Climate change poses threat to livelihood in Rajshahi

RAJSHAHI: Speakers at a seminar in Rajshahi said adverse impact of climate change has been posing a serious threat to the overall public health especially relating to water and sanitation in the region including the vast Varendra tract, reports BSS. To face the natural catastrophe, substantial and sustainable promotion of water and sanitation related modern technologies have become an urgent need as the vulnerable water and sanitation situation is closely associated with the climate change, they added.
The observations came at a daylong seminar titled "Climate Change Effect and Stress on Groundwater Resources in Drought-prone Bangladesh: An Adaptive Measures" held at Uttara Community Center on Saturday. BMDA unit of Institute of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh (IDEB) organised the seminar.
Former Mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation AHM Khairuzzaman Liton and Central Committee President of IDEB AKM Abdul Hamid addressed the discussion as chief and special guests respectively with Engineer Kamal Uddin, Executive Director of Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA), in the chair.
During his keynote presentation, Prof Dr Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan of Geology and Mining Department of Rajshahi University, said the common consequences of drought such as dust storms due to desertification, eroding landscapes, less crop growth due to lack of water for irrigation, malnutrition, dehydration, habitat damage now being observed in the dried region.
He said over 13,000 deep tube-wells are extracting groundwater everyday for maintaining the farming system especially the irrigation-dependent paddy for boosting its outputs to feed the huge population.
Dr Chowdhury added that the whole water and sanitation is facing serious threat in the drought-prone region due to multifarious adverse reasons including arsenic intrusion, lack of underground recharging, rising of
char lands as a result of erosion and
accretion leading to water scarcity and quality problems.
He emphasized the need for finding out effective strategies to cope with the existing and new challenges regarding water and
sanitation in drought situation in the region particularly Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj districts.
He stated that the drought-prone condition has directly been negatively impacting the water, sanitation, overall public health and sustainable livelihood in the region.
He said the climate change has been acknowledged as the depletion of natural resources and as a major threat to the humanity in the region and urged the policy planners and others concerned to take immediate effective measures to address the adverse impact of the climate change.
Quoting various research findings on the issue, Khairuzzaman Liton said the dried area has been seeing drought conditions with gradual increase of extreme weather conditions, sharp declining in groundwater table and decreasing rate of rainfall.
He put emphasis on groundwater recharging through enriching the surface water resources through necessary excavation and re-excavation of the derelict ponds and canals and treatment of the water on an emergency basis.

Climate change poses threat to livelihood in Rajshahi

RAJSHAHI: Speakers at a seminar in Rajshahi said adverse impact of climate change has been posing a serious threat to the overall public health especially relating to water and sanitation in the region including the vast Varendra tract, reports BSS. To face the natural catastrophe, substantial and sustainable promotion of water and sanitation related modern technologies have become an urgent need as the vulnerable water and sanitation situation is closely associated with the climate change, they added. The observations came at a daylong seminar titled Climate Change Effect and Stress on Groundwater Resources in Drought-prone Bangladesh: An Adaptive Measures held at Uttara Community Center on Saturday. BMDA unit of Institute of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh (IDEB) organised the seminar. Former Mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation AHM Khairuzzaman Liton and Central Committee President of IDEB AKM Abdul Hamid addressed the discussion as chief and special guests respectively with Engineer Kamal Uddin, Executive Director of Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA), in the chair. During his keynote presentation, Prof Dr Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan of Geology and Mining Department of Rajshahi University, said the common consequences of drought such as dust storms due to desertification, eroding landscapes, less crop growth due to lack of water for irrigation, malnutrition, dehydration, habitat damage now being observed in the dried region. He said over 13,000 deep tube-wells are extracting groundwater everyday for maintaining the farming system especially the irrigation-dependent paddy for boosting its outputs to feed the huge population. Dr Chowdhury added that the whole water and sanitation is facing serious threat in the drought-prone region due to multifarious adverse reasons including arsenic intrusion, lack of underground recharging, rising of char lands as a result of erosion and accretion leading to water scarcity and quality problems. He emphasized the need for finding out effective strategies to cope with the existing and new challenges regarding water and sanitation in drought situation in the region particularly Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj districts. He stated that the drought-prone condition has directly been negatively impacting the water, sanitation, overall public health and sustainable livelihood in the region. He said the climate change has been acknowledged as the depletion of natural resources and as a major threat to the humanity in the region and urged the policy planners and others concerned to take immediate effective measures to address the adverse impact of the climate change. Quoting various research findings on the issue, Khairuzzaman Liton said the dried area has been seeing drought conditions with gradual increase of extreme weather conditions, sharp declining in groundwater table and decreasing rate of rainfall. He put emphasis on groundwater recharging through enriching the surface water resources through necessary excavation and re-excavation of the derelict ponds and canals and treatment of the water on an emergency basis.