Bangladesh: The land retiring into the sea
Thursday, 10 December 2009
KMN Sarwar Iqbal
BY the global mapping, which country is being sandwiched within the armpit of South Asian giant India or nested at the merging peak of straddling legs of Indian and Southeast Asian coasts? Inherently, which country is being catered with all sorts of natural rejections? Of course, it is Bangladesh; a delta island which is land-blocked by three sides and keeps a multiple-channel-opening to its south to receive the violent slaps of the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh has a proven track record of silent forbearance against nature's immoderate passions for centuries. However, should the nature be blamed alone or blamed at all for such frequent atrocities in the recent years on such a temperate landscape? Nowadays, this question is being asked by the caring souls of nature throughout the world.
We know our mother nature is pure and believe in her serenity as well. We are being born in, breathed in, fed by and finally decomposed within the elements of the nature; thus she deserves to be adored by her beneficiaries. Misfortune is that, some of ours turn their sinning eyes on her ever blooming youth. As a result, she gets anchored with diversified afflictions of physical as well as internal disorders which leave rest of her kids being deprived from her motherly care and dumped in dire destitution. Our mother nature does not really discriminate the poor or rich to expose her protesting behaviour which is occasionally misinterpreted by the nature's spokesperson, i.e. ecologists and meteorologists. Sometimes we call her angry when she appears with rage; in fact, this was the violent convulsion that erupted from the effect of repeated immoral attacks on her innocent delicacy. As sometimes we notice her premature delivery of seasonal flow of heat and cold which is the result of miscarriage caused from internal malfunctioning. Consequently, when she cannot cook the right meals for her children, we record it as the untimely climatic disaster. Such misinterpretations indeed strategically defeat the campaign of the deprived section of world population for their legitimate rights of living peaceful lives.
Like many other poor countries, our motherland Bangladesh is also feebly seated in the eerie of a dozen of hard-nosed eagles. Although the eagles are very few in number, but they make many commitments to the flocks of tiny robins which are barely fulfilled. In 2001, the developed nations agreed to subsidise the developing and poor nations financially to face the aftermaths of derailed climatic perils caused by the production of industrial smokes chiefly produced in the rich countries. Understanding the needs of the agriculture-based countries, especially in balancing the staple and other crops, the developed countries made a pledge of donating some $400 million per annum to recover the damages. Irony of fate, only $260 million has been deposited in place of a supposedly minimum of $1600 million in the selected two UN accounts in the last eight years, reported by BBC. When they were asked about such a huge shortfall, the answer came was even dismaying. The developed nations directly rejected of such pledge ever has been made to the Bonn climate convention; instead, they redirected the investigators to look back into the contract where they claimed the financial assistance could be allotted in other form of alternative grants also, BBC's further enquiry records. Exactly this is the case; these are the scavenger eagles who invite tiny robins to lay eggs in their nests with a promise of healthier lings in return. As the time ripens, robins are back to collect their long desiring wholesome lings when they discover the true image of eagles - robins are politely reimbursed with the broken shell of eggs having been blamed that the eagles' eggs also got stale due to handling of robins' eggs. Even more excruciating is the facet of eagles' consolation to robins - eagles make commitment to double the rewards at the next turn. But who believes in the hatching of robin's eggs in eagle's nest?
Our Bangladesh is also one of many simple natured robins those fall into the category who feed the royal eagles with their womb-born products when the royal couple has little time to roam around for proteins as the gestation period arrives. So poor was our understanding about the nature that the most widely discussed greenhouse gas effect or simply the idea of industrial smokes could have been the chief culprit in the development of fatal cataclysms was estimated once by our educated society as environmentalists' eccentricity. Not even before twenty years, we could recognise the so-called natural calamities as human created phenomena; rather those were to be the atonement for the evils done. However, scientifically intelligent enough but morally denigrated rich developed nations across both coasts of the Atlantic engaged themselves in the race of industrial revolution one and half a century ago and still are on run. The forms of wastes are being produced throughout the industrial process virtually pollute all the three phases - solid, liquid and gas - of natural elements. Out of many destructive waste agents, one is acid rain to burn out the fertility of the surface soil and kill the insects, CFC gases to make holes in the ozone layer and make passages for the ultraviolet rays causing skin cancer, carbon dioxide to create the heat trap chiefly responsible to melt the polar ice and to increase the sea-water level causing flood as well as tropical storms along the coastal regions are just few but known to all.
