LDCF Bangladesh

Population: 155 million
CO2 emissions per capita: 0.38 ton

An icon of climate change

Bangladesh faces severe climate variability and change effects already and is gradually moving from being seen as an icon victim of climate change to hosting a series of innovative adaptation initiatives.
 

Bangladesh may be considered to be ‘ahead of the game’ having recently taken steps to develop a new climate change strategy and action plan, and to institute the innovative ‘Multi-Donor Trust Fund’ (MDTF) for receiving and dispersing adaptation funds. These developments have not been uncontroversial however, and there are many ways in which existing actions could be improved.
Bangladesh adaptation can inform the development of similar strategies in other vulnerable developing countries.
 

An early NAPA

Bangladesh completed and published its NAPA in 2005, relatively early in the duration of the LDC Fund. The Bangladesh NAPA identified coastal communities in Bangladesh as particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which will include salinity intrusion and inundation of coastal lands as a result of sea level rise as well as exposure to more frequent extreme climatic events. Without adaptation, the low lying deltaic floodplains of Bangladesh are likely to experience a submergence of 17.5 percent of the country’s land mass associated with climate-change induced sea-level rise in coastal regions by approximately 2030, which could result in the displacement of 6-10 million people by 2050, and 20 million by 2100.
 

The priority project submitted to the GEF for funding from Bangladesh targets coastal communities. The objective of the project is to improve the resilience of coastal populations, settlements and ecosystems in areas exposed to coastal hazards. 
 

Specific activities of the project include early-warning systems for climate-related extreme events; pilot activities at the community level, such as mangrove and wetland restoration as part of a greenbelt project; and innovative ways of securing potable water, such as rainwater harvesting, micro surface and groundwater treatment facilities.