GENDER PERSPECTIVES OF INCREASED SOCIO-ECONOMIC RISKS OF WATERLOGGING IN BANGLADESH DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE
article: GENDER PERSPECTIVES OF INCREASED SOCIO-ECONOMIC RISKS OF WATERLOGGING IN BANGLADESH DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Coastal Cities Summit
GENDER PERSPECTIVES OF INCREASED SOCIO-ECONOMIC RISKS OF WATERLOGGING IN BANGLADESH DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Sharmind Neelormi1, Neelopal Adri2, and Ahsan Uddin Ahmed3
1Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Jahangirnagar University, Savar-1342, Bangladesh; <neelormi1@yahoo.com>; 2M.Sc Student, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, and 3Executive Director, Centre for Global Change (CGC), House 12-Ka/A/1 Shaymoli Second Lane, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh.
ABSTRACT
Bangladesh is known as one of the most vulnerable countries across the globe under climate change. Most of the adverse effects of climate change is anticipated to be in the form of extreme weather events, while water related hazards such as flood, drought, salinity ingress, river bank erosion, water logging, tidal bore are likely to be exacerbated, leading to large scale damages to crop, employment, livelihoods and national economy. The effects of climate change, manifested in the increase of extreme weather conditions, have gender-specific implications in terms of both vulnerability and adaptive capacity.
In the South West region of Bangladesh, water logging has emerged as a pressing concern at the backdrop of climate change. Gradual siltation on the riverbed of Kabodak, triggered by inadequate runoffs in the southern reach caused by coastal embankment project, is the main source of the problem. There are areas where people are compelled to live in water logged condition for even nine months a year. Economic activities and agricultural activities have been greatly hampered in water logged situation. Loss of livelihoods due to submergence of land often forces male to go far away for weeks in search of alternative livelihoods. In their absence, women are easy victims to social vices. Livestock rearing can not be sustained for inadequacy of fodder, homestead vegetable production also becomes difficult and therefore, women cannot plan to upgrade their economic condition. Field-level research reveals that water logging severely affects women’s health of affected community. Pregnant women can not continue movement in marooned and slippery conditions, they are forced to stay back inside the house and ultimately fall victim to unhygienic reproductive health condition. It is reported that there are increasing trends of gynecological problems due to unhygienic water use. Schools become inoperative, which drastically reduces women’s opportunity to become self-reliant. As a consequence of absence of land-based productive system, the poverty situation has become so dire that the social fabric is about to be torn apart.
Unfortunately, water logging is likely to be accentuated under invigorated monsoon, influenced by climate change. Consequently, people’s sufferings will only be escalated. In a bid to enhance living condition of women in affected areas, the state must consider gender-specific measures to either build resilience of women or reduce their overall vulnerability by draining off stagnant water from the area – even if the cost of institutional adaptation is staggering. Cost of people’s suffering must be weighed against cost of adaptation.
1. Introduction
The global scientific communities have proven beyond doubt that earth’s climate is changing (IPCC, 2001; IPCC, 2007). Experts and Officials from across the world collectively endorsed the latest findings of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) through its Fourth Assessment Report. In accordance with the much hyped Bali Action Plan if the Annex-1 Countries strive for a ‘deeper cut’ in emissions, yet the net forcing would be in the order of 2.4ºC. Of course, without a global consensus the average temperature might increase up to 7ºC with respect to 1990 values by 2100 in Asia (Cruz et al., 2007).
