Urban Forestry for Symbolizing Eco-City

The global population pressure has increased in urban areas in terms of aspiration of better life. According to the UN Population Division, about 44% of the total populations in developing countries are living in urban area. There is no doubt that the urbanization will proceed to have significant impact on the ecology, economy and society at local, regional, and global scales. The great impact have observe in the urban green spaces includes urban forest, parks, playground, urban domestic garden, roadside avenue and urban vegetation.

World Health Organization (WHO) stated that per city dwellers should have 9 sq. meter green spaces for ensuring better life. In developed countries, normally, have more trees (more than 20 sq. meter green spaces per city dwellers) to meets the ecological balance of human well-being compared to cities in developing countries, which often fall below the minimum standard of open green spaces set by WHO. For example, most of the cities of China have more than 30% and 6.52 sq. meter green coverage which is questionable for betterment of human life.

Now we have to look over the capital city in Bangladesh. What is the scenario really we enjoy in Dhaka city? It is one of the fastest growing mega cities in the world. The metropolitan city of Dhaka has an area of 131 sq. kilometer with more than 15 million populations. Currently, unplanned urbanization resulted ecological imbalances in the city. FAO (2008) pointed out that Dhaka city has 21.57% open space where city parks belong to 0.89% and 0.02% for urban forest, garden for 0.90% and 12.12% for agriculture to meets the ecological balance of the city dwellers. The green space has been reducing gradually by increasing building number without considering environmental protection. According to the Chief Town Planner of Dhaka City Corporation (2003), an ideal city needs 20% areas covered by trees but there is only 8% vegetation in the city. Currently, almost 15 million dwellers of Dhaka city enjoy limited ecological services from Ramna Udyan, Sohrawardy Udyan, Dhaka University campus, National Parliament Bhaban, Ganobhabon, Chandrima Park, Bahadur Sah Park, Botanical Garden and National Zoo etc. which can be regarded as important urban green resources.

Hence, green space in Dhaka city is now questionable in the context of entire global standard. Inadequate tree coverage in Dhaka city resulting many environmental hostility as well as human health related problem. Since 14 years, highest temperature has experienced in Dhaka city. Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) reported that the maximum and minimum temperature of Dhaka city have gradually increased, adding hotter summers and cooler winters. In 27 April 2009, highest temperature was showed at 42.3 degree Celsius in Dhaka city. The urban heat has sharply increased in the recent few decades also with dust storms and the wind speeds has reduced in Dhaka city.

Department of Environment (DoE) pointed out that air pollutant (SO_x, NO_x and CO₂) levels in Dhaka city are about 4 to 5 times higher than the levels prescribed in Bangladesh of Air Quality Standard (AQS). Such kind of pollutants remains and persists with air due to lack of tree coverage. Several research in US shows that trees can remove pollution by intercepting airborne particles. Another study of BAPA (2002) pointed out that these air pollution causes headache, burning of eyes, pain in throat, bronchitis, breathing problems, heart disease, anemia, mental problems, kidney disease and even cancer. According to expert of WBB (2002), about 33% of Dhaka dwellers suffer hearing problems due to noise pollution. In US one research estimate suggests that 7db noise reduction is achieved for every 33 meter of forest. Therefore, vegetation can play an important role in attenuating noise and absorbing sound energy.

Another important hydrological function of urban is growingly distressed as protection of drinking water resources in order of reducing woodland and trees. Undoubtedly it is true that increasing the area of green space will increase the volume of pure water of city authority. The limited trees in the parks and streets in Dhaka are unable to infiltrate and recharge of this rainwater. As consequences, drinking water becomes deflowered. Considering importance of woodland for water purification, Denmark has demonstrated woodland close to the cities.

Forthrightly, we should emphasize urban forestry and incorporate it into the urban planning and development. Two main reasons are for betterment of our healthy life in cities and second one is catching global agenda due to the present development scenario which forwarding towards sustainable development. Generally, we can do this in narrower scale beside the river bank and cannels around the cities, government office space, both private and public universities, school and college, park and beside the play ground, private open spaces, roof considering herb trees and slums in Dhaka city. The sum of total can present a remarkable contribution in the urban forestry for building green city as to make important role for green job generation, improving health, environmental quality as well as aesthetic value of urban landscapes.

