Climate change
Global climate change poses a potential danger to the development efforts, ecosystem and productive capacity of our environment. Climate change particularly the temperature rise due to greenhouse gases may cause rise of sea level. According to one study, one meter net rise of the sea level would inundate 17% of the total area of Bangladesh, particularly the low lying flood plain and coastal areas, including Sundarbans and man made coastal mangrove forests. It is a big threat to land use, its system, related sectors and overall ecology and economy.
The coast of Bangladesh is known as a zone of multiple vulnerabilities due to climate change. It is prone to severe natural disasters, such as cyclones, storm surges and floods. Records of the last 200 years show that at least 70 major cyclones have hit the coastal belt.
Although 50% (1,004,639 hector) of the forests (including largest mangrove forest--Sundarbans) of Bangladesh are in the coastal region, these are insufficient to protect the coastal belt.
Deforestation rate is very high in coastal areas. The principle cause of deforestation is expansion of agricultural land through cutting the forest areas. Growth of population and economic pressure are two prominent factors leading to large scale clearing of forests. Almost all of the mangrove forests in the vicinity of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar have already been cleared for other land uses. It increases the risk during the time of any natural disaster like cyclone and tidal surge in the coastal areas.
In the context of climate change, massive, efficient management and protection of forest play a major role for coastal defence.
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