CLIMATE CHANGE:
» Mum tells how son was drowned by surging tides » Families forced to flee as sea and temperatures rise
two miles of land has been swallowed up in the past five years. He adds: “The sea is coming in closer all the time.”
Pointing to the peninsula on the other side of the estuary, he says: “My father has told me that 20 years ago you could walk for two hours in that direction. Now the sea is just a few metres away.”
Like many I speak to, councillor Shamsul Alam, 60, says floods have reached progressively further each year since Cyclone Sidr claimed up to 10,000 lives in Bangladesh in 2007.
He explains: “We have got used to battling with nature. When it gets really bad during the monsoon, we
just go up in the trees. The embankment has been raised several times, but each time it gets knocked back down again. It’s a real struggle to grow crops. We cannot make a living from farming any more.”
Residents of whole villages in this region have simply uprooted and gone further inland. Shamsul says 150 families in his ward have moved.
Those suffering most are the disabled, who have no help from the state.
Mahinur Begum, 40, provides for her disabled husband Khalek and son Rabiul, 12, by selling the fish she can catch in the river by their house.
They live on flat ground that is vulnerable to flooding. Saline water carried in by storm surges has badly damaged freshwater fish stocks, and made drinkable water even scarcer.
Mahinur says: “I last had a proper catch two months ago.”
She holds a net attached to a wooden pole, and immerses herself in the river. “Now, the water is too salty. Compared to 12 years ago, before the big cyclone, there is barely anything left in the river. There is more and more salt water.”
A newly built concrete cyclone shelter provides solace for up to 5,000 people with flimsy homes, but many more are needed. Neil Thorns, of London-based aid agency CAFOD, said: “The biggest injustice about climate change is that people in places such as Bangladesh are paying the greatest price, even though they have contributed the least to the fossil fuel emissions which are causing it. “We in the UK need to play our part urgently.” A report published on Wednesday by an influential committee of MPs highlighted the disproportionate impact of climate change on the poorest countries. Labour’s CONSTANT BATTLE Mahinur’s meagre catch Stephen Twigg, head of the International Development Select Committee, said: “We must look at how we can provide the best support to those nations that will face the most serious consequences of climate change yet have done little to cause it.”
In Bengali, Bangladesh’s main language, there is as yet no commonly known phrase for climate change.
Its people, however, know what the man-made phenomenon actually means far better than most in Britain. ■ To learn more about CAFOD’s work, or to donate, go to: cafod.org.uk.