Salinity intrusion has long been one of the more egregious effects of climate change in Bangladesh’s coastal areas. The problem is having an increasingly severe impact as climate change accelerates.
The coastal zone of Bangladesh covers 32% of the country and is home to about 35 million people. Climate change driven events like sea-level rise, cyclones, storm surges, coastal inundation, salinity intrusion and land erosion are the main natural disasters affecting the zone. But salinity intrusion has proven to be uniquely vicious.
The encroachment of saline water involves saltwater invading freshwater aquifers, destroying the natural fertility of the soil, and consequently having an extreme impact on public health.
Impact on drinking water has been particularly disastrous, with locals reporting rashes in children, among other health problems. Local medical professionals have reported babies frequently being born with pneumonia, jaundice, diarrhea, and various skin diseases. Losing soil fertility also resulted in serious issues, from difficulty in rearing cattle to a rise to food scarcity, resulting in general malnutrition in the area.
Farmers losing a way of livelihood are being driven out of these areas, causing mass migration to Dhaka. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, nearly 700,000 Bangladeshis have been displaced each year by natural disasters in the last decade.
As Bangladesh, and other vulnerable countries, struggle for climate justice internationally, serious adaptation efforts are needed locally in the country’s coastal areas. To that end, the authorities should increase the allotment of climate funds to adaptation, particularly aiming to adopt the best practices and implement innovative solutions in order to preserve livelihood in these coastal areas.