It is known to all that Bangladesh has been one of the ten worst countries as a victim of climatic disorder. The author prefers the virtual word "climate disorder" instead of the confusing phrase "climate change" which covers the crimes of the involved parties. Anyway, alone in the ravaging cyclone on 12 Nov 1970, we have lost one million of our citizens along with several hundred thousands of cattle. In 1974, a drought left the country's crop fields scorched enough to invite a famine when hundreds of thousands starved to death. The worst in the history, the flood in 1988 inundated almost three fourth of our land and held submerged for months which destroyed our socio-economical infrastructure totally. Another cyclone in 1991 claimed about four hundred thousands of lives and few hundred thousand cattle along with the ruin of the largest mangrove forest, Sundarban, on the earth. Again the devastating flood in 1998 caused the similar damages as it did in 1988. Acknowledging the truth, we may observe the first hand aids of few rich nations at our disastrous moment, but we get those as charity -- part of their humanitarian services to the affected nations. Why would a nation look up to another nation's charity? Should not the damage be evaluated at every venue of accounting on pre and post catastrophic era? About the uncapped tower of smokes produced by the rich nations which downgraded us to a beggar's worth must be questioned to them for a transparent reply.
Once labeled as the poorest country in the world, Bangladesh has spent all its resources to step on as a developing nation today resisting all those cruel missions of the industrial ones. We, the misfortunate people of Bangladesh have been paying the prices for the industrial ventures of the West by our lives and properties. Instead, we are being awarded fistful alms to calm down our pains. In a recent publication in a local English Daily, The New Age, Dr. Paul Roger, a professor of Bradford University, UK expressed his concern about the fruitfulness of the coming UN climate convention in Copenhagen. According to Dr. Roger, in the upcoming conference the developed nations would be able to bring even one hundred of climate experts to support themselves while the developing nations' team will be limited within two or three diplomats only because of their capability. The author would like to remain grateful to Mr. Roger for his enormous courage to expose the truth. Still a question remains unasked if no appropriate knowledge-tanks can be acquired by the poor nations then who would take the responsibility to produce a final account for the sufferings they have had for the past decades due to the ambitious rich nations? It is hoped that Dr. Roger and alike would not turn around without leaving their suggestions before the board.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has begun its two week-long session in Copenhagen from Dec 07 where 192 countries are sending their representatives including 65 of them who are to be representated by their chiefs. American President Barack Obama is expected to be present at the conference with a proposal of cutting down the green house gas by 17% by 2020 based on the exhausts of 2005. However, the UN decided 1990 as the reference year for green house gas; upon that US is only proposing for less than 3.0% reduction, as Reuters reports. China's surprisingly to propose from 40% to 50% reduction by 2020 of per head green house gas production based on 2005 may keep this Asian giant beyond sharp controversy. The rock-hard India, the third largest soot producer followed by China and USA, in setting up any binding on releasing green house gas finally has broken up its silence. India has just declared its intention to reduce the carbon intensity by 20% to 25% by the year 2020 on the baseline of 2005. Summarily, these three are the top most smoke producers actually hold the balance of the smoke-safe environment.
As from the preludes of the UNFCCC, the European think-tanks' attitudes towards the USA are contaminated with the interest of industrial jealousy; the Europeans seem to be predisposed with the exposure of mass of smokes produced per selected area rather than to talk about the mass of smokes produced per head. Besides that, the author has visited many of the European views about the climate issue which leaves a qualm between their attitudes towards environmental disaster and in its recovery. Barely anyone found to be with the idea of convalescing the groaning East (mostly developing countries). European silence against the recovery issue in the East, where lives are jeopardised by the smoke effects, is mysterious; their fund raising plan against the developing nations' cry for climatic compensation can be better analogised as an asthmatic patient needs metered dose of aerosol to be inhaled occasionally. Thus the Europeans are trying to gain from the developing nations' uproar against the industrial nations, predominantly the USA, like fishing in the troubled water.