Bangladesh is known as one of the most vulnerable countries under climate change. A number of major studies in the past investigated the causes of vulnerability of Bangladesh due to Climate Change (Huq et al., 1998; Warrick and Ahmad, 1996; ADB, 1994). As elsewhere in the world, the number of occurrences of disastrous events over the past decade or so has indeed increased dramatically in the low lying delta, which not only has negated her development strides, but also her relentless efforts to improve quality of lives of millions of her poverty ridden citizens. Historically, the country has been subject to a variety of water-related hazards, mostly in the form of flood, cyclonic storm surge, riverbank erosion, drought, and salinity (Ahmed and Mirza, 2000; Ali, 1999; Karim et al., 1990a, Karim et al., 1990b). A large number of recent analyses suggest that such hydrological hazardous events are likely to be aggravated due to climate change (Huq et al., 1996; Asaduzzaman et al., 1997; Mirza, 1997; Ahmed, 2005).
Although Bangladesh’s high vulnerability to frequently occurring hazards is known world-wide, a lesser known new phenomenon – water logging – has been disrupting livelihoods of about one million people during the past two decades (Islam et al., 2004; Ahmed et al., 2007a). The phenomenon involves deterioration of drainage condition in a number of southern coastal rivers leading to temporary to permanent inundation of floodplains along those rivers, causing enormous difficulties towards maintaining livelihoods and disrupting land-based productive system including crop agriculture (CEGIS, 1998; Rahman, 1995). The problem has become severe in the southwestern parts of Bangladesh, especially along the Kobadak river system covering parts of Jessore, Khulna and Satkhira Districts (pls. see Map in Figure-1). Water logging is also becoming an issue in central southern Noakhali District, where gradual choking of the Noakhali rivulet (i.e., khal) has given rise to temporary water logging every year (Neelormi, 2005).
Since a large majority of the rural Bangladeshis is dependent on crop agriculture for subsistence, the unavailability of land year-round and/or for a major part of a growing season due to standing water put agriculture based livelihood of people in extreme hardship (Ahmed et al., 2007a). Hazards generally bring additional difficulties and vulnerabilities to women, especially for poor women in Bangladesh. As in other forms of water-related hazards in Bangladesh, rural women are the worst sufferers under water logging condition (Ahmed et al., 2007b).
Scientists suggest that climate change would aggravate water logging condition in both the areas of coastal Bangladesh (Ahmed et al., 2007a). It is therefore imperative to analyze gender-segregated vulnerability to water logging and plan for early adaptation. However, there has been scanty information on women’s special vulnerability to water logging under climate change in Bangladesh. Following a literature review, social/anthropological approach and methodologies such as Focus Group Discussions (FGD), Informal dialogues with affected local people, Key Informants’ Interviews, etc. are employed for the present study. Based on people’s own contexts of vulnerability and future climate projections, vulnerability to water logging and potential adaptation options are assessed – again involving local people in the process. This article explores a few adaptation possibilities for women, those of whom have been entrapped in water for years in the southwestern Bangladesh.
2. Hydro-geo-morphological Contexts of Vulnerability to Water Logging
The Southwestern Region of Bangladesh has been subjected to a plethora of hydro-geo-morphological hazards which include poor drainage through its river systems, high rates of sedimentation on river beds, acute low flow conditions during the dry season, salinity ingress along the rivers, cyclonic storm surge, moisture stress in the dry season, rise in sea level, and to a lesser extent, flood (Halcrow-WARPO, 2001). The region is located in the coastal zone, and is significantly influenced by tidal effects. The entire region is monotonously flat, having very low elevation. According to available statistics on Coastal Zone, majority of the land is within one meter from mean sea level, a significant proportion of which again falls below high-tide level (Islam, 2005). A network of polders has been created since late 1960s, protecting the land from being affected by high tides and facilitating crop agriculture by restricting salinity ingress.
The Gorai is the major distributary of the Ganges River, passing through the region, providing the majority of the dry season flow (DHV-WARPO, 2000). Main River systems of this region consist of the Gorai-Madhumati-Baleswar river system, the Gorai-Bhairab-Pusur river system, the Bhadra-Gengrail river system, the Hari-Teka-Mukteswari river system, Sibsa river, the Kobadak-Betna-Kholpetua river system and the Mathabhanga-Ichamati-Kalindi river system. These river systems criss-cross the region through a complex network of smaller rivers and rivulets. Through a natural process of gradual east-ward migration of the Ganges River – the primary source of freshwater for all these river systems, many smaller rivers lost their drainage capacity over the past two centuries (Williams, 1919; Sarker, 2004).
