be organized on how the youth wants the budget.
After then we will be able to establish a climate-smart Bangladesh that will contribute to sustainable development.
