Professional Documents
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And Preparing for the Worst Given the uncertainties of climate mod-
eling, “improving overall resilience is the
way to go,” says Neil Adger, head of adapta-
In a clarion call to other developing nations, Bangladesh is girding itself against the tion research at the Tyndall Centre for Cli-
hazards of a warmer world mate Change Research in Norwich, U.K. He
and others are calling for adaptation meas-
RAJSHAHI, BANGLADESH—Pale-green mered regularly by floods, cyclones, and ures in Bangladesh and elsewhere that help
sprouts of summer rice are just poking up droughts. Bangladesh is “nature’s laboratory people regardless of how the climate
from water the color of milky tea pooled for natural disasters,” says Ainun Nishat, changes. There’s little time to spare. “We are
behind low earthen banks. These terraced senior adviser at the International Union for running, but the climate is running faster,”
rice paddies are a traditional farming method Conservation of Nature’s Dhaka office. says Habib Mohammad Naser, a soil scien-
for coping with monsoon downpours. Now Bangladesh is striving to become a tist at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research
Another age-old adaptation of this commu- global showcase for climate change adapta- Institute in Dhaka.
nity in northwest Bangladesh is deowal bari: tion. Earlier this month, its government
thick mud walls that keep homes cool even as approved a wide-ranging strategy for dealing Averting hunger
temperatures outside soar above 40°C. with climate change that includes ramping The U.N. has so far amassed about $350 mil-
But a changing climate is forcing locals to up civil engineering projects to control lion in four funds to help high-risk locales
further improvise—and fast. This region of flooding and protect farmland from rising adapt to climate change, including pilot
Bangladesh in recent years has received only sea levels. Researchers here are also testing efforts to fight malaria in Colombia and to
about half the winter rainfall it averaged over crops that better tolerate floods and drought. strengthen shorelines on Kiribati, a Pacific
the past half-century. Farmers here are often Realizing that time-honored approaches island nation. But this funding is a thimbleful
unable to sow winter crops. Compounding to living off the land no longer suff ice, of what’s needed: The World Bank estimates
expert Ian Burton of the University of withstand high salt levels, and they are They will lose their livelihoods,” predicts
Toronto in Canada, “then the cost of adapta- experimenting with aerobic rice, in which S. M. Mahbubur Rahman of the Institute of
tion is going to be enormous.” no standing water remains on a field, cutting Water Modeling in Dhaka. Bangladesh’s
Although Bangladesh had been working water use in half. But scientists are making climate change strategy warns that “sea-
on adaptation plans for several years, 2007 fewer inroads into traits such as tolerance to level rise could result in the displacement
was a wake-up call. That year, after two drought and heat. Therefore, Hussain of millions of people.”
severe floods and a cyclone, rice production argues, the main threat to rice from a warm- To blunt the ill effects, Bangladesh’s adap-
overall fell 10% short of need; in some dis- ing world is sterility: When rice plants tation strategy calls for a Dutch-style over-
tricts half or more of the crop was wiped out. flower in summer, temperatures above 35°C haul of coastal polders: pockets of land
Bangladeshis waited in long lines for gov- for more than 8 hours straight often sterilize enclosed by several-meter-tall earthen
ernment handouts, and food riots broke out. the plant’s spikelets, preventing these from embankments that protect against high tides
Climate change presents many challenges developing into rice grains. “Once this and moderate storm surges when cyclones
for South Asia, but in Bangladesh, not sur- tear through. Engineers have already built an
prisingly, “agriculture will be the hardest-hit extensive network of such embankments.
sector,” predicts Sheikh Ghulam Hussain, an Bangladesh’s plans call for extending,
agricultural scientist with the Bangladesh strengthening, and building them higher.
Agricultural Research Council. Although the The integrity of inland embankments is
more than twice as long as ordinary rice. The need for hardier rice, particularly salt- Grassroots efforts are critical. “It’s neces-
The gene slows the plant’s growth to con- tolerant varieties, will only grow. As climate sary for officials to learn from farmers and
serve energy and preserve chlorophyll, changes, a broad swath of Bangladesh is pass information up to research scientists and
allowing it to spring back once floodwaters expected to grow saltier, and some areas planners,” says U.K. soil scientist Hugh
subside. One variety, Swarna sub1, could be could even disappear under the waves. Brammer, who for more than 40 years has
ready for farmers in 2 or 3 years, says Nearly a fifth of Bangladesh sits less than a helped Bangladesh shape its strategy for
Biswas. “It would be a breakthrough,” he meter above sea level; recent estimates fore- agriculture and flood control. If Bangladesh’s
says, because Swarna sub1 could be suit- cast sea level rises of up to 2 meters by 2100 recipe for adaptation works, it may end up
able for up to 1 million hectares, or one- (Science, 5 September 2008, p. 1340). In being emulated as other countries brace for
sixth of Bangladesh’s summer rice. Bangladesh, “river waters will be more the consequences of a warmer world.
BRRI researchers have also developed a saline, and the people will find that their –MASON INMAN
rice variety called BRRI Dhan 47 that can lands are no longer suitable for agriculture. Mason Inman is a writer in Karachi, Pakistan.