ABSTRACT
The countries on the coasts of the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal are highly vulnerable to climate change. The people of Bangladesh are reported to be among the most at risk worldwide from sea-level rise (World Bank 2007). Even at current rates of sea-level rise, more than one million people could be directly affected by sea-level rise in 2050 in the Ganges-BrahmaputraMeghna delta (Ericson et al. 2006). As a result of saline intrusion in both soil and freshwater, millions of people may face serious challenges in accessing safe water for drinking and other domestic uses. Factors already affecting Bangladesh include variations in temperature and rainfall, increased intensity of oods and recurrent ooding, the frequent incidence of cyclone and storm surges, drought, and salinity intrusion. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges to the development process, and the adversity of
climate change impacts is greater when they combine with factors such as increasing density of population, poverty, and reduced access to services, especially water supply and sanitation, energy, and health services. A large proportion of the south Asian population lacks access to water services and more than 27% of the south Asian population are already without adequate food (Rahman et al. 2007a).