Apart from that, the master plan of Dhaka city should consider remarkable green space for ensuring urban dwellers healthy life in future. Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) should emphasize housing with garden strategy for the planned area under the master plan of Dhaka Metropolitan. A research is crucial for introducing types of tree in the open area of Dhaka city. Along with concrete coordination among forest department, Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), RAJUK and other stakeholders is needed to extend the urban forestry. Yet, the forest policy didn’t consider urban forestry. Hence, possible sensitization of policy makers through this issue is urgent in recent days. Considering all merits of urban forestry, a holistic approach is needed for symbolizing green city in future.  

Urban Agriculture for a Sustainable City

At the beginning of the new millennium we live in a world of unprecedented population number. Currently cities are populated about half of the world’s population, a figure which is probably to increase to third by 2030. Currently, each person should have equally 4.7 acres of land considering almost 22 billion acres of productive land on earth.

However each person requires 6.2 acres for a satisfactory standard of living. Following this, earth will support only 3.5 billion people. But earth already has 6 billion populations! How can this be? Many poor countries have a small appropriated productive land, for example Mozambican has 1.2 acres of land for each one. They are malnourished and are disturbing their environment to survive.

On the contrary, Americans and Australians have an appropriated productive land of 24.7 acres per person. In fact, at the present time, there is sufficient food to feed the world’s current population. But, going on improper distribution that resulting nearly 1 billion malnourished and often followed by disease. It is of crucial importance for cities in developed countries to use resources more efficiently and that certainly includes their food supply. Urban agriculture can make a crucial contribution here.

Most of the cities have designed with farmland for ensuring food security, timber, metabolism of nature, and environmental protection. Even bio-fertilizer derived from urban solid waste has use for deigned farmland productivity. For example, megacity Shanghai significantly designed for farmland on the edge of city for mostly rice and wheat cultivation for feeding the city. Apart from that, almost 10,000 hectares on the outskirts of Shanghai are intensely cultivated a great variety of vegetables for the city population. Interestingly majority of the farmer depends on bio-fertilizer for their agriculture which comes from urban solid waste management. On the other hand, urban agriculture can help cities make the best possible use of organic waste materials. Now city is sustainable in terms of urban agriculture, both by being able to supply food and by offering livelihoods for city people.

Now we have look over the country feature of Bangladesh. What is the scenario actually we enjoyed in Dhaka city? Dhaka is now one of the world’s one of the fastest growing mega cities. The metropolitan city of Dhaka has an area of 131 km² with approximately of 20 million populations. In recent times, Dhaka has been challenged by numerous difficulties like unplanned urbanization, extensive urban poverty, growth of urban slums and squatters, food insecurity, solid waste management and environmental degradation. For better understanding of city sustainability, agriculture coverage, food security and appropriate solid waste management is being considered crucially. 

According to Mohammad Nasir Uddin (2007), only 2.5% land is remaining for agricultural purposes within the Dhaka cities. Presently, cultivable land is reducing alarmingly due to increase population pressure and increasing demand for habitation in the urban area for chairing better life. As a consequence agricultural land as well as agricultural production has decreased in Dhaka city periodically. The peanut amount of land considered for lucrative agriculture cultivation for aesthetic value rather than considering food production. Presently, total food demand of city dwellers supplied either from peri-urban area or further and further away from the city. Even daily vegetable demand didn’t come from urban household cultivation practices. However, new transport technologies made it possible to bring its food in from further and further away which added extra cost on the supplied food. That may not acceptable for all people especially for poor in the urban area.

