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.
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