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Global warming and vulnerability of Bangladesh

NAZMUL HASAN AZAM
***The developed industrialised countries, notably the G-8 countries, are producing the deadly greenhouse gases to make their economy more robust. The competitive open market economy is also using huge quantity of fuel to produce more greenhouse gas. The United Nations and other international environment organisations have to address the issue in order to ensure the survival of countries like Bangladesh.***
THE earth was a hot planet once. It gradually became cool and eventually became congenial for life to grow. Through this process the ice era began.
Till the 18th century the rate of increase in the earth's temperature was quite slow. But shortly after the Industrial Revolution, there was a rapid rise in global temperature. It is a fact that the earth is the only planet where life can survive. Because, along with other factors (like water, oxygen) one of the important reasons is that in other planets the temperature is not congenial for human and animals. Till the 18th century there was no great threat to our environment.
Three quarters of the surface of the Earth is water which is in liquid and ice form. Most of the water is in the form of ice in the polar area. But, as the earth is warming the polar ice , which has been in this form for millions of years, is now thawing, causing the sea level to rise gradually. And that is the cause of growing concern for Bangladesh because it is only 30 feet high at an average, from the mean sea level. Environmental experts have predicted that if global warming continued at the current rate, one third of Bangladesh would go under water after 50 years.
The cause of global warming is the greenhouse effect that has warmed the earth for over 4 billion years. The greenhouse effect results from the interaction between sunlight and the layer of gases in the earth's atmosphere that extends up to 100 km above the earth's surface. Sunlight is composed of a range of radiant energies known as the solar spectrum, which includes visible light, infrared light, gamma rays, X-rays, and ultraviolet light. When the sun's radiation reaches the earth's atmosphere, some 25 percent of the energy is reflected back into space by clouds and other atmospheric particles. About 20 percent is absorbed in the atmosphere. For instance, gas molecules in the uppermost layers of the atmosphere absorb the sun's gamma rays and X-rays. The sun's ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by the Ozone layer, located 19 to 48 km above the earth's surface.
About 50 percent of the sun's energy, largely in the form of visible light, pass through the atmosphere to reach the earth's surface. Soils, plants, and oceans on the planet
absorb about 85 percent of this heat energy, while the rest is reflected back into the atmosphere, most effectively by reflective surfaces such as snow, ice, and deserts. In addition, some of the sun's radiation that is absorbed by the earth's surface becomes heat energy in the form of long-wave infrared radiation, and this energy is released back into the atmosphere. Certain gases in the atmosphere, including water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, absorb this infrared radiant heat, temporarily preventing it from dispersing into space. As these atmospheric gases warm, they in turn emit infrared radiation in all directions. Some of this heat returns back to earth to further warm the surface in what is known as the greenhouse effect, and some of this heat is eventually released to space. This heat trans-
fer creates equilibrium between the total amount of heat that reaches the earth from the sun and the amount of heat that the earth radiates out into space. This equilibrium or energy balance, the exchange of energy between the earth's surface, atmosphere, and space, is important to maintain a climate that can support a wide variety of lives.
The heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere behave like the glass of a greenhouse. Average global temperature also has increased by about 0.6° C within the past century. Atmospheric scientists have found that at least half of that temperature increase can be attributed to human activity. They predict that unless immediate action is taken, global temperature will continue to rise by 1.4 to 5.8° C by the year of 2100.
The consequences of such a modest increase in temperature will
be devastating. Already, scientists have detected a 40 percent reduction in the average thickness of Arctic ice. Warmer temperatures could melt parts of polar ice caps and most mountain glaciers, causing a rise in sea level of up to 1 meter within a century or two, which would flood the coastal regions. The problems that may develop include a rise in sea level that would completely inundate a number of low-lying island nations and flood many coastal cities, such as New York and Miami. Many environmental experts assess that Bangladesh is more vulnerable to such type of environmental disaster. Many plant and animal species will probably be driven into extinction; agriculture will be severely disrupted in many regions, and the frequency of severe hurricanes and droughts will likely increase.
Bangladesh is a country of 144,000 square km with a population nearly 160 million. It economy is agriculture based, nonetheless per capita cultivable land in Bangladesh is as low as 0.29 acres. With the already disproportionate land to man ratio in Bangladesh this will create a disaster of epic proportion causing crises in food and demographic imbalance.
The climate change is very noticeable this year in Bangladesh in the form of late arrival of Monsoon. The long summer came as another trouble to the people of Bangladesh, which caused the deaths of many people. This is the sign of climate change.
In December 1997 at the Third Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan; more than 160 nations formally adopted the
Kyoto Protocol. This agreement calls for the 38 industrialised nations that now release the maximum greenhouse gases, to reduce their emissions to levels 5 percent below 1990 emission levels, between 2008 and 2012.
Negotiators have met regularly since 1995 to iron out the details of how this treaty could be enforced in ways that are agreeable for industrialised countries such as the United States, which releases more greenhouse gases than any other country, and the developing countries that are struggling to become industrialised and often cannot afford the expense that restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions would require.
George W Bush and all Americans have to take the initiative, because America is the largest producer of greenhouse gases. As she is the only dominant country of the prevailing uni-polar system, she can impose something on other countries. Therefore their effective initiative will help to reduce the production of greenhouse gases. The recent conference in New York held in the last week of June 2005 was on environment issue. The delegation of 180 countries congregated there being concerned about global warming in particular. They agreed upon a series initiatives to save the environment.
Bangladesh have to think about possible solutions as early as possible and have to take initiatives immediately. First we have to halt the high growth of population through immense proclamation by electronic and print media. All informed and educated citizens of this country have to be involved in this program. The government has to take measures to apprise the world leaders about the impending disaster.
The developed industrialised countries, notably the G-8 countries, are producing the deadly greenhouse gases to make their economy more robust. The competitive open market economy is also huge quantity of fuel to produce more greenhouse gas. The United Nations and other international environment organisations have to address the issue in order to ensure the survival of countries like Bangladesh.
The writer is a 4th year student, Deptt of IR, Jahangirnagar University.