According to the Md. Rubayet Mortuza (2011) estimation, about 80,220 hectares as is covered by concrete as a continuous roof considering 65% of the area of Dhaka city. This space may have great opportunity to extent green coverage through food production for feeding the urban dwellers as well offering livelihoods for city people. If though, insignificant number of city dwellers already started roof top gardening. But it focuses only aesthetic value rather than food production. Hence, city dwellers should be more concern to food production for their own. 

According to the JICA (2005), per capita waste generation rate of Dhaka city is found at 0.56 kg/capita/day. Presently, Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) facing serious problem for dumping solid waste which resulting public health related problem for urban dwellers. If this situation continues then Dhaka would soon become an urban slum with the least livable conditions for the city dwellers. But there is a great opportunity to manage the waste for transforming solid waste to bio-fertilizer for both urban and nearby peri-urban agriculture production.

Hence, we should take some initiatives to make sure urban agriculture for sustainable city with considering solid waste management. We should make sure bio-fertilizer for peri-urban and urban agriculture, increase roof gardening as well as roof top gardening, enhancing farmer’s motivation for using bio-fertilizer, strengthening Civil Society Organization’s (CSOs) consciousness for urban agriculture as to ensure sustainable city, providing subsides by the government on bio-fertilizer for producer and consumer, enhancing effective coordination among Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Department of Environment (DoE) and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and other related departments for ensuring urban and peri-urban agriculture through using solid waste management. Eventually, decentralize the administrative activities of capital should be ensured for reducing urban population pressure as to ensure the feeding of acceptable urban population by their own food production and make sure the sustainable city. If we implement the aforesaid issues then we will able to win the race of sustainable city by promoting urban agriculture which is a solution for our future.   

Role of Bangladesh in Addressing Climate Change and Food Security

Bangladesh is going to face a challenging time in the future due to a lot of existing and emerging problems. With a population of about 142 million (BBS) and growing at a rate of two million every year, it faces a daunting task of feeding this population and providing it with houses, livelihoods and health care services. The multiplier effect of climate change will make the task more challenging as it will effect almost all aspects of life especially food security and health.

According to the 4th assessment report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, rice production in Bangladesh is going to decrease by 8 percent by 2050. But the fact is that by 2050 we are to produce around 17 million metric tonnes more rice for meeting the demand of 194.353 million people. So, this will pose a serious threat to our food security in terms of food production.

According to ICDDRB, in developing countries higher temperature will increase the risk of flood and incidence of diseases. Another study by WHO mentions that climate change and environmental degradation together create conditions conducive to the emergence, resurgence and spread of infectious diseases that kills more than 20 million people worldwide annually (Khan, M.A., 2011). Climate change will take its toll not only in terms of life loss but also in terms of economic loss. It is estimated that diarrhoea will cost 102.94 million USD for Bangladesh in the year between 2010 and 2021 (Pocket Book, 2009). Taking the cost of all the diseases, this stands at 2801.47 million USD (Pocket Book, 2009). This poses a great threat to our country.

This has been duly considered by the government of Bangladesh and so food security and health have been considered as the first pillar of Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009. Under the first pillar ‘Food security, social protection and health,’ the government targeted to increase the resilience of vulnerable groups, including women and children, though community-level adaptation, livelihood diversification, better access to basic services and social protection like safety nets and insurance. In the Country Investment Plan of Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, under the component- 1, in the first programme, integrated research and extension for developing and propagating sustainable response to climate change has been emphasised. The main areas of emphasis are developing new varieties of rice and other crops, diversifying crop production, research and development in the area of agricultural practices and farming systems for adapting to and mitigating climate change.

In global climate negotiation, food security and health in relation to climate change were not considered with due importance. In Copenhagen in 2009, there was consideration on agriculture in the context of climate change in the report of AWG-LCA in the article 2, 3 and 4 of the convention. During COP 16 in Cancun, agriculture was considered under the sectoral approaches within the AWG-LCA text, but was excluded in the final hours of deliberations. Climate change and health priorities were considered in Rio declaration of Earth Summit in 1992. In Article 4.1 (f) of UNFCCC, public health was considered.

