Page - 457 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

19 TowardsEstablishingaNationalMechanism… 457 projections show that by 2080 about 43million people would be affected with a 62cmrise in sea level inundatingabout16%of thecountry. OverallPictureofLossesandDamages inBangladesh Theclimaticimpactsmentionedabovetranslatetotangibleandintangiblelossesand damages for thecountry.TheWorldBank(2011)estimates thatclimatechangewill lower thenation’s agriculturalGDPby3.1%per year, for a cumulative $36billion in lossesbetween2005and2050.AnAsianDevelopmentBankreport (2014)states that Bangladeshwould suffer yearly economic costs equivalent to 2%of its GDP by 2050, widening to 9.4%by 2100. The report goes on to explain that amix of floods, cyclones, heat stress, drought and shorter growing seasons could threaten agricultural livelihoodsandfoodsecurity inthecountry.Hijokaetal. (2014)suggest Bangladeshwould see a net increase in poverty of about 15%by2030.Alongside obviouseconomic lossesanddamages, researchinaffectedcommunitiesalsoreveal non-economic losses and damages (NELD) such as loss of biodiversity, cultural norms and practices, physical and psychological wellbeing, education and loss of ecosystemservices (Andrei et al. 2014). 19.3 LinkingClimateAdaptationandDisaster in theContextofLossesandDamages Giventheseclimate-inducedlossesanddamagesfacedbythecountry,theimpactson foodsecurityanddevelopmentareevident.Reducingpoverty, increasinggrowthand graduatingtomiddleincomestatusby2021isofutmostimportancetotheBangladesh government. Since 1991 and2005Bangladeshhasmade steadygains in economic growthand reducedpoverty levelsby19%(GovernmentofBangladesh2009).The BangladeshClimate Change Strategy andAction Plan states that the severity and frequencyofstorms,floods,cyclonesanddroughtwillincreaseinthefuturestymying thecountry’seconomicgrowthandpotentiallyhinderingpovertyreduction.Disaster riskreductionandclimateadaptationareunitedintheirmutual interest inaddressing lossesanddamagesarisingfromclimaticevents(Shamsuddohaetal.2013).Linking climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction results in a stronger response to the climatichazardsfacingthecountrywhentheoryandpracticearecombinedtoaddress lossesanddamagesfacedbythecountry(Ibid).Bangladeshhasmadegreatstridesin developingappropriatedisastermanagementandclimatepoliciesand the following section highlights the policies, laws, frameworks and institutions that govern these twodomains.