Bangladesh has a scarcity of clean drinking water, especially in the dry seasons. However the nation has made great progress in water supply with the widespread use of tube wells. 97% of Bangladeshis have access to a water point. However due to the discovery of arsenic in the ground water, only 76% of these can now be considered safe. But about 28% of the urban population and 41% of the rural population still do not have access to safe water. With sanitation, only 74% of urban areas and 57% of rural areas are covered. But what should be done to change this scenario by 2050???
Safe water supplies also depend on sanitation and the practice of good hygiene. Water quality then needs to be monitored and sustained. Establishing and maintaining environmental sanitation, safe water supplies and good hygiene in Bangladesh requires a combination of initiatives:
• Effective communication of information that will change behavior
• Measures that strengthen local government
• Education from primary school stage
• Support for good management of building and engineering
• Reducing arsenic contamination in the water supply.
According to a survey released WFP, UNICEF and the Institute of Public Health Nutrition (IPHN), one in four households in Bangladesh is food insecure while two million children aged six months to five years are affected by acute malnutrition! Out of those two million malnourished children, half a million are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, a highly vulnerable condition where the child needs appropriate management and treatment. Given that the nationwide survey was carried out during a harvest season, the malnutrition levels are expected to be even higher during periods of food scarcity.
Poor infant and young child feeding practices are major factors for the nutritional situation. According to the assessment, only about one-half of mothers exclusively breastfeed children under six months and though most mothers (89%) continue to breastfeed their children to the recommended age of two years, complementary foods are introduced inappropriately and with insufficient dietary diversity.
Although Bangladesh has already set up effective social safety net interventions, the study suggests they should be expanded and better targeted towards areas where malnutrition and household food insecurity are most prevalent. Food assistance interventions, food security and nutritional programmes should emphasize micronutrient-enriched foods and improved diet diversity.
However, from my point of view there is no need of framing such policies if they are not being followed properly. I request everyone, especially the government to see to it that the malnutrition-situation in our country improves. Only then by 2050 we will be able to see a nation where the people will not die due to shortage of proper food or water.
Inflation: It is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.
The inflation rate currently in Bangladesh is 9.1%. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that inflation may cross double digits by the end of the fiscal year 2009-2010! Bangladesh suffered from huge inflationary pressures starting in 2007 due to domestic supply shocks originating from two rounds of flood and the destruction caused by the cyclone Sidr. As global commodity prices surged to its all-time peak in July last year, inflation in Bangladesh also followed a similar track. And as the trend shows us Bangladesh will continue to experience a decrease in inflation rate till the recession. It may thus rise again in the future which may have bad effects on the economy of the nation as a whole. Thus the government must take necessary precautions, otherwise by 2050 we too may become like Zimbabwe (which should not happen).
Bangladesh has a tropical-monsoon climate, with a hot and rainy summer and a dry winter. January is the coolest month with temperatures averaging near 26 deg C (78 d F) and April the warmest with temperatures from 33 to 36 deg C (91 to 96 deg F). The climate is one of the wettest in the world. Most places receive more than 1,525 mm of rain a year, and areas near the hills receive 5,080 mm). Most rains occur during the monsoon (June-September) and little in winter (November-February).
Natural calamities, such as floods, tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and tidal bores occur almost every year, combined with the effects of deforestation, soil degradation and erosion. Bangladesh is subject to devastating cyclones, originating over the Bay of Bengal, in the periods of April to May and September to November. Often accompanied by surging waves, these storms can cause great damage and loss of life. The cyclone of November 1970, in which about 500,000 lives were lost in Bangladesh, was one of the worst natural disasters of the country in the 20th century.
Bangladesh is now widely recognized to be one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Natural hazards that come from increased rainfall, rising sea levels, and tropical cyclones are expected to increase as climate change, each seriously affecting agriculture, water & food security, human health and shelter.
So what is the nation doing to protect itself? Bangladesh has invested 10 million Taka, the equivalent of about $150,000, to build cyclone shelters and create a storm early-warning system. Earlier this year, it allocated another $50 million to the country's agriculture and health budgets to help "climate-proof" certain development sectors. The nation's agricultural research centers are devising salinity-resistant strains of rice. And the South Asian nation was one of first to deliver to the United Nations a strategy outlining what it needs in order to cope with the worst effects of climate change.
Climate Change is a part of global change. So government should be concerned about it. Government should take projects in which field workers can work. More policies & new plans can be applied by the environment ministry. Government should alarm all people, organizations, and give training on climate change and make people from all quarters aware through training, motivation and mass media. With these strategic moves, there are feasible ways we can adapt to climate change. Thus friends there is no need to worry because if we take necessary precautions, we will be able to protect our country.
