Md. Tawhidur Rahaman (ELP 2024) | Technical Expert at CWIS FSM Support Cell, Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), Bangladesh

During my college years, I was captivated by Samuel Taylor's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," which vividly depicted nature's retribution against the mariner for killing the albatross. This profound experience reinforced my unwavering belief that both nature and divine authority mete out justice to humans and all other inhabitants of the Earth. Later in my professional career, I witnessed a parallel scenario unfold, where the pursuit of quick profits through shrimp cultivation led to devastating environmental degradation, encroaching upon agricultural lands and freshwater ecosystems.

(Left: Before the high tide comes at the fisherman village at Mongla, Bangladesh)

During my tenure at one of the world's largest NGOs in Bangladesh, I had the opportunity to work with the climate-vulnerable community in Mongla, a coastal town adjacent to the world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans. This region faces frequent climatic events such as cyclones, tidal surges, saltwater intrusion, and soil salinization. Due to the remoteness of the area, access to government services is limited, and the primary livelihood-generating activities are agriculture and resource extraction from the nearby mangrove forest. The combination of sea level rise, frequent storm surges, and low freshwater inflow from upstream rivers due to transboundary diversion has led to severe saline water intrusion. Furthermore, extreme weather patterns and anthropogenic climate change are impacting the other 19 coastal districts, where 35 million people are bearing the burden of the climate crisis.

(Left: Tawhidur in front of the agricultural land converted into shrimp aquaculture at Mongla, Bangladesh)

In Mongla, farmers once cultivated crops on their lands, but have since converted them into shrimp aquaculture. They had excavated the embankments to create canals where the land could be flooded during high tide, allowing farmers to easily obtain saltwater for shrimp farming. Just imagine, 7,000 shrimp farms now occupy this 17.79 km² area. Like the ancient mariner's journey, driven south by a storm and eventually reaching the icy waters of Antarctica, the mariner killed the albatross, bringing a curse upon the ship. Similarly, the farmers in the area have done the same, bringing saltwater into their agricultural land for more profitable shrimp cultivation, causing long-term damages. This has made the land non-arable, more acidic, and depleted nutrients like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and organic carbon. The real scenario on the ground is worse. Due to saltwater intrusion and coastal surges, all surface water sources have become contaminated with high salinity. You may relate this to the verse from the same poem if you lived there: "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink." In Mongla, the people store rainwater in large clay pots and use it during the dry period. Otherwise, they must depend on the contaminated saline water for drinking purposes. The most affected are the low-income fishermen, who once lived by catching fish from the sea, but can no longer do so regularly due to frequent climate extremes like cyclones. They are even unable to afford storage tanks for their families. As a result, the only source of water for them is the already contaminated pond water. Drinking saline water for an extended period can lead to high blood pressure and kidney diseases. Like the ancient mariner, who lost his crewmates and lived with their corpses cursing him with their eyes on the ship, the fisherman village in Mongla is suffering from a drinking water crisis, like a curse of disturbing nature. This has forced them to choose between purchasing food or water for their survival.

Traditional water collection system at a household during rain                                                                           

Abandoned water storage tank due to coastal flooding

In the classic poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," when the mariner appreciates the beauty of the sea creatures around him, he experiences a moment of partial redemption. Similarly, in our case, we must learn to love and cherish our natural environment so that it can protect us and grant us a similar redemption. The solution lies in caring for nature, as this will ensure nature reciprocates and provides for us in return. To address the issue of water security, we have implemented Nature-Based Solutions, including providing household and community-level rainwater harvesting systems with advanced filtration units, which serve as standalone solutions to ensure water quality. This effort has benefited 6,000 people from marginalized fishing communities and is ongoing, with plans to reach 67,300 individuals by 2024. Additionally, mapping and preserving rainwater-fed ponds, community-scale bioretention systems, constructed wetlands, and managed aquifer recharge can be alternative nature-based climate solutions to ensure drinking water security for the remaining 19 coastal districts in Bangladesh. We must act now to mitigate the anthropogenic climate crisis and explore solutions inspired by the natural world, as exemplified by the poetic vision of the renowned Bengali poet Jibanananda Das, who was known as a "poet of nature":

"I will come again to this Bengal,

to the banks of the Dhansiri river.

Not as a man, perhaps,

but as a white-headed kite or a mynah,

Or perhaps as a dawn crow,

Or white cranes swimming through ruddy clouds,

Returning to their nests as darkness falls

That’s where you’ll find me

Among them all"

(Left: Tawhidur in front of a household rainwater storage system implemented during his tenure at BRAC Climate Change Program, he worked as Manager- Resilient Infrastructure and Management for the DANIDA funded water security project.)