The empolderment of coastal reaches through the implementation of the Coastal Embankment Project also had a backlash, that has been demonstrated by enhanced sedimentation within the riverbeds, which eventually choked up the rivers (Sarker, 2004). In absence of coastal embankments, sedimentation could have otherwise happened naturally in the entire floodplain, thereby rapid upliftment of riverbeds could have been avoided (Islam et al., 2004). The processes have been rather slow, however the results have been incremental and cascading. Not only the morphological processes have been altered severely with adverse effect in terms of narrowing down of width of rivers and estuary, it also reduced the height differential between the crest height of embankment and the peak water level (mostly during neap tides in peak monsoon). Following a few iterations of such cascading effects, the drainage capacity of the affected rivers has been shrunk significantly (Ahmed et al., 2007a).
However, the most drammatic hydrological effect has been observed in the region ever since the Ganges flows have been withdrawn by the upstream neighbour India by building and commissioning of the Farakka barrage in 1975 (Mirza, 2004; Halcrow-WARPO, 2001). The adverse impacts reached their height during the period between 1990 and 1996, when the Gorai river has been found completely disconnected from its tributary, the Ganges River (DHV-WARPO, 2000). As a consequence, most of the smaller rivers in the region choked during every dry season, allowing salinity to penetrate inland towards north. Accordingly, the mixing zone between freshwater and brackish water has been shifted towards north. During the dry season, a combination of extreme low flow and increased salinity accelerates the processes of sedimentation in the riverbed, which eventually choke the river and drastically reduce its drainage capacity (Rahman et al., 2000). This is how drainage congestion becomes a regular phenomenon in that river, resulting into overbank spillage during each peak monsoon. Consequently, the entire basin becomes water logged for a certain period of the year.
Under climate change induced increasing salinity along the coastal rivers, the above processes will be aggravated (Figure-2). This in turn will further complicate the current state of water logging (Ahmed et al., 2007a). It is inferred that water logging will be spread over a larger area, involving increasing number of smaller river basins within the south-western and south-central regions.
Water logging appears to be highly pronounced along the coastal rivers in the southwestern region, where the adjoining lands are mostly empoldered. Often it is found that the drainage infrastructure such as sluice gates also gets choked due to heavy sedimentation and eventually becomes inoperable. Once spillage takes place over an existing embankment, water does not find ways to recede, inundates both agricultural lands and homesteads. Non-functioning of sluices often aggravates the situation and water logging within an embankment system becomes a perennial problem.
Currently, vast areas in Manirampur, Keshabpur, and Abhaynagar Thanas of Jessore District, Dumuria Thana of Khulna District, and Tala Thana of Satkhira District are generally water logged. In case of Manirampur and Keshabpur Thanas, over 85 per cent land has been remained water logged for over seven years. It has been observed that during the flood year 2007, Kobadak river had been flowing above danger level in Jhikargachcha for over 80 continuous days (Ahmed et al., 2007a). However, in the other flooded river basins towards the northern reaches, continuous inundation lasted upto 20 days in each of the two flood spells. The low-lying areas along the Kobadak River were all inundated between June and November in 2007.
3. Impacts and Implications of Water logging on Women in Bangladesh
In water logging condition, women are basically entrapped in water. The irony is, despite having water all around they have practically been devoid of an opportunity to get non-contaminated water for drinking purposes. The patriarchal nature of gender-based responsibility in a common Bangladeshi household dictates them to fetch safe drinking water on a regular basis and maintain household well being. Hence, women in a water logged area find it extremely difficult to accept the reality around them: using water for drinking purposes from the very same source where they are forced to defecate. No wonder, absence of safe sanitation services and supply of safe drinking water has been culminated into rather high rates of water-borne diseases, including skin diseases and reproductive health disorders. A large majority of the women reported that they had been suffering from acute vaginal infection and other reproductive health disorders.