Our planet is a huge sphere made with solid and liquid, and its surface is wrapped up by a homogeneous gaseous atmosphere. Everything in and out of the surface is tightly bonded by the central attraction force called gravitation. Mathematically speaking, if any poisonous products are delivered into the atmosphere will spread roughly equally all over the world in course of time unless they are recycled. Unfortunately, our mother nature can recycle those harmful products only at a certain rate depending on the reserve of greeneries in the affected area as the chemistry suggests. Anyway, the production of carbon or soot per head in Bangladesh is 0.30 tons while the developing countries produce as high as 15-20 tons which is 50-60 times higher than that of Bangladesh. In last 120 years, the sea-water level is raised by 25 cm; if the rising keeps the rate, nine coastal districts of Bangladesh will dissipate in the Bay of Bengal's basin which will dislocate 20 million citizens from the region when our population will be doubled. What a horrible mess waits for Bangladesh!
Even after all these human imposed natural malfunctioning we have encountered, we still can claim only the piece of land on this planet that renew its appearance six times in a year is our sweet motherland Bangladesh. People from every corner of the world are most welcome to sense the feeling of its six seasons that are successively poured down onto its space and surface. The world body has closely watched our citizens for our simplicity by nature, firmness by faith, far away vision blended with the religious harmony which makes our lives even happier and enjoyable. Unfortunately, our struggles are about to go in vain because of the series of disastrous events come down to us almost annually. We exhaustively spend our limited reserves and efforts to recuperate the damaged sites which have become a random practice for communities. Consequently, we become economically widowed to assume any new developing projects. Hence, the result remains unchanged as we continue the cycle "break and make" year after year.
Brushing aside all the diatribes over the climatic disaster, what we discover is the most nerve-racking threat to human existence. Solely the nations, who become rich by virtue of eddying black smokes into the eyes of poor, are responsible for these sharpened spears aimed at the developing nations. Before they set up another chimney, the rich nations must estimate the ecological maturity of the proposed region whether she can sustain their already developed masculine industrial thrust. We the developing nations are hard-locked in a chamber of suffocating gas while its key is in the custody of developed nations. Caring souls, beware of the meaning of their emission cut! Retrieving the key of climate control should not be a low-hung fruit. We, need to cautiously judge the limited cut of emissions proposed by the giants which does not focus on the permanent solution for eliminating the atmospheric antibodies to protect the earth against the oncoming dangers. Qualitatively, such a pledge just endorses an indemnity bill against the cry of developing nations on meteorological issues.
Although delayed, the grim face of rich's wrongdoing is getting obvious through the overcast of senseless selfishness; compensation to the damages demands far more than some cash-in cheques would be handed to the needy developing nations. At the rock bottom of this battered environment is, her physique has ruthlessly been mutilated under the excursion van gliding on the highway of rich's heaven, left for bleeding to die. She needs to be rescued by the emergency live flight for immediate takeover by the knowledgeable faculties.
Evidently the climate disorder issue is enrooted within the various venues of interests -- industry, agriculture, health and shelter -- of different countries; such an adventure towards resurrection of climate is quite a tough assignment for the intellectuals. Solely relying on politicians will bring about only the chaos; instead, the problem should be attended by the multidiscipline forum. The lowest level of emissions permissible to the specific regions must be determined and must be maintained at the level against making the atmosphere a heat-trap which chunks the polar ice to raise the sea-water level. Annual reporting on the overall regional climate maintenance (RCM) must be produced to the UN by the involved countries. An ever helping hand should always be extended by the developed nations to developing ones, especially in implanting the industries, to keep the green house gas limited. These are just the fundamental measures to take on; many more supporting sections may be added to the lists. Hence, the conference in Copenhagen on global effects of climate disorder will conclusively design some solutions for the climate related issues to bring back a day of relaxation for the affected people of Bangladesh and the same for the rest are earnestly hoped from the considerate leaders.
