Adaptation and Existing policies in Coastal Bangladesh

1. Climate change & Water Resource Management:
Adaptation strategies and policies for coastal zone
of Bangladesh
Group-5
Presented by : Shamima Ferdousi Sifa(RK-011)
Maria Abdullah Tarin (SK-026)

2. Study Area & Methodology
Study Area
• Coastal areas of Bangladesh
comprise19 administrative
districts which is stretching into
147 upazilas
Methodology
Review of
• Peer-reviewed
journal
• Grey Literature

3. According to (Soil
Resource
Development
Institute, 2010) the
salinity affected
area has
increased from
8330 km2 in 1973
to 10560 km2 in
2009, which get
worsened in dry
season, i.e. an
area of about
4530 km2 is
affected by higher
level of salinity
(more than 8
dS/m).

4. Causes
Figure: Causes of increased salinity
{source:(Seal & Baten, 2012)}

5. Impacts
• Agriculture-
 Plant growth and water quality get affected by salinity and result in
lower crop yields and reduction in agricultural production.
 Increase in salt level can interrupt the balance of plant nutrients in
soil.
 Salinity may also affect the physical and chemical properties of soil
• Irrigation-
 Almost all water (even natural rainfall) contains some dissolved salts
 In areas of high salinity, plants absorb large amounts of salt, which
disrupts their cellular function
 Irrigation salinity occurs due to increased rates of leakage and
groundwater recharge causing the water table to rise

6. Cont….
• Ecosystem-
 Climate change is real a threat to ecosystem and bio-diversity
 Freshwater loving species would be severely affected
 Saline water intrusion greatly affect the flora and fauna of the Sundarbans
ecosystem
• Stress on Drinking water-
 Over the last 25 years, sea water from the Bay of Bengal has pushed 40 km
inland throughout underground aquifers, replacing fresh water
 The severity of the unavailability of drinking water increases greatly to such
extent that during dry season(the average estimated sodium intakes ranges
from 5 to 16 g/day compared to 0.6–1.2 g/day in the rainy season )
 The stress on drinking water forced the inhabitants to consume saline water
 mean sodium intake in pregnant women is well above WHO/FAO–
recommended levels
 the annual hospital prevalence of hypertension in pregnancy increases
 salinity in drinking water also causes kidney diseases like kidney stone and
Rheumatism(Khan et al., 2011)

7. Existing policies
• There are several policies and acts for formulating the rules and
regulations on general usage on water
• The major policies and acts include two policies for coastal water
management
 Coastal Zone Policy (2005)
 Coastal Development Strategy (2006)

8. Adaptation
• Natural hazards in coastal areas cannot be prevented or avoided but
the impacts of the hazards can be reduced.
• Some indigenous knowledge used by the inhabitants to reduce their
vulnerability includes-
 Farmers ‘wash’ their agricultural fields with freshwater from nearby
canals
 Saline tolerant rice varieties were also introduced
 Diversifying their livelihood to avoid economic loss
 Migration to other district temporarily
 Preservation of rainwater for irrigation
 Trying to adapt to the changing conditions with assistance from the
relevant government organizations and NGOs/ civil society forums
 Some farmers put Gypsum and Sugar solution , additional cow-dung
and bio-fertilizer
 Take loan during lean seasons

10. Recommendations
• Deep-water irrigation
• A chart containing information about soil tolerance limit
• The frequency of irrigation should be increased in case of a hot and
dry weather
• Changes in cropping schedule
• Groundwater can be used to irrigate profitable non-rice crops in the
dry season

11. References
• Ahmed, A. (2011). Some of the major environmental problems relating to land use
changes in the coastal areas of Bangladesh : A review, 4(January), 1–8.
• Baten, M. A., Seal, L., & Lisa, K. S. (2015). Salinity Intrusion in Interior Coast of
Bangladesh : Challenges to Agriculture in South-Central Coastal Zone, (June), 248–
262.
• BRRI. (2011). Achievement of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute-Modern Varieties.
• CSIRO. (2014). Bangladesh integrated water resources assessment.
• Hussain, M. A., Islam, A. K. M. S., & Hasan, M. A. (2013). CHANGES OF THE
SEASONAL SALINITY DISTRIBUTION AT THE, 4, 637–648.
• Islam, S. N., & Gnauck, A. (2005). Effects of Salinity Intrusion in Mangrove Wetlands
Ecosystems in the Sundarbans : Location in the Ganges Catchment Area.
• Islam, S. N., & Gnauck, A. (2011). Water salinity investigation in the Sundarbans
rivers in Bangladesh. International J. Water, 6, 74–91.
https://doi.org/10.1504/IJW.2011.043318
• Khan, A. E., Ireson, A., Kovats, S., Mojumder, S. K., Khusru, A., Rahman, A., & and
Paolo Vineis. (2011). Drinking Water Salinity and Maternal Health in Coastal
Bangladesh: Implications of Climate Change. • Environmental Health Perspectives,
119(9), 1328–1332.