The food security of the affected people is found to be completely shattered because of non-availability of land-based productive system (Ahmed et al., 2007a). For only those areas where inundation takes place for six to seven months, people can take advantage of the remainder of the calendar and try to produce crops. However, in most of the lands cereals cannot be grown due to miss-match in timings between land availability and cropping season. Food system for the poor, therefore, is found to be dependent on remittance from male members, or by purchasing food items from nearby markets. Again, commodity prices are found to be higher than that in non-waterlogged areas, mostly due to higher carrying cost through disrupted road networks.
Purchasing food items requires sustained flow of income, the latter being extremely hard to come by for the lower-middle class and poor families. For the day labours, finding a job in the neighbourhood appears to be a mirage! The local economy is so much stressed that the perceived opportunity cost dampens the spirit of any potential employer to invest in the ‘land of complete hopelessness’. Therefore, no appreciable employment is generated in the area. People, man and women of virtually all age, religion and sect use hand-hold push-nets to catch small fish, mostly shrimp fries. So many people are found to catch fish in the inundated areas that it could easily be mistaken as a gathering for local celebration. The result appears obvious, everybody gets a small catch, however not adequate enough to ensure food security for the next day. No wonder, people try to catch fish almost every day, fully knowing that absence in ‘work’ for a day might translate into the following day’s hunger.
Interestingly, it appears not so acceptable socially if the middle class women catch fish in open daylight. If they dare in desperation, they are sure to face socially derogatory responses from the rest of the community. However, the clever ones wake up too early and start catching fish under the morning twilight, often as ghostly shadows, thereby avoiding inquisitive eyes of curious neighbours. A few hours of efforts in waist-height filthy water, often contaminated with all forms of wastes, pathogens, and pollutants alike, gives one’s nutritional balance back only perhaps to sustain for another day and engage in the same effort the next day. Women have been equivocal in informing that without their participation in such an unacceptable form of alternative livelihood, they could not have sustained against obvious hunger. Women had virtually no choice: avoiding hunger for their families appear to be the only objective – even if it is ‘traded’ in exchange of social underling, personal health ailments, physical insecurity, and so on (Ahmed et al., 2007a).
In prolonged water logging condition the housing units of the poor have become dilapidated, whereas the economic burden does not allow a poor family to refurbish the unit. This had given rise to a new dimension of vulnerability to women: they generally feel insecure staying in a dilapidated structure, especially when they are left behind by their respective male counterparts in search of an employment.
In rural Bangladesh, the sense of helplessness for any adult/adolescent woman gives rise to insecurity, in both physical and mental terms. In a society where the coming out of house for a female is regarded as a ‘bad conduct’ and otherwise an ‘invitation to harassment’, it is only obvious that in water logging condition males often take advantage of women’s helplessness. Female headed households suffer the most, while young single mother (herself often being an adolescent) with one or two toddlers in a shanty household is the most common victim of sexual as well as psycho-physical harassments. The patriarchal society generally does not ensure justice, often due to not having enough eye-witness of an incidence. In a ‘water world’, the lack of adequate surveillance often leaves ample room for males to take advantage on women, while the inevitable lack of access of poor women to legal assistance makes it impossible to curb social vices and bring forth justice (Ahmed et al., 2007a).
Mothers in the affected area live in a state of mental trauma in anticipation of sudden drowning of a child. Many households faced sudden slipping of a restless toddler in waist-deep water on the inundated courtyard, especially during the first two years of water logging. Every mother feels bad regarding the fact that they cannot ensure healthy and safe environment in the processes of upbringing their young children. One of their major agonies is not being able to send children in schools: not only it appears costly to send a child in school by hiring a boat, often the schools are inundated too and therefore remain closed.
