Silent Effects of Climate Change in Bangladesh

Today, fish farming is mostly managed by women, as men work as day labourers and are often away for months at a time. Anima is no exception — she spends four to five hours a day in the salty water tending to the fish: “I spend most of my time in the salty water, taking care of the fish pond. Once, my sores and itching got much worse because of the salt. Then I caught dysentery, and it wouldn’t go away — I kept getting sick over and over again. The itching became so bad, and I couldn’t tell anyone. So, I walked to the clinic by myself.” Luckily, Anima received the necessary treatment in the clinic on time and healed quickly. Yet, in these areas, women often suffer from skin diseases and gynecological problems due to prolonged exposure to highly salty water.

The community clinic is run by Bangladesh Government where consultations and medicines are free of charge. “On a larger scale, we aim at enhancing health monitoring in local communities and ensuring better access to health services, especially for remote areas,” explains Moon as she sees firsthand how natural disasters exacerbate health problems.  

Lack of clean drinking water and poor access to medical care make the situation very challenging for local communities. Moon points out that “Satkhira faces a high salinity level in the water and groundwater, which causes a shortage of drinking water.” As a result, some people have to travel two to three kilometres to fetch water from a freshwater pond or tubewell, while others depend on the rainwater they collect during the rainy season. The collected water usually lasts for two or three months at the highest. After that, families become dependent on pond water only. “The problem with pond water is that even after purifying it overnight with alum, it’s not completely clean so people get sick with diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, and dysentery.”, insists Moon. 

Living in a disaster-prone zone also takes a toll on mental health. Survivors can develop multiple psychosocial disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or anxiety. “Cyclone Amphan brought a lot of suffering to our family. Our grandfather was worried about the house and went back to check on it. He died after being swept away by a high tide”, recalls Tanzila, who survived the disastrous cyclone in 2020. Mental health needs are largely underestimated in the context of climate hazards, yet traumatic events experienced by many families are deeply rooted in their memories. 

Floods and Rising Threat of Malnutrition

Sylhet is another disaster-prone region and sits far away from the coastal areas of Satkhira. Despite its economically vibrant urban center, rural areas suffer from constant floods, poverty and food insecurity which exceeds the emergency threshold. In 2024, almost 75% of Sylhet district was flooded, with more than half of the crops and paddy fields submerged under water. 

Action Against Hunger is one of the NGOs working in Sunamganj, an area with high records of child malnutrition. “The latest data shows that about 70% of children are malnourished in this area”, explains Mainul Islam, Program Manager for Action Against Hunger in Sylhet. “People are very poor, so they cannot buy meat, milk, eggs, nutritious food or vegetables from the market. The area usually remains flooded for six to seven months“. These factors create a vicious circle of challenges that push people to rely on harmful coping mechanisms, such as drinking water from unsafe resources, poor diet, and lack of appropriate healthcare. 

Together with partner organizations, our teams distribute food baskets to the most vulnerable and needy families with malnourished children and pregnant women. Young children can suffer from malnutrition for a long time because many parents are unaware of the symptoms and their severity. That is where the role of volunteers becomes life-saving. Taslima works with Action Against Hunger in the Dowarabazar Upazila, going door-to-door to identify sick children and refer them to the community clinic. “We visit each ward and neighbourhood, making sure we reach every household. Although there may be things beyond our capacity, we aim to assess every single child. Once in the clinic, we properly measure children, checking their weight and height, and propose appropriate treatment”. 

For some parents, the path to recovery is long due to financial difficulties and limited access to food. Being malnourished herself, Suma could not breastfeed her baby girl, who is now two years old. This situation brings immense distress to many parents. However, step by step, solutions are being implemented, such as collective cooking demonstration sessions. These gatherings bring together mothers of children diagnosed with moderate acute malnutrition, helping them improve and stabilize their child’s recovery. Volunteers and Model Mothers play a key role in raising awareness by sharing vital information about malnutrition, its causes, and the risks it poses to both children and adults.

