A warning has been issued by the World Bank. 12 million poor people who live in coastal regions of Bangladesh are already threatened. A country that live with victims and damage caused by floods and cyclones. The most devastating human impacts in recent history were recorded in 1970 when some 300-500,000 Bangladeshis died in the south of the country as a result of coastal flooding. In 1991 another 140,000 died after a cyclone hit the Bengal coast, and in November 2007 cyclone SIDR resulted in further 3,700 deaths. In May 2016 cyclone Roanu caused 500,000 displaced persons and a several tens of victims. It is estimated that, with rising sea levels, Bangladesh will lose the 11% of his land areas if we do not adopt preventive measures.

Another threat loom over Bangladeshis’ population is the salinization of lands, an obvious signal of the climate change. Because of the continuous and extended floods, large quantities of debris and sand are deposited on the agricultural lands causing seeds’ and harvests’ lost. In addition, the fishing industry had a breakdown cause of the water pollution.

A glimmer of light comes from Dacca’s government that undertook to the introduction of the carbon tax in the 2017-2018 forward budget. Carbon tax requires energy and manufacturing companies who produce greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and methane) to pay a price for this pollution. The objective of the tax is to subsidize companies to reduce their emissions, to pay less. Most businessmen think this tax is an obstacle, of course, for economic development and competitiveness of companies because of the increase of initial costs for the adaptation of the facilities and the compliance of the rules. For these reasons, the carbon tax is opposed in developing countries, but also in the industrialized West, as evidenced by political line of the US President Trump.

Written by: Felicia Pontello

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CLIMATE CHANGE AND FLOODS IN BANGLADESH