Climate change will affect various sectors especially food security and health which calls for a coordinated action from various ministries of government and civil society. In this regard, it is high time we introspected and reviewed our policies and strategies so that our agriculture and health system can address the negative implications of climate change. We need to take effective steps nationally for shielding us from and combating climate change and bring these issues to the fore of international climate negotiations. The clock is ticking and we should not dillydally anymore for preparing ourselves for upcoming COP 18 and other international climate negotiations for getting a more favourable result which addresses our concern of climate change, food security and health.

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: Act Locally and Push Globally

Bangladesh which has been made of billions of tons alluvial soil from Himalaya through Indo-Gangetic lowland is now faced with the fallout from climate change and natural disasters induced from it. The gravity of the problem is so great that it calls for action from our part in a synchronized way without any more dillydallying. With our disaster prone geography coupled with low economic strength, inadequate infrastructure, low level of social development, lack of institutional capacity, and higher dependency on natural resource base, we are increasingly being left at the mercy of nature.

From the middle of 1800 era, average temperature of today's world has already increased by 0.6°C. In the last century, average temperature of earth has increased by 1.5°C to 4.5°C leading to melting of polar ice and thus rising sea level. This is a real alarming situation for Bangladesh as 75% of Bangladesh’s land area is less than 10 meters above the sea level and as a temperature above 32 degree Celsius will decrease prawn production. At the same time at the very opposite end, there is also possibility of reduced temperature in the winter time. This can greatly affect our food security as temperature going below 18 degree Celsius will decrease rice production.

One major factor which was behind the world’s optimal temperature is now behind the very destruction of it – greenhouse gas. It is estimated that greenhouse gas keeps global temperature up by 15 degree Celsius in absent of which the world could have been freeze. But as a result of mind-boggling behavior of people in pursuit of modernization and industrialization, this natural boon has turned into bane for this globe’s habitants.

It has been forecasted that if there is 1 meter sea level rise, then there will be permanent water logging in 17% southern area of Bangladesh will be permanently water logged and 13 million peoples will be displaced. This will result into 8% decrease in rice production and 32% decrease in wheat production. These are forecasts and in no way can give us a comfort zone as the devastating effect of climate change has already set in. When 13 million of the population of Bangladesh are already affected by climate change and when in many southern areas of Bangladesh, many people rendered homeless from Aila are roaming around, the thought that the climate change issue is a matter of concern for the next generation is not a real one and calls for immediate action from our part.

According to IPCC, Bangladesh is under A2 story line which comprises heterogeneous world, self reliance local identities, slow fertility pattern, continuous increasing population and slow capita income. This poses a great threat to our community as all of these provide a great recipe for the climate change and its induced natural disasters to have an increasing debilitating affect on us.

Now this has got a global recognition and after 1990 there have been a huge effort from both developed and developing countries in reducing this man-made monster. Many words have been said, many pledges made, many promises are broken and many dreams in the minds being planned soon to be broken. So do we really have a chance to come up with a concrete result or concrete steps towards it for undo our scenes? We believe, we can. The question then is ‘How’. The answer is simple. Take contextually effective steps domestically for adapting with climate change and mitigating it. This needs to be accompanied with bold and innovative from our country for making developed country take the lead of the fight against climate change and compelling developed countries to meet their commitment and disburse fund as such.

In formulating our policies, Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2008 was a milestone which was followed by a modified one in 2009. This gave a proper guideline regarding the course of action for our government. Bangladesh also created the document titled 'Initial National Communication' now being known as 'Second National Communication' for communicating its plan and action to UNFCCC. In 2004, Department of Environment established climate change cell under Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme. Many steps were taken among which introduction of National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) in 2005 was a major one. One big hiccup is still there in case of policy formulation as the Disaster Management Act is still on the offing. There are still many scopes for intensifying our effort in fighting climate change and coping with natural disasters.