The writer is in the Faculty, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, IUBAT, Dhaka. He can be reached at e-mail:
kmnsiqbal@gmail.com
BY the global mapping, which country is being sandwiched within the armpit of South Asian giant India or nested at the merging peak of straddling legs of Indian and Southeast Asian coasts? Inherently, which country is being catered with all sorts of natural rejections? Of course, it is Bangladesh; a delta island which is land-blocked by three sides and keeps a multiple-channel-opening to its south to receive the violent slaps of the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh has a proven track record of silent forbearance against nature's immoderate passions for centuries. However, should the nature be blamed alone or blamed at all for such frequent atrocities in the recent years on such a temperate landscape? Nowadays, this question is being asked by the caring souls of nature throughout the world.
We know our mother nature is pure and believe in her serenity as well. We are being born in, breathed in, fed by and finally decomposed within the elements of the nature; thus she deserves to be adored by her beneficiaries. Misfortune is that, some of ours turn their sinning eyes on her ever blooming youth. As a result, she gets anchored with diversified afflictions of physical as well as internal disorders which leave rest of her kids being deprived from her motherly care and dumped in dire destitution. Our mother nature does not really discriminate the poor or rich to expose her protesting behaviour which is occasionally misinterpreted by the nature's spokesperson, i.e. ecologists and meteorologists. Sometimes we call her angry when she appears with rage; in fact, this was the violent convulsion that erupted from the effect of repeated immoral attacks on her innocent delicacy. As sometimes we notice her premature delivery of seasonal flow of heat and cold which is the result of miscarriage caused from internal malfunctioning. Consequently, when she cannot cook the right meals for her children, we record it as the untimely climatic disaster. Such misinterpretations indeed strategically defeat the campaign of the deprived section of world population for their legitimate rights of living peaceful lives.
Like many other poor countries, our motherland Bangladesh is also feebly seated in the eerie of a dozen of hard-nosed eagles. Although the eagles are very few in number, but they make many commitments to the flocks of tiny robins which are barely fulfilled. In 2001, the developed nations agreed to subsidise the developing and poor nations financially to face the aftermaths of derailed climatic perils caused by the production of industrial smokes chiefly produced in the rich countries. Understanding the needs of the agriculture-based countries, especially in balancing the staple and other crops, the developed countries made a pledge of donating some $400 million per annum to recover the damages. Irony of fate, only $260 million has been deposited in place of a supposedly minimum of $1600 million in the selected two UN accounts in the last eight years, reported by BBC. When they were asked about such a huge shortfall, the answer came was even dismaying. The developed nations directly rejected of such pledge ever has been made to the Bonn climate convention; instead, they redirected the investigators to look back into the contract where they claimed the financial assistance could be allotted in other form of alternative grants also, BBC's further enquiry records. Exactly this is the case; these are the scavenger eagles who invite tiny robins to lay eggs in their nests with a promise of healthier lings in return. As the time ripens, robins are back to collect their long desiring wholesome lings when they discover the true image of eagles - robins are politely reimbursed with the broken shell of eggs having been blamed that the eagles' eggs also got stale due to handling of robins' eggs. Even more excruciating is the facet of eagles' consolation to robins - eagles make commitment to double the rewards at the next turn. But who believes in the hatching of robin's eggs in eagle's nest?
Our Bangladesh is also one of many simple natured robins those fall into the category who feed the royal eagles with their womb-born products when the royal couple has little time to roam around for proteins as the gestation period arrives. So poor was our understanding about the nature that the most widely discussed greenhouse gas effect or simply the idea of industrial smokes could have been the chief culprit in the development of fatal cataclysms was estimated once by our educated society as environmentalists' eccentricity. Not even before twenty years, we could recognise the so-called natural calamities as human created phenomena; rather those were to be the atonement for the evils done. However, scientifically intelligent enough but morally denigrated rich developed nations across both coasts of the Atlantic engaged themselves in the race of industrial revolution one and half a century ago and still are on run. The forms of wastes are being produced throughout the industrial process virtually pollute all the three phases - solid, liquid and gas - of natural elements. Out of many destructive waste agents, one is acid rain to burn out the fertility of the surface soil and kill the insects, CFC gases to make holes in the ozone layer and make passages for the ultraviolet rays causing skin cancer, carbon dioxide to create the heat trap chiefly responsible to melt the polar ice and to increase the sea-water level causing flood as well as tropical storms along the coastal regions are just few but known to all.
