What does the IPCC say about Bangladesh in its Sixth Assessment Report of Working Group II?
The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of Working Group II (WGII) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was published on February 28, 2022. AR6 by Working Group I, published in August 2021, clearly stated that increasing anthropogenic activities have increased the global mean temperature by over 1°C, resulting in increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. The WGII report now highlights that climate-induced loss and damage is no longer disproportionate; severe disasters in both rich and poor countries are evident now and will exacerbate in future. However, such increase in intensity and frequency of climate-induced disasters are not new to the global south, as they have been tackling climate change impacts since the very beginning. Bangladesh, a strong representative of climate-vulnerable nations from the global south, has received significant attention in the last few decades for its vulnerability, and recently for its role in climate change adaptation. In AR6 of WGII, Bangladesh was mentioned 430 times in total and the details are stated below:
Projected sea-level rise is associated with groundwater contamination, freshwater scarcity, loss of biodiversity, loss in aquaculture and frequent floods. Although most of the research focuses on surface water contamination, IPCC AR6 emphasised groundwater aquifer contamination leading to long-term losses. Around 26 million people, who live in coastal Bangladesh and in the world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, are threatened with increasing groundwater salinity. Additionally, research revealed that the Indo-Gangetic Basin is more exposed to contamination by arsenic and salinity than depletion. The salinity rate will further increase with land-use changes, reduced stream flows, and increased storm surge inundation. It was also highlighted in the report that deltas are more vulnerable to floods, as they are exposed to both riverine and coastal inundations.
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