In the 16th SAARC Summit, the leaders of eight SAARC countries agreed to establish an inter-governmental expert group on climate change for developing and monitoring regional policy implementations. They also decided to plant ten million trees in the SAARC countries in five years, as part of a regional attempt in afforestation and reforestation. Now in the just concluded 17^th SAARC meeting, the Thimphu declaration was further stressed and there was an Agreement on Rapid Response on Natural Disaster. These are all positive developments as regional effort in this regard can be very effective one by bolstering our fight against combating climate change. This will also keep developing countries like India, one of the major polluters of carbon, in reducing or controlling its emission.

Globally, there have also been some major steps in addressing climate change. The legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions came into effect in 1997 with the conclusion of Kyoto Protocol, albeit with some countries’ not signing it. In the coming COP 17, it is expected that all the countries can be aligned for achieving a legally binding agreement on reducing emission of carbon. Again developed countries should be pushed for disbursement of climate fund as they have so far released only $3 billion out of pledged $30 billion where Bangladesh received only $125 million. The push from vulnerable countries like Bangladesh could come from by going in line with the idea of Jose Figueres, former president of Costa Rica, by boycotting the first session COP 17.

We need now a combination of both top-down and bottom-up approach to have a realistic chance for us to survive this combat against climate change. A top-down approach will ensure release of climate fund from the developed countries which will be like a compensation package for us to cope with the consequences of the crime made by the former. This again requires push from developed countries like us which can exert more influence through regional cooperation and building blocks of most vulnerable countries to climate change. At the same time bottom-up approach will require for countries like us to develop its own adaptation and mitigation strategies and act such. This has already started as Bangladesh government already allocated huge fund from its coiffure in this regard. If we can carry both these approaches with out of box thinking keeping transparency in all these steps, we can prove the ominous forecasts regarding climate change wrong. Let’s play our part and make others theirs.

Combating Climate Change: Contextually Effective Steps Needed

Climate defined to be the average change in the temperature over a period of 30 years. But human-induced global warming-led climate change is now a great issue of concern as with the passage of time it is being exposed in front of us as a crude reality and is showing its increased damaging effect on human beings, biodiversity etc. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) defines climate change as the change resulting from long term direct and indirect activities, that induces changes in the compared time which are much more than the natural change. Taking this into cognisance there is a global effort now in stopping climate from further deterioration. Bangladesh, believed to be the worst-affected victim of climate change, has already raised its voice in this regard and is adopting strategies and actions for adapting to climate change impact and if possible for mitigating measures.

The average temperature of today's world has already increased by 0.6 0C from the middle of 1800s. In the last century average temperature of earth has increased by 1.5°C to 4.5°C leading to melting of polar and maintains ice and thus sea level rise. It has been forecasted that if there is 1m sea level rise, then there will be permanent water logging in 17% area of Bangladesh. Just spare a minute to imagine what it will look like when we the people are already struggling to cope with the available fresh land in terms of livelihood, food security etc. To further add to the woes, it has been also shown that if climate change continues unabated, in the year 2050, production of rice will decrease by 8% and that of wheat by 32%.

Realising that climate change is real and needs proper attention, in 1988 World Meteorological Organization and UNEP established Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for fixing the strategies for fighting climate change induced problems and for addressing climate change itself. In 1992, IPCC first published its report on climate change focusing on the importance of controlling increase of temperature and also on the effects that climate change ensues. Then Conference of Parties (COP) started and is continuing till today on an annual basis. COP 15 played an instrumental role in climate change negotiation process as in this conference, attending countries agreed to reduce global temperature by 2 degree Celsius.

In the mean time there have also been many strategies in the international level in response to climate change. We know about carbon trading, carbon taxation which are implemented in many first world countries targeting climate change mitigation in an indirect way. At the same time there were some other strategies which were adopted but backfired. Biofuel which was thought to be a solution to fossil fuel resulted into mass land loss for biofuel production which finally fed into food price inflation. Then another strategy named REDD also need to be mentioned. This was also misused and resulted into widespread deforestation in Amazon.