The adolescent girls face other forms of mental trauma, with occasional physical abuses. Since most of the people in the neighbourhood have skin legions, arranging a marriage for a young girl with a male from non-waterlogged area appears impossible. Again in a patriarchal society where males enjoy ‘the ultimate say’ in any arranged marriage, that too after settling with a hefty dowry in favour, who would consider marrying a girl with skin disease? In the water world, entering into adolescence from innocent childhood appears to be a ‘sin’ for every young woman.
Of course, opportunist males sometimes take advantage of this rather unacceptable condition. They often come forward (as an individual) with a marriage proposal, get married and ‘enjoy being married’ for a little while, and then ‘sell’ the legally wedded wife in brothels. Often these young girls, abused both physically and mentally, are sold several times as objects of sexual amusement and eventually trafficked to other areas (Ahmed et al., 2007b). While their dreams of a healthy family life are shattered, back in their respective water logged villages parents do try their level best to marry off her other sibling, just to release the burden of feeding of yet another hungry mouth. In a water world, women’s particular vulnerability appears beyond measure.
4. Practiced Coping by Women in Waterlogged Condition
Women in waterlogged areas, as elsewhere in Bangladesh, have been trying to cope with the dire strait condition. Living in that condition for years, women too have been developed unique coping mechanisms for their own survival. They are generally given the responsibility to safeguard virtually everything valuable as well as perishable in moist conditions. They take care of themselves, maintain household physical security, ensures the well being of the children and elderly people, nurse young children, prepare food and still do everything psychologically possible to maintain household harmony. In Jessore, where the prevailing water logging condition is continuing for years, they ‘live through the water world’ amid otherwise hopeless circumstances, even when their male counterparts are in pursuit of earning money and avoiding the water world during the peak water logged conditions (Ahmed et al., 2007a,b).
In a patriarchal society, males are just males, even in water logged conditions. Male members of the families often go to the nearby relatively higher and dryer places for employment; as transportation is not easy and is expensive, these people often stay at those places and do not frequently come back to their families. Even male members show the attitude that they do not feel like staying every single day in this water logged situation. Only women are full time water-bound in this ‘water world’. They try to increase income by catching shrimp while standing in waist-high water in the morning twilight. Children suffer from acute malnourishment though mothers try to feed their kids with whatever they have, being themselves half-fed or even starving.
Since the problem there is seasonal, women continue to maintain poultry and livestock. Feeding the animals require extra bit of effort on the part of the women. Cooking becomes a hazard, especially if biomass based cooking stoves are being used. Women suffer through unhealthy smokes and subsequent bronchial diseases. Fetching safe drinking water becomes another major daily hurdle. If the household tube well is inundated and/or contaminated, the woman goes to the neighbours’ courtyard to collect safe drinking water. “We do not cope, we just try to survive. Who wants to live like this?” snapped a young woman in Keshabpur. She just represents tens of thousand other women in the water logged area.
People suffer from diarrhea, dysentery and skin related diseases. Wide-spread occurrence of such diseases is generally observed during and after the peak waterlogging period. Qualified medical practitioners are not found in the locality. In their absence, local people go to village doctors (i.e., quacks). Men seek medical help and if the medication is found within financial means, they bring home an odd ointment or so for immediate treatment. Although recommended during pregnancy, pregnant women cannot take a stroll in waterlogged condition. They are forced to stay back inside the house and ultimately fall victim to unhygienic reproductive health conditions. Giving birth is completely unhygienic, especially in the absence of any experienced assistance. Neonatal ailments such as blue baby syndrome (anophaxia), acute bronchitis, pneumonia, and diarrhea are common diseases, which often do not receive due medical attention.
