Nishat, Ainun

Bangladesh is the innocent victim of climate change due to its low riparian flat coastal landscape and high population density with poor financial capacity to respond to the adverse impact of climate change. Natural hazards like floods, droughts, cyclones and sea level rise are increasing day by day that will push poorer section of the population to the very margin of survival. Bangladesh government realizes that it is necessary to raise her voice in global forum in an effort to minimize impact of global warming largely caused by developed countries.

It is now unequivocally established that climate change is a reality, and the adversities of climatic transformations pose one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. The publication on "Protocol for Monitoring of Impacts of Climate Change and Climate Variability in Bangladesh" is a modest yet pioneering attempt to proffer a systemic methodology to quantify and record the impacts of climate change across selected key sectors.

This pictorial book captures the lives and livelihoods of the farmers and fishermen in the Noakhali Sadar and Subarnachar, low-lying coastal areas of Bangladesh.It also shows adaptation measures being adopted to respond to current and future changes in the climate regime.As part of the preparation for this book a study was carried out to assess the vulnerability of the people of Noakhali. It noted that their vulnerability is exacerbated by natural disasters and their socioeconomic conditions.

This document summarizes Bangladesh’s existing capacity in addressing climate change, biodiversity and land degradation problems and concerns assessed through country-wide consultations. It includes an action plan developed to improve the country’s capacity in the public and private sectors and at individual, institutional and policy levels. The document has been divided into seven major chapters, namely: Introduction; Climate Change; Biodiversity; Land Degradation; Synergy; Capacity Development Action Plan; and Monitoring and Evaluation.

The main objective of this report is to provide hydrological inputs that include inflow and outflow routes of water, identification of various rivers, beels and khals functioning within the Hakaluki haor region, current hydrological and hydraulic characteristics, soil characteristics of the area and land use pattern as governed by hydraulic regimes, information on natural resources like flora and fauna and suggestions on development of a Community-based Haor Resources Management Project.

IUCN Bangladesh has undertaken this initiative in association with Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) under the Sustainable Environment Management Programme (SEMP) in the Madhumati Floodplain. Under this project one of the interventions is to promote alternative livelihood options. Baira farming was one of the options suggested by the people of that area. Moreover, variations could be identified in this traditional cultivation system in different parts of the country, indicating baira cultivation to be in an evolutionary phase here.

This book primarily based on observation made during field trips to different haors and floodplains in the SEMP project areas by plant experts, IUCNB staff and partner NGOs. Experience and ideas of the local communities of these wetlands were also considered while preparing the manuscript. Some of the information has been drawn from existing published and unpublished accounts. This book will provide a guideline for future wetland plant resource conservation and management.