All of these international strategies point us the fact that in dealing with climate change only technical consideration will not suffice. The programmes we need to undertake have to be contextualised in terms of economic, social and political reality. Bangladesh, for communicating its national situation and position to UNFCC, created the document titled 'Initial National Communication' now being known as 'Second National Communication'. In 2004, under Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme, Department of Environment established climate change cell. The duty of this cell is to make our country prepared to address the risks and disasters induced by climate change. Bangladesh introduced National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) in 2005.

Till date, there have been created three multi-party funds known as a. adaptation fund, b. LDC fund and c. special climate change fund, for assisting developing countries in adaptation to climate change, power, forestation, industrialization, transfer of technology, transport and waste disposal. Then in 2009, the proposal for Green Fund was finalized. Under this fund, it was proposed that developed countries would provide financial and technical assistance to least developed countries. This saw the ray of morning light in COP 16 as in this conference it was agreed that 10 LDC countries would receive a fund of 100 billion dollar annually. Bangladesh has already received an amount in this regard and also allocating fund for climate change from its own coffer.

The Government of Bangladesh has already allocated Tk 1400 crore for actions regarding climate change. Already a fund has been established with finance advisor of Prime Minister as chairman of its committee. This committee has been working for adopting strategies on climate change and implementation of Action Plan 2009. There are many other strategies available also which could be thought over. But thinking about our limited technological sophistication and our present political situation, it is evident that we can't go for strategies like carbon trading or carbon tax which was proposed in October of 2010. It seems that the best strategy for us will be to demand fund for adaptation to climate change. The main reason behind this is that mitigation is a very costly process which a developing country like us can't afford.

Further, carbon trading requires for measuring carbon and then trading on it. As even developed countries are posed with questions regarding the accuracy of the card readers of carbon emission, this process should not be introduced in Bangladesh. Carbon Tax which was also proposed has all the potential to fuel food price inflation further by adding to the cost of production as mode of production is mainly fired by many forms of fossil fuels. REDD under CDM is also not a feasible step for us as this has already showed its negative effect in the Amazon forest. Examining many strategies that Bangladesh can adopt, one particular strategy stands out which is adaptation fund.

As COP 17 is already on the door, this is our time to be bold and make our demands heard by seeking release of Green Fund regularly as was agreed by many nations. It is not that we will not demand mitigation and reduction of emission by developed countries. That will be very much on the table but our major thrust should be on getting a lion's share of Green Fund as the most affected country by climate change. The onus is also on our government to ensure transparency and accountability in using this fund so that future release of fund doesn't get hampered. At the same, at the national and local level, there has to be effort for adapting to climate change (finding variations of crops tolerant to draught, water logging etc. as well as making people aware of the adverse situations induced by climate change) and mitigating it. If we can successfully conduct our climate diplomacy and at the same time take effective national actions, then we may hope to bring home a fruitful result from the ensuing COP 17.

Sustainable Development: A Premier for Bridging the Ambition Gap

At the commencing of human evaluation, development has taken place in a multidimensional way for the well being of human life. Initially, indigenous knowledge has got priority for changing their living standards which didn't hamper the environment and the existing resources. After the era of industrial revolution, the development is dominated by technology which led threats for surrounding environment but to foster global economic wheel. By taking into account, the global leaders assembled together recently in Rio de Janeiro for ensuring sustainable development.

The two key themes of the Rio+20 gathering were the green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and the institutional framework for sustainable development. Renewing political commitment is assured of the document.  At this eve of turn we need a common but differentiated responsibilities and technology transfer in the aspect of public and political nexus. Some of the so-called developing countries now have more economic power than some so-called developed countries due to the power of global politics and commitments. Billions of people living on less than 2 dollars a day – in Bangladesh the poverty situation is exacerbating hence a trusty and committed harmonic voice is needed from the mother countries to overcome the situation of the LDCs.