In a bid to avoid sudden slipping of young children into chest high stagnant water, women take every precautionary measure and often curtail the slightest opportunity to rest during the day. Families taking shelter on the rooftop generally tie plastic bottles in the body of the newborns and young children so that they do not slip into the water. Preservation of cooking fuel, food, and safeguarding educational material for the children become difficult. Collection of fuel and potable water becomes extremely hazardous. Also during prolonged waterlogging, women cannot send their children to school for education. Women along with their young children walk along the water in the area with a great threat to their health.
To cope with waterlogging women generally prefer houses with fences made of bamboo (‘muli’ bamboo) and wood, while avoiding mud. The plinth height of the houses is raised so that water does not inundate easily, until it climbs past certain level. Towards elevating plinth height, women in most households help their male counterparts by participating in physically demanding activities, often by upkeeping and respecting social norms such as ‘purdah’.
Of course, many female-headed women ultimately become compelled to take shelter on embankments. Taking shelter on the rooftop is also a common scenario in the severely waterlogged areas.A large majority of women indicated that they had tried to remain within the household by building elevated platforms inside the main bedroom, however they had to refrain staying there when they had realized that the rising water was there only to stay for long.
Ceiling-like raised/ high platforms, locally termed as “Darma”, are built inside the houses so as to keep asset ownership documents/ deeds of lands, other important papers/ documents, dry food such as fried swollen rice, rice, and pulse, salt, sugar (‘gur’), matches, candle, kerosene, quilt, ‘kantha’, etc. safe and stored in the wake of emergency during the water-logged period. Besides this measure, wood/ branches of trees are stored by women on “Darma” to be used as firewood for boiling pond-water. In order to save time in fetching water frequently the women of the locality try to conserve drinking water even by asking their children not to drink much. During the water logging period, water is treated by women either by boiling or by using alum (‘fitkiri’). However, the level of awareness being so low, not all the households assumes extra responsibility to treat water before drinking (Neelormi et al., 2007).
Most of the kitchens as well as latrines in rural Bangladesh are situated outside the main dwelling unit. In waterlogged condition it becomes difficult to reach to the kitchens and in cases even to the latrines. All family members especially women cross the waterlogged courtyard several times a day in chest high water for both the purposes. Children often defecate sitting in the extended platform of the house or outside in open, while females wait till nightfall to do the same. In the latter cases, women accept consequences of unhygienic sanitary conditions.
If one wants to avoid hopeless cooking condition, she accepts cooking inside the house and shares unhygienic smoky exhaust with the children. Portable ovens/stoves are made using mud, tin, and cement, generally by the women. Such portable stoves are kept on “Darma” in order to use during waterlogged period/ flood time. Cooking is done on top of beds using those stoves. This is, unfortunately, the common picture of most of the households in the waterlogged affected areas in Jessore.
In absence of academic activities and in dire need for increasing family income, children are forced to catch fish. There is virtually no healthy modality for recreation among children and adolescents. The worst sufferers are the young girls. Unlike boys, they neither can take a raft-ride, nor can meet a friend or two to share feelings and experiences. They are barred from going far away places, since it is regarded as too risky to walk alone along the submerged road. Their wet attire ‘might invite’ a young male in the neighbourhood to abuse her.
Socialization becomes difficult for women in the water logging prone region due to the commitment with extra pressure of works. Thus, water logging halts all forms of social activities: marriages, ceremonies, social interactions – everything seem to be postponed during water logging condition. Nobody wants to engage herself in such activities especially when one has to negotiate standing water (Ahmed et al., 2007b). There is hardly any scope for recreation. “Who wants to accept such a life? Do you think we like it? We are simply forced to accept this unacceptable living conditions”, reminds one woman in Keshabpur.
5. Whither Adaptation? The Needs for a Gendered Adaptation Agenda
Water logging, as illustrated above, brings unsurpassed miseries to women. Unfortunately, water logging appears to be a rather ‘new phenomenon’ and the institutional approach to reduce such vulnerability hasn’t yet been adequately addressed. Since the nature of the problem is similar to that of flood, where the water remains standing throughout the year (as in the case of SW region), existence within the waterlogged condition itself becomes synonymous to that of coping: women cope with such a persisting hazard in every minute of their existence in it (Ahmed et al., 2007a).
