Our Environment

Bangladesh, one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in world and on the front line of climate change. Ten million people were affected by 2007 flooding and 17 percent of the country could disappear over the next 40 years.

Climate Change

Bangladesh is 10 metres above the sea level, located on the Bay of Bengal in the delta of Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna (three major rivers of South Asia), and constitutes about 8 per cent of the combined catchments area forming the largest delta in the world. Over 92 per cent of the annual runoff generated in this catchments area flows through the country, which is the third highest in the world, after the Amazon and the Congo River systems. Therefore, Bangladesh has the world's highest density of rivers per unit of area, remain seasonally submerged every year.

Climate change has increased the flooding recent years – now Bangladesh has floods two times a year. River erosion grabs nearly 25,000 acres of land each year resulting in thousands of landless people in Bangladesh. Ten million people were affected by 2007 flooding. Over the next 40 years, 17 percent of the land will be lost to the sea resulting 20 million climate refugees because of climate change. Bangladesh will be squeezed from the south by cyclones and sea level rise, and flooded from the north by the major rivers swollen by warming glaciers in the Himalayas. In the dry season, it's easy to see the impact in erosion. Like people, trees struggle to stay rooted in north-western Bangladesh.

River Pollution

Rivers are vital to local farming, but farming methods and agricultural runoff take their toll on the health of the rivers.  In turn, the rivers make it difficult to reach farmers with information about environmentally sustainable agricultural methods. Therefore, most of the rivers have reached alarming levels of toxicity, aquatic ecosystems are being affected, and chemicals entering the food chain create dangers to public health. The fish production has declined to about 50 percent due to the cropland runoff contaminants, results of using pesticides more than the needed application rates, which finally reduce farmer’s income and has a negative impact on the livelihoods of thousands of fishermen cum farmers.

Pollution through Kerosene Lamps

Kerosene is being widely used for providing lighting to the poor families all along the rural areas, which is also polluting the environment. It is hard for children to study with the faint light of a kerosene lamp and often parents are unable to afford additional lamps for education. In a thatched house heavy wind often blows out the lamp leaving people in darkness. It contributes to severe indoor air pollution which brings health hazards, particularly to children. And also always there is risk of fire.