It is known to all that Bangladesh has been one of the ten worst countries as a victim of climatic disorder. The author prefers the virtual word "climate disorder" instead of the confusing phrase "climate change" which covers the crimes of the involved parties. Anyway, alone in the ravaging cyclone on 12 Nov 1970, we have lost one million of our citizens along with several hundred thousands of cattle. In 1974, a drought left the country's crop fields scorched enough to invite a famine when hundreds of thousands starved to death. The worst in the history, the flood in 1988 inundated almost three fourth of our land and held submerged for months which destroyed our socio-economical infrastructure totally. Another cyclone in 1991 claimed about four hundred thousands of lives and few hundred thousand cattle along with the ruin of the largest mangrove forest, Sundarban, on the earth. Again the devastating flood in 1998 caused the similar damages as it did in 1988. Acknowledging the truth, we may observe the first hand aids of few rich nations at our disastrous moment, but we get those as charity -- part of their humanitarian services to the affected nations. Why would a nation look up to another nation's charity? Should not the damage be evaluated at every venue of accounting on pre and post catastrophic era? About the uncapped tower of smokes produced by the rich nations which downgraded us to a beggar's worth must be questioned to them for a transparent reply.
Once labeled as the poorest country in the world, Bangladesh has spent all its resources to step on as a developing nation today resisting all those cruel missions of the industrial ones. We, the misfortunate people of Bangladesh have been paying the prices for the industrial ventures of the West by our lives and properties. Instead, we are being awarded fistful alms to calm down our pains. In a recent publication in a local English Daily, The New Age, Dr. Paul Roger, a professor of Bradford University, UK expressed his concern about the fruitfulness of the coming UN climate convention in Copenhagen. According to Dr. Roger, in the upcoming conference the developed nations would be able to bring even one hundred of climate experts to support themselves while the developing nations' team will be limited within two or three diplomats only because of their capability. The author would like to remain grateful to Mr. Roger for his enormous courage to expose the truth. Still a question remains unasked if no appropriate knowledge-tanks can be acquired by the poor nations then who would take the responsibility to produce a final account for the sufferings they have had for the past decades due to the ambitious rich nations? It is hoped that Dr. Roger and alike would not turn around without leaving their suggestions before the board.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has begun its two week-long session in Copenhagen from Dec 07 where 192 countries are sending their representatives including 65 of them who are to be representated by their chiefs. American President Barack Obama is expected to be present at the conference with a proposal of cutting down the green house gas by 17% by 2020 based on the exhausts of 2005. However, the UN decided 1990 as the reference year for green house gas; upon that US is only proposing for less than 3.0% reduction, as Reuters reports. China's surprisingly to propose from 40% to 50% reduction by 2020 of per head green house gas production based on 2005 may keep this Asian giant beyond sharp controversy. The rock-hard India, the third largest soot producer followed by China and USA, in setting up any binding on releasing green house gas finally has broken up its silence. India has just declared its intention to reduce the carbon intensity by 20% to 25% by the year 2020 on the baseline of 2005. Summarily, these three are the top most smoke producers actually hold the balance of the smoke-safe environment.
As from the preludes of the UNFCCC, the European think-tanks' attitudes towards the USA are contaminated with the interest of industrial jealousy; the Europeans seem to be predisposed with the exposure of mass of smokes produced per selected area rather than to talk about the mass of smokes produced per head. Besides that, the author has visited many of the European views about the climate issue which leaves a qualm between their attitudes towards environmental disaster and in its recovery. Barely anyone found to be with the idea of convalescing the groaning East (mostly developing countries). European silence against the recovery issue in the East, where lives are jeopardised by the smoke effects, is mysterious; their fund raising plan against the developing nations' cry for climatic compensation can be better analogised as an asthmatic patient needs metered dose of aerosol to be inhaled occasionally. Thus the Europeans are trying to gain from the developing nations' uproar against the industrial nations, predominantly the USA, like fishing in the troubled water.
