Event Title
Climate Change in Bangladesh: Confronting a Mega-Disaster
Description
Average annual temperatures in Bangladesh have increased around 1 ºC between 1950 and 2008. Less uniform are increases in annual rainfall. The frequency of high-magnitude floods and more intense tropical cyclones has increased significantly, especially during the last 50 years. Sea level has been rising 4-8 mm/year along the Bangladesh coast. Depending on the population projection for 2100, a 1-meter rise in sea level would constitute a mega-disaster for Bangladesh, likely displacing between 29 million and 41 million of coastal population. To confront this mega-disaster, the demand for financial compensation for damage based on the “polluter pays” principle may not be tenable for either intergenerational distributive justice or corrective justice. Therefore, international technical and financial assistance for a range of climate change adaptation projects would, perhaps, provide a more realistic way of achieving a semblance of climate justice for Bangladesh.
About the Lecturer: Harun Rashid, PhD Emeritus Professor, Dept. of Geography & Earth Science University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Document Type
Event
Start Date
14-5-2014 12:00 PM
End Date
14-5-2014 1:15 PM
Location
Fairhaven College Auditorium
Resource Type
Moving image
Title of Series
World Issues Forum
Genre/Form
lectures
Contributing Repository
Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Climatic changes--Bangladesh; Climatic changes--Economic aspects--Bangladesh; Distributive justice--Bangladesh
Type
Moving image
Keywords
Climate change, Bangladesh, Climate justice
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws.
Language
English
Format
video/mp4
Climate Change in Bangladesh: Confronting a Mega-Disaster
Fairhaven College Auditorium
Average annual temperatures in Bangladesh have increased around 1 ºC between 1950 and 2008. Less uniform are increases in annual rainfall. The frequency of high-magnitude floods and more intense tropical cyclones has increased significantly, especially during the last 50 years. Sea level has been rising 4-8 mm/year along the Bangladesh coast. Depending on the population projection for 2100, a 1-meter rise in sea level would constitute a mega-disaster for Bangladesh, likely displacing between 29 million and 41 million of coastal population. To confront this mega-disaster, the demand for financial compensation for damage based on the “polluter pays” principle may not be tenable for either intergenerational distributive justice or corrective justice. Therefore, international technical and financial assistance for a range of climate change adaptation projects would, perhaps, provide a more realistic way of achieving a semblance of climate justice for Bangladesh.
About the Lecturer: Harun Rashid, PhD Emeritus Professor, Dept. of Geography & Earth Science University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
