ASIA/BANGLADESH - Necessity to adequately address the reality of climate change

Boyarshing (Agenzia Fides) - The village of Boyarshing, about 300 km southwest of the capital, Dhaka is plagued with water woes. Women queue for hours with their vessels at the only public tap, in a line that moves agonizingly slowly. In fact the country is surrounded by water following the monsoon rains that have flooded large plots of agricultural land, but cannot be used for drinking or cooking due to excessive salinity. Climate change affects 156 million inhabitants of Bangladesh, from recurring droughts and floods, to sea surges and salinization of agricultural lands.
The 1,500 residents of Boyarshing, for instance, have periodic access to clean water, thanks to a pilot project led by the Asian Development Bank that saw the installation of 3.5 km of pipes. Although some complain that the pipes are too narrow and it takes hours just to collect five litres of water, in the nearby township of Shyamnagar the situation is far more precarious. Straddling the outskirts of the Sundarbans – the largest single bloc of tidal mangroves in the world, this village’s picturesque homes belie a reality of extreme poverty and hardship. In Dhaka, home to nearly 15 million inhabitants, flash floods are now a common phenomenon. There are some interventions that have worked. Bangladesh has been successful in reducing deaths due to cyclones dramatically. Experts say if the country is to properly reckon with the reality of climate change, similar changes in attitudes and policies need to be effected at the national level. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 06/11/2015)

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