Our planet is a huge sphere made with solid and liquid, and its surface is wrapped up by a homogeneous gaseous atmosphere. Everything in and out of the surface is tightly bonded by the central attraction force called gravitation. Mathematically speaking, if any poisonous products are delivered into the atmosphere will spread roughly equally all over the world in course of time unless they are recycled. Unfortunately, our mother nature can recycle those harmful products only at a certain rate depending on the reserve of greeneries in the affected area as the chemistry suggests. Anyway, the production of carbon or soot per head in Bangladesh is 0.30 tons while the developing countries produce as high as 15-20 tons which is 50-60 times higher than that of Bangladesh. In last 120 years, the sea-water level is raised by 25 cm; if the rising keeps the rate, nine coastal districts of Bangladesh will dissipate in the Bay of Bengal's basin which will dislocate 20 million citizens from the region when our population will be doubled. What a horrible mess waits for Bangladesh!
Even after all these human imposed natural malfunctioning we have encountered, we still can claim only the piece of land on this planet that renew its appearance six times in a year is our sweet motherland Bangladesh. People from every corner of the world are most welcome to sense the feeling of its six seasons that are successively poured down onto its space and surface. The world body has closely watched our citizens for our simplicity by nature, firmness by faith, far away vision blended with the religious harmony which makes our lives even happier and enjoyable. Unfortunately, our struggles are about to go in vain because of the series of disastrous events come down to us almost annually. We exhaustively spend our limited reserves and efforts to recuperate the damaged sites which have become a random practice for communities. Consequently, we become economically widowed to assume any new developing projects. Hence, the result remains unchanged as we continue the cycle "break and make" year after year.
Brushing aside all the diatribes over the climatic disaster, what we discover is the most nerve-racking threat to human existence. Solely the nations, who become rich by virtue of eddying black smokes into the eyes of poor, are responsible for these sharpened spears aimed at the developing nations. Before they set up another chimney, the rich nations must estimate the ecological maturity of the proposed region whether she can sustain their already developed masculine industrial thrust. We the developing nations are hard-locked in a chamber of suffocating gas while its key is in the custody of developed nations. Caring souls, beware of the meaning of their emission cut! Retrieving the key of climate control should not be a low-hung fruit. We, need to cautiously judge the limited cut of emissions proposed by the giants which does not focus on the permanent solution for eliminating the atmospheric antibodies to protect the earth against the oncoming dangers. Qualitatively, such a pledge just endorses an indemnity bill against the cry of developing nations on meteorological issues.
Although delayed, the grim face of rich's wrongdoing is getting obvious through the overcast of senseless selfishness; compensation to the damages demands far more than some cash-in cheques would be handed to the needy developing nations. At the rock bottom of this battered environment is, her physique has ruthlessly been mutilated under the excursion van gliding on the highway of rich's heaven, left for bleeding to die. She needs to be rescued by the emergency live flight for immediate takeover by the knowledgeable faculties.
Evidently the climate disorder issue is enrooted within the various venues of interests -- industry, agriculture, health and shelter -- of different countries; such an adventure towards resurrection of climate is quite a tough assignment for the intellectuals. Solely relying on politicians will bring about only the chaos; instead, the problem should be attended by the multidiscipline forum. The lowest level of emissions permissible to the specific regions must be determined and must be maintained at the level against making the atmosphere a heat-trap which chunks the polar ice to raise the sea-water level. Annual reporting on the overall regional climate maintenance (RCM) must be produced to the UN by the involved countries. An ever helping hand should always be extended by the developed nations to developing ones, especially in implanting the industries, to keep the green house gas limited. These are just the fundamental measures to take on; many more supporting sections may be added to the lists. Hence, the conference in Copenhagen on global effects of climate disorder will conclusively design some solutions for the climate related issues to bring back a day of relaxation for the affected people of Bangladesh and the same for the rest are earnestly hoped from the considerate leaders.
The writer is in the Faculty, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, IUBAT, Dhaka. He can be reached at e-mail:
kmnsiqbal@gmail.com