Facilitating drainage of water is the greatest perceivable adaptation, which is far beyond the capacity of individual woman or a small water logged community. Only the authority can plan and execute an emergency water removal/drainage programme, much to the benefit of the helpless people. However, little has actually been done so far. In 2007, standing water from beel Khukshia in Manirampur was drained off with the assistance from the national Army. Such efforts needs to be replicated elsewhere.
Since food security is severely constrained in the absence of land based productive system, food relief generally helps maintain nutrition and contain hunger. NGOs have been generous enough to provide limited food assistance. Unfortunately, compared to the scale of requirement, too little has so far been offered by the NGOs. The regular safety net programmes of the government (i.e., the Food for Works programme, the Vulnerable Group Feeding programme etc.) could not be initiated in the affected areas as yet. The local people and their representatives, the Pani Committee (i.e., Water Committee) and the People’s Forum on Water Logging, have been requesting the Government to declare the affected region as designated ‘vulnerable zone’ (Durgato Elaka) so that these people could be brought under such safety net programmes. However, their requests have so far been ignored. Meanwhile, more and more new areas are being inundated every year, especially in the SW region.
People opine that, excavation of Kobadak River system as a whole could have been greatly facilitated local drainage of standing waters. Unfortunately, the project has not so far been approved/implemented in their full capacities to effectively solve the problems.
No personal level coping can further improve the situation. Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) must come forward to initiate the whole hydrological planning in a participatory method. This may require involvement of local Union Parishad (UP) members to involve the local peoples’ representatives in this matter. BWDB can initiate re excavation of adjoining flooding rivers (such as Hari River), where local people can participate. Attention must be given so that the flow of the rivers sustains. BWDB can initiate a multi-pronged process to prevent the choking of the rivers, dredging is one of the options to this end. Much research, surveillance and monitoring are needed into the whole planning and implementation phase.
In absence of a long-term solution to the problem, short-term adaptation measures could have been designed. For example, when rural roads rise above water level during the dry season, a few designated roads could have been elevated significantly to facilitate people’s movement. This could also be done by implementing Food for Works Programme, which could also generate local employment. Though these are known coping strategies, being practiced after every major disastrous events in the country, it is not yet designed for the two affected regions.
People want to have health care services. The KII involving local NGOs clearly suggested that qualified health care practitioners were not interested to stay in marooned conditions and employments offered to them in this regard were not accepted. No wonder, the government’s effort to keep doctors in their respective stations in the affected areas has so far been failed. The local health practitioners, mostly village doctors (i.e., Palli Chikitshaks) cannot treat the ailing people properly. Simultaneously, they consider the poverty status of the people and refrain themselves from prescribing costly but effective medicines. Consequently, the poor continue to suffer with ailments. Efforts must be made to increase public health care facilities and coverage, especially targeting at adolescent girls and young women for improved reproductive health care.
Making provision of safe drinking water is a major task, which would profusely help the cause of women. It is praiseworthy to note the proactive approach by the NGOs as well as the recent steps considered by the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), which established a number of tube wells placed in high lands in each of the Unions of the affected region. These tube wells do not become contaminated, even during the peak water logging season. As a consequence, during the flood of 2007, most of these newly established tube wells were found to provide safe drinking water for the local people. Women living in the area however feel that their vulnerability could be further reduced if (a) similar community based solutions in relation to public toilets could be implemented and (b) the approach roads to both the tube wells and toilets for women could be raised above standing water.
