Redesign embankments to protect coastal region: Minister

Water Resources Minister Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud has stressed redesigning embankments to protect the country’s coastal region from salinity intrusion caused by sea-level rise. ‘Climate change is going to reclaim one-third of our coastal land by 2050. So, we should redesign our embankments and dredge rivers,’ he told the inaugural session of a three-day conference at BARC in the capital on Tuesday. Water Resources secretary Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan, Fisheries secretary Dr Shalina Afroza, WorldFish country director Craig Meisner and programme director of Water Land and Ecosystem Dr Andrew Noble also spoke at the programme held with director general of Bangladesh Water Development Board Shahidur Rahman in the chair. Speaking as the chief guest, Anisul Islam Mahmud said he is more concerned about the coastal region than the country’s flood-affected areas, according to UNB.