MDGs are fully endorsed in the Rio+ outcome. The MDGs have to fulfill the eight goals within 2015 and after that a sustainable era will start its journey on the way to create a green globe. Since 1992, the global economy has become more accumulative and centralised, which goes against the principles of sustainable development goals. Perhaps Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), similar and supportive of the MDGs is the ahead thinking that may focus the development for the next five years. Hence also there is a lacking in the recognition of the role of local governments in SD (para 42), as well as the strong call for a central role of the UN, including cooperation with international financial institutions and multilateral development banks (para 54).

Para 61 in Rio+20 outcome document recognizes unsustainable consumption and production patterns, para 62 calls upon the UN to monitor the impact of the implementation of the green economy, para 66 specifies new tasks for the UN and para 73 is clear on technology transfer as agreed in the Johannesburg plan of implementation in 2002. If the developed and developing country nexus or compensation manner will not work properly then all these paragraphs will be drawn like the giant ship “Titanic”.

The government of Bangladesh, like those of India and Nepal, has established climate change plans. These now need to be implemented at a local level, turning theory into practice. Training, education and financial support are all needed to achieve this. From the country perspective, we have already drawn out the “Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009” and a law titled “Climate Change Trust Act 2010” has already been enacted. Beside these, another fund “Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund” has been created with an amount of USD 113.5 million with financial support from development partners.

The ultimate nature of the universe is mental. Good judgment always comes from experience but experience comes from bad judgment. Bangladesh people have already faced a lot bitter experience to cope with climate change so far. First we have to ensure peoples’ basic needs for life, which include adequate food and nutrition, safe water, electricity, adequate energy, hygienic living, education and social security. Only exotic technology transfer will not always be feasible to cope with climate change and thus we don’t always need to implement.

Policy is the collection of key principles. It’s like an elephant when we see it, we recognized it but we can’t easily define it. Rio+20 did not need to adopt new environmental conventions. We have already enough of them, over 150, what we need to do is to implement them. In our follow-up to Rio, we need to reflect on how it will assist the UN system and the countries to transform the outcome document into institutional and structural mechanisms that indeed make a change, that lead to the transformation of economies and societies with addressing the issue climate change.

Unless poor countries get adequate funds from the major polluter (nations), it won’t be possible for them to green their economy. Civil society organizations working on climate change have estimated that by 2020 at least $200 billion per year will be needed for adaptation and mitigation. In Bangladesh by 2050, the total additional investment to cope with a changing climate will be total about US$2.4 billion, with an annual recurrent cost of more than US$50 million.

So what issues need decisions in Doha for COP18? Firstly, set of commitments of climate finance from 2013 to 2020, or at the very least for the mid-term period from 2013-2015. Regarding Fast-start Financing there must be at least a doubling levels from 2013. Furthermore, rigid commitments are needed to the Green Climate Fund of at least US$10-15 billion over the period of 2013-2015. Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) are needed for financial support along with outstanding institutional issues. Finally, significant progress to adopt of a second commitment amendment to the Kyoto Protocol and successful completion of the unresolved issues in the Bali Action Plan, including ramped-up support for enhanced action by developing countries.  So, the development goals must affirm social and economic equality, and environmental protection. The green economy cannot solve the problem until the current architecture and ethics are changed. Country like Bangladesh, we have to open our view wide and trace out the debris of politics. 

Sustainable Urban Energy for Dhaka City

Our entire way of life and all of our economic projections relies on more energy. Howbeit, the world is now facing most serious challenge in energy supply which could be a more devastating crisis than world wars. Global energy depletion has already begun, although few countries have realized it. The peak energy affects the future of the entire global economy. Presently the energy producing resources like fossil fuel, gas, coal, and uranium has placed in peak position. It is predicted that those non-renewable energy is going to be declined position in every place of the earth.

Dominant consumption of non-renewable energy for electricity is leading to Green House Gasses (GHG) emission into the atmosphere. According to the International Energy Agency (2011), approximately 901 grammes of CO2 or equivalent are released per kilowatt hour of electricity that generated from coal. Presumably, global urban populations are principle responsible for GHG emissions due to the consumption of bulk amount of energy for the aristocratic lifestyle. While on the contrary, Renewable World stated that still 1.3 billion people in the world still live without access to electricity and 2.7 billion people have no access to clean cooking facilities. Admittedly, energy crisis will happen in future and then urban inhabitants will be more sufferer compare to rural people. In this situation, global economic wheel may be plummeted and thus leading to global inevitable poverty. Indeed, a concerning era has already arise in front of the global leaders to make them busy thinking alternatively about how to overcome this energy crisis?