Unless the schools are rebuilt at higher grounds, or raised (applicable only for shanty structures) adequately, the academic activities have to be curtailed during the peak water logging season. As because the problem is caused by a new phenomenon, there has been no effort to adapt in this respect. In dilapidated dwellings, however, studying is often seen as a strange activity to those who have been just surviving amidst water and despair.
Adequate macro political blessing is needed in the whole process, because resource allocation to implement all the planning and implementation phase is extremely important where political parties can intervene with their administrative hats.
The experience of development and subsequent management of the tidal basin for the rehabilitation of the choked drainage system in the Khulna-Jessore area, under the Khulna-Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project (KJDRP), is a positive example of how to approach adaptation in low lying areas that will be subject to tidal inundation and water logging – the anticipated biophysical effects of sea level rise along the coastal zones. The Tidal River Management (TRM) approach appears to be highly acceptable among the key stakeholders. Furthermore, the cost of implementation appears to be rather low compared to many other coastal development projects. It will be worthwhile to promote such an adaptation only if the early experience yields satisfactory results towards solving the emerging problems along the coastal Zones of the country.
At household level, plinth height of houses and toilets need to be raised. However, it is easier said than done, given the prevailing poverty situation and poor financial ability of the poor households. NGOs can come up with credit facilities. Many of the school building are dilapidated structures and special arrangement must be made by Facilities Department of Ministry of Education and Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) to reconstruct the school buildings and uplift the approach roads to the schools. Regular health awareness related NGO activities can continue their activities in a regular pace. Special safety net social security programs must be initiated for this community people through the Ministry of women and social welfare. However, water related vulnerability to human health can be reduced significantly if community representatives are trained to prepare and use low cost water purifying techniques. To train community people, Department of Health and Engineering (DPHE) and local NGOs can come forward and initiate training programs.
There should be programme to build adequate numbers of community centers, especially for adolescent girls and young women. Since their recreational opportunities are severely limited compared to their male counterparts, the proposed community centers should be equipped with indoor games, information services, etc. The road network connecting such facilities should be elevated enough to avoid seasonal inundation. Otherwise, the purpose of building such facilities will be nullified.
To improve upon cooking conditions, a provision may be created in the affected areas to popularize coal bricketting. To further help these communities, coal from Barapukuria mine could be provided at subsidized rate under the supervision of local government institutions (LGIs) in the locality (Ahmed et al., 2007a,b).
A number of low-cost glassfibre made fabricated boats with engines can be provided to each of the LGIs, solely to facilitate transfer of pregnant women at advanced stage to nearest hospitals for safe motherhood (Ahmed et al., 2007a). If the lackluster women could receive reproductive as well as neonatal health care on time, it could have drastically reduced neonatal death rates.
6. Concluding Remarks
Due to a multitude of complex hydro-geophysical reasons, the areas under water logging are increasing in Bangladesh, especially in the South-western region. People, especially women find it extremely difficult to maintain livelihoods due to prolonged inundation. With diminishing income opportunities, as males leave their families the proportion of women headed households are increasing. Women and children are facing chronic malnutrition and health disorders, while there exist very little support services for water-logging affected population.
It is prognosticated that the areas under water logging is likely to increase in the south-western region and also in south-central region under climate change. Salinity ingress will aggravate water logging condition in future. It is therefore of utmost importance to device pro-active plan to safeguard livelihoods of millions of population living in the affected areas. Enhancing drainage capacity of coastal rivers could be a major adaptation option towards improving the hydrological condition. However, such adaptation option can only be planned and implemented by national level institutions. Simultaneously, efforts must be made to enhance services in the affected areas to moderate the effects of water logging and help people manage their livelihoods under despair. A variety of community-based micro-scale adaptation modalities could be promoted, either by government agencies or by NGOs and CBOs. It will however remain a major challenge to accommodate gender concerns towards designing community-based adaptation modalities. The patriarchal society must analyze the situation through the eyes of the women, preferably in a participatory manner so that women are not deprived of any suggested adaptation and their concerns are truly accommodated.
Reference
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