Johann Hari, a journalist from "The Independent World", took a journey to visit the the most crowded nation on earth i.e. Bangaldesh, which according to him is set to disappear under the waves by the end of this century. In a detailed study report published, he explained the misery and agony of people of Bangaldesh. Some excerpts are presented here.
Hari feels that this is one of the indifference created by the western world for many millions life. However, If climatic changes are responsible for the calamity of Bangladesh or not, is not very clear.
As per the scientific reports, It is clear from all the data that are gathered here in Bangladesh that the international reports and predictions were much too conservative. Instead country is facing a catastrophe. And the enormous task is of massive displacement of human beings.
The seas are rising, so land is being claimed from the outside. The largest island in the country, Bhola, has lost half of its land in the past decade. The rivers are super-charged, becoming wider and wider, so land is being claimed from within. Erosion is up by 40 per cent. Cyclones are becoming more intense and more violent. 2007 was the worst year on record for intense hurricanes here. And salt water is rendering the land barren.
The rate of saline inundation has trebled in the past 20 years.
Dr Rahman, the expert on the subject in the country said, "There is no question that this is being caused primarily by human action. This is a way outside natural variation. If you really want people in the West to understand the effect they are having here, it’s simple. From now on, we need to have a system where for every 10,000 tons of carbon you emit, you have to take a Bangladeshi family to live with you. It is your responsibility." In the past, he has called it "climatic genocide". Dr Rahaman straight way charging the cause of environmental imbalance for the catastroph.
The worst-case scenario, Dr Rahman said, is if one of the world’s land-based ice-sheets breaks up. Then we lose 70 to 80 per cent of our land, including Dhaka. It’s a different world, and we’re not on it. The evidence from Jim Hansen, another reasercher, shows that this is becoming more likely – and it can happen quickly and irreversibly.
In the past 30 years, two-thirds of this island has gone under the water. Many had to abandon their houses. The land has gone into the sea. The island began to be swallowed in the 1960s, and it started going really quickly in 1991. Fishing is almost impossible now. The waves are much bigger than they used to be. It used to be fine to go out in a normal [hand-rowed] boat. Now that is impossible. You need a motor-driven boat, and even that is thrown sometimes by the waves . It’s like the bay is angry.
Bangladesh is a country with 230 rivers running through it like veins. They irrigate the land and give it it’s incredible fertility – but now the rivers are becoming supercharged. More water is coming down from the melting Himalayan glaciers, and more salt water is pushing up from the rising oceans. These two forces meet here in the heart of Bangladesh and make the rivers churn up – eroding the river banks with amazing speed. The water is getting wider, leaving the people to survive on ever-more narrow strips of land.
Truly, as the report published, it seems that Bangadesh is living on the edge of the environmental degardation and human sufferings can not be ignored as the days are passing by.
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