At present, what is the overview of Bangladesh’s energy situation? Currently, around 43% population belongs to electricity facilities with per capita consumption of 140 kilowatt hour. The electricity consumption rate has increased gradually due to the demand of overwhelmed growing population. Reported by the country power system Master Plan 2010, the forecasted demand would be 19,000 megawatt by the year 2021 and 34,000 megawatt by 2030. Till now majority of our energy come from non-renewable sources which are facing challenges in order to growing energy demand for mostly electricity generation. Presently, Bangladesh has 20.5 TFC recoverable natural gas reserve and 420 million tones of coal reserve. Noticeable gas fields are already facing multifaceted crisis for gas supply for electricity generation. For example, Sangu gas field has reduced the supply of gas from a well. In addition, day by day oil prices have increased in the global market schemes which lead to raise prices per unit cost of electricity.

Surprisingly, the capital city of Dhaka itself consumes almost 41.22% of the total generated electricity while the demand of electricity is approximately 12000 megawatt and only 5493 megawatt is on pipeline. Stated by DESA, the demand for power in Dhaka city has increased by around 10% a year. As the supply is not adequate to meet the demand in the city, so either we have to adopt it or think alternative path way to solve the power crisis. If we consider Thailand, we can see that almost 28% electricity comes from the renewable sources. Bangladesh also has plenty of renewable energy sources to innovate and mainstreaming it to the main grid.

In Dhaka city we have not enough wind speed for windmill, neither enough River current for hydroelectric power plant nor even any suitable peri-urban places for nuclear power station installation. Nuclear power plant might be a suitable option for bulk amount of power generation and also it has no carbon emission but it is supposed to be risky in terms of earthquake frequency. Surprisingly, Dhaka is situated in the solar radiation receiving zone on the earth with almost 335 sunny days a year. Hence, solar photovoltaic energy generation is the best option for Dhaka city to face the present energy crisis.

According to CDMP’s Urban Risk Reduction Specialists, there are 3,26,000 (appx.) buildings in Dhaka City. If we consider introducing a 5m² solar panel for each building, it might produce about 222 megawatt (5*136W*326000) electricity. Another expert from the same domain said that, we have almost 20000 shopping malls in Dhaka city and where we could introduce renewable energy for electricity generation. Furthermore, the growing real estate companies could also use environment favorable architectural design like Council Building-2 (Solar energy capturing building) in Melbourne where produce a substantial amount of electricity locally for every building. Apart from this, solar technology also reduce GHG emission rate by absorbing around 20% solar radiations that might balance the inner city heat. Cutting down of existing load shading, long term health and financial benefits are also might be ensured and even people could get installation cost back within three years. 

From renewable energy sources, Bangladesh government has set a target to meet 5% by the year 2015 and 10% by 2020 of total power demand (RENDEV). However, our government has already been taken some effective initiative for enhancing efficiency of electricity through energy saving distribution within urban communities. Bangladesh has an extensive renewable energy policy. Few governmental offices, institutions and common places are now being implemented solar power installation for the purpose of alternative power generation.

Energy is one o f the most important ingredients required to alleviate poverty, realize socio-economic and human development. Energy returned on energy invested, banning of profligate users, increase people awareness, policy implementation, generation of individual or household level options, community or private sector initiative along with investment, zero interest bank loans for renewable energy and enforcement of law and order situation are required to overcome the present condition. Furthermore, we need feasibility study of those technologies aiming to adopt suitable technology for electricity production from renewable resources. For an instance close your eyes and think, what will be the situation without or insufficient electricity supply of Dhaka? Completely become dead city!