Helping rural communities in Bangladesh adapt to climate change

SOS Children's Villages: Following the Durban talks in December on tackling climate change, the foreign minister of Bangladesh criticised developed countries for failing to distribute funds aimed at helping poorer countries adapt to environmental change.

Industrialised nations promised to provide 30 billion dollars to the world’s most vulnerable countries by the end of 2012. So far, less than 3 billion dollars has been made available and the Bangladesh minister, Dipu Moni, described this as “dismal”.

In an article published in the Guardian, Dr Moni explained how vulnerable countries like Bangladesh were being “marginalised”, even while they faced ever-increasing dangers from global warming. Around half of worldwide deaths caused by tropical cyclones occur in Bangladesh and with its low-lying lands and dependence on agriculture, communities are extremely vulnerable to long-term damage from flooding and storm surges. For example, in 2009, cyclone Aila destroyed many homes and livelihoods when it struck the south-western coastal region of Bangladesh. 4,000km of roads and embankments were damaged, many of which have yet to be repaired.

Dipu Moni has called on rich industrialised nations to adhere to their commitments to provide financial support to developing countries. Unless the pledged 30 billion dollars is provided, countries like Bangladesh will be made even more vulnerable to the impact of climate events. “[Developing] countries are having to make all the difficult....[and] very expensive choices,” she said, when it came to investing in infrastructure and other methods of protecting citizens. Bangladesh is already doing what it can to safeguard the livelihoods of communities for the future, such as funding research and development into crop varieties which are resistant to flooding or salinity...

Severe erosion of the Padma River banks in Bangladesh. Shot by Afzal Hossain Noman, Wikimedia Commons. The copyright holder of this file allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided that the copyright holder is properly attributed. Redistribution, derivative work, commercial use, and all other use is permitted