In few places in the world are the effects of climate change as dramatic and visible as in Bangladesh. The South Asian country, situated at the tip of the delta formed by the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers, is the nation most exposed to tropical cyclones in the world, and two thirds of the national territory lies less than five metres above sea level, at the mercy of flooding. According to the Climate Change Vulnerability Index, an index drawn up in 2015 that assesses countries' vulnerability to the effects of global warming, Bangladesh's economy is the one most at risk. Within just over thirty years, more than forty million people in Bangladesh could lose their livelihoods and thirty million their homes.

How Bangladesh stays afloat

The outlook is alarming, but the cutting-edge resilience techniques adopted by Bangladesh are internationally recognised. To counter the effects of climate change, the Bangladeshi government has invested more than ten billion dollars, used, among other things, to strengthen river embankments, increase the capacity of government agencies to respond to emergencies, build emergency shelters for protection from cyclones and resilient homes, and adapt agricultural systems in rural areas.

Mangroves against climate change

To prevent Bangladesh from being slowly swallowed by the Indian Ocean — coastal erosion causes the loss of around 10,000 hectares of land every year — it is essential to protect forests and natural environments, the last bulwarks against land loss. For this reason, the national strategy to limit the impact of climate change is centred on the protection of coastal ecosystems. Specifically to increase Bangladesh's climate resilience, in the 1980s the World Bank funded a mangrove reforestation project in the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world. The reforestation reduced the territory's vulnerability to storms and cyclones, contributed to absorbing large quantities of CO2, improved livelihoods for local communities and provided a precious habitat for wildlife.

A paradise to protect

Sundarbans National Park, more than 20,000 square kilometres of land and water in the Ganges delta, divided between Bangladesh and India, is home to the largest mangrove forest in the world. This relict forest, the last remaining witness to the majestic jungles that once covered the Gangetic plain, constitutes the last stronghold for animal species at high risk of extinction, such as the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), nowhere else in the world do so many live, and the rare Irrawaddy river dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) and South Asian river dolphin (Platanista gangetica).

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Nature's resilience

Mangroves, after coral reefs, represent the most effective natural protection against tropical storms; they also have an extraordinary capacity to store carbon dioxide, up to fifty times greater than that of tropical forests. These forests also provide sustenance for a large number of coastal communities. The vital importance of such environments is therefore clear: to protect them, the Mangroves for the future initiative was launched, aimed at promoting the role that healthy, well-managed coastal ecosystems play in building the resilience of coastal communities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The project, which arose in the wake of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, is supported by Iucn and the United Nations Development Programme, and aims to conserve, restore and sustainably manage coastal ecosystems, including coral reefs, estuaries, beaches and wetlands, considered key natural infrastructure for human wellbeing and security.

World Bank support

The World Bank has recognised the seriousness of the threat posed by climate change and has decided to allocate 28 per cent of its investments to projects concerning sustainable development through a Climate Change Action Plan. In Bangladesh it has supported several projects that have helped increase the country's resilience: for example, it funded the construction of desalination plants and solar-powered irrigation systems for the benefit of eight thousand farmers, organised livelihood training courses in two hundred communities, built 224 new cyclone shelters and distributed thousands of energy-efficient stoves to combat deforestation.