Climate Change: Causes and Impact

 

Climate change is now one of the biggest problems worldwide because its effects on people and the environment are dire and long-lasting.  Almost all countries of the world are directly or indirectly affected by the adverse effects of climate change.  Bangladesh is also not free from the adversities of climate change.  Rather, the country is at high risk of natural disasters due to its geographical location, lowlands, population density, poverty, illiteracy, changes in seasonal patterns, poor infrastructure, etc., according to the study. Besides, the socio-economic condition of the country is very fragile compared to other countries of the world.  Many researches and studies have revealed the adverse effects of climate change in Bangladesh. Although Bangladesh is a developing country with an area of 1,47,570 square kilometres, it is burdened with a large population and 80 percent of the country is plain.  The German watch Global Climate Risk Index (GCRI) 2017 highlighted that Bangladesh is the sixth disaster prone country in the world. The report also mentions that 0.48 out of every 100,000 inhabitants die due to the adverse effects of climate change.  In this context, it is necessary to mention that Bangladesh has faced 185 incidents related to climate change.  For which the country had to face a loss of 0.732 percent of GDP per unit, another report said.  From the above scenario it can be seen that the impact of climate change is creating a serious problem for the country. Before discussing climate change, it is necessary to know about climate. Climate is usually referred to as a 30-to-40-year average of weather conditions.  On the other hand, weather is the average conditions of heat, pressure, flow, rainfall, air humidity for a day.  Therefore, climate is a 30-to-40-year average state of heat, pressure, flow, rainfall, air humidity.  Since the early days of Earth's formation, the climate was not the same as it is now, but very different.

On the other hand, according to NASA, the earth's surface temperature rose by 1.1 degrees Celsius during the nineteenth century. According to another analysis, the average worldwide temperature now is 0.85 degrees Celsius higher than it was in the late 19th century. According to data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, between 2002 and 2005, Antarctica lost 152 cubic kilometres of ice year, and between 2002 and 2006, Greenland lost 150 to 250 cubic kilometres of ice annually. According to a survey, glaciers practically everywhere in the world, including the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska, and Africa, are disappearing.

Some measures, such as greening the neighbourhood, becoming energy efficient, choosing renewable energy, eating sensibly, cutting waste, flying less, making polluters pay, supporting, and donating, can be implemented in order to slow down or safeguard the country from the negative effects of climate change. In addition to planting trees, limiting fuel usage, and deeply excavating canals and rivers, there are other ways to lessen the severity of climate change's harmful effects. Additionally, everyone needs to be really earnest about resolving this horrible problem, and the government needs to be very careful to implement sensible measures to do so.


Mahbubul Islam is a lawyer
and former Secretary of
World Peace Council.