Read at : Google Alert – desertification
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/op-ed/48235.html
Northern region at risk of desertification
Mindless withdrawal of river water and unbridled extraction of groundwater are to blame, Professor ASM Woobaid Ullah of the Delta Research Centre at Dhaka University tells New Age
by Shahidul Islam Chowdhury
MINDLESS withdrawal of river water and unbridled extraction of groundwater have put the northern region at a risk of desertification, says Professor ASM Woobaid Ullah, director of the Delta Research Centre at Dhaka University.
However, due to fund constraints, the centre, which came into being in 1991, has not been able to conduct any in-depth research into the formation of land in Bangladesh and desertification, he said in an interview with New Age on Tuesday.
The largest ‘living’ delta and its geological phenomena provide a large and rich area for geological research, the kind of research necessary for infrastructure design, risk reduction, and resources optimisation, which can ensure the well-being and prosperity of over 160 million residents of the delta., he added.
Excerpts:
Bangladesh is called a living delta created by silt carried by rivers. Observers often say that the rivers are dying. What would be its impact?
It is true that Bangladesh is a living delta as rivers flowing through the land have carried silt for millions of years. Most of the 54 major rivers have entered into Bangladesh, an almost horizontal floodplain, from mountains and hills in upper riparian countries including India, Myanmar and China.
Silt carried by rivers becomes deposited on riverbeds. Shoals are created in this process. Now many rivers are dying due to natural and human interventions.
Unbridled and unplanned human interventions, including constructing dams, embankments and roads and encroachment into the rivers, in both upper and lower riparian countries, have expedited the process of siltation drastically reducing the river flows and the capacity of a river to carry silt.
Most of the rivers are flowing from north to south while most of the roads are constructed from east to west obstructing the riverbeds.
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