prothom hello ,
What do you understand by water entrepreneurs?
Asif Saleh: The function of water entrepreneurs would be to treat salt water in a small water treatment plant and supply it to those who can afford it. We want our model to spread. Funds are an important matter here. It is costing us US$5 million to implement various water-related programs in just one upazila. I was just talking about Satkhira. Then in Varendra area we had to take a different initiative. In the same area, two brothers had committed suicide due to lack of water for irrigation. Immediately after this incident, our team went there and found that a huge syndicate had flourished on the water. That situation has become worse due to climate change. We talked to the farmers. Ponds can be excavated in the area. We are trying to bring the initiatives that have been successfully implemented in Rajasthan and similar desert areas to solve the water crisis. We have kept a huge allocation for this sector. And this is not enough to solve the crisis. We need to ensure access for marginalized people.
prothom hello ,
You mentioned working in four broad areas…
Asif Saleh: The crop calendar has changed due to climate change. Crops are not being harvested at the normal scheduled time. Lack of rain, excessive rain, flash floods, all kinds of things are happening.
Then there is the problem of salinity. We have a lot of farming work. We will have to make do with water. Changes will have to be brought in the existing agricultural work. We need salinity resistant crops, fruits etc. for the southern region. We are cultivating sunflower in Asasuni, Satkhira. Farmers can earn good income by selling sunflowers.
The third aspect is risk reduction. Since the climate is erratic, we have to work in a way that increases the risk appetite of marginalized people. For example, the houses we build must be able to withstand the effects of climate change. It does not cost much. It is enough to change the design of the house a little.
Another thing we have taken up is crop insurance. Crop damage due to floods has become a regular occurrence in Sunamganj. Low cost crop insurance has become very important for the people of this region. This time when we came up with crop insurance, we kept in mind the farmers cultivating potatoes. Their crops get damaged due to unseasonal rains. This time farmers got premium on insurance. This may not have covered their losses completely, but it made it possible for them to buy seeds again and go into production.
The second thing is that we are connected to MIT to get the weather forecast properly. He has prepared modeling for Satkhira through satellite images. Thus, we get news of any disaster six months to a year in advance.
prothom hello ,
Many people are being displaced due to climate change and this will happen in the future also. What will be the climate adaptation process for them? We have heard that the coastal areas will be submerged…
Asif Saleh: We have come to know that by 2047, 17 percent of the land will be submerged in water. It is not that we will wake up one fine morning in 2047 and find that 17 percent of our land is submerged in water. Silent displacement has been going on for the last few years. We conducted a survey in the slums of Dhaka. This revealed that 63 percent of the displaced people had come from 10 districts. The impact of climate change was stronger in these districts. From that aspect we can create climate-friendly townships.