Rethinking Food Security with Smart Solutions

Losing homes, livelihoods, and cultivable land to floods or climate disasters is a deeply traumatic experience. Many are left with no choice but to abandon everything and relocate. Recent data reveals that in 2022 alone, over 7.1 million Bangladeshis were displaced due to climate change. And those who stay have to struggle with raising debts, given the scarcity of economic activities and generalized poverty. 

“The food security program² that we launched in Satkhira tends to create an alternative solution for those communities who remain in these disaster-prone areas,” explains Sumon Homaun Kabir, Action Against Hunger Program manager who supervises food security and livelihoods projects. “It is very difficult to produce any vegetables because of the water and soil salinity. We provide technical knowledge to reduce soil salinity and improve soil fertility through agro-ecological practices such as using organic fertilizer, mulching and crop rotation for individual kitchen gardening”. All households of the Simul Baria village are part of this project, and the results are already visible. They use many techniques, such as bottles for water retention, vertical elevated structures to save seeds from salinity, and mulching to preserve soil from water evaporation. “We don’t use chemicals. Instead, we rely on organic fertilizers to preserve soil quality and boost production.”, insists Sumon, who believes that the best results come when traditional practices blend with a scientific approach. 

For Rekha, who joined the training in May last year, the results were unexpected. One may find a wide variety of vegetables around her house, where each square meter is used for cultivation. “I want to grow more vegetables to increase my income. In this space, I already planted seedlings of chilli peppers, brinjal, tomato, and spinach seeds. I am not leaving any space empty!” smiles Rekha, who has ambitious plans and now trains other women from the village.

Taking Early Actions In Disaster-Prone Areas 

A few kilometres away, women gather for a group session in the village of Hazrakali. This community is often hit by cyclones and hosts displaced inhabitants of the neighbouring Mariali village, which was completely washed away in 2020. “After Cyclone Amphan hit, we were all scattered after the embankment broke and water came in,” recalls Tanzila, a member of the committee. “We were deprived of food, medicine, and shelter, with no income to support us — and every bit of money we had was to pay our debts.”. 

As part of the Strengthening Forecast-based Early Actions in Cyclone Prone Coastal Region of Bangladesh (STEP)³ program, women discuss a concrete set of actions to adopt in case of climatic disasters. The concept is simple: the sooner early actions are taken, the more loss and damage can be prevented. “Today, we know how to reinforce the roof, protect the house, and when to go to the shelter. Money, mobile phones, and essential documents are kept in safe places,” explains Tanzila, who witnessed many disastrous cyclones over the last 20 years.        

Saving people’s lives is of utmost importance. Action Against Hunger teams work with communities to raise awareness about the need to reach shelters during major disasters. On the other hand, the project proposes important steps to preserve all material assets, such as houses, kitchen gardens, fish farms, and livestock. To minimize losses, two locally made freezers with a 500 kg capacity to preserve early-harvested fish are accessible within the community. Also, the locally called “hapa” structures made of bamboo and fish nets are deployed to preserve fish, where they stay secure and alive. Communities are encouraged to store hygiene kits, dry food and essential medicines. These items are carried to the cyclone shelters during evacuations. 

“For example, they can sell fish that can be sold and stored in a safe area if a tidal surge is expected. They can also evacuate their cattle safely and provide them with fodder so they can survive during the emergency,” explains Sumon Homaun Kabir, who observes the program’s real impact on people’s awareness and readiness during disasters. 

Since May 2024, Bangladesh has been severely impacted by four devastating climate-related disasters, including Cyclone Remal, flash floods in the Haor Region, riverine floods in the Jamuna Basin, and unprecedented floods in the eastern regions. These events have had a catastrophic impact, affecting 18.4 million people and causing significant damage to livelihoods and infrastructure. 

¹ CARE: Community-Based Approach To Adaptation And Resilience To The Health Impacts Of Climate Change funded by Sanofi

² Nutrition-Sensitive Approach For Strengthening Household And Community Capacity For Climate Adaptive And Resilient Livelihoods To Tackle Food And Nutrition Insecurity funded by Soneva Foundation. 

³ STEP: Strengthening Forecast-based Early Actions in Cyclone Prone coastal region in Bangladesh funded by ECHO