IN THE age of escalating global warming, our coastal communities and ecosystems are becoming increasingly vulnerable. Located along the fastest rising sea in the world, the Bay of Bengal, our coastlines are facing unprecedented challenges. Each year, we witness more frequent and intense tropical cyclones, accompanied by strong storm surges causing land degradation and high salinity and devastating millions of people in the low-lying coastal belt.
Ours is often listed among the most disaster-prone countries in the world. Each year, flood, cyclones and heatwaves break previous records. This year has been one of the hardest. Climate change-induced disasters are severely affecting our economy, agriculture and infrastructure. The soaring climate toll gets too heavy on us, pushing our resilience to its limits.
After every cyclone and flood, despite our continued efforts to upgrade shorelines and embankments, we are often starkly reminded of how fragile our defences are in protecting coastal communities. The call for reducing disaster risks and building more resilient coastal communities is growing louder each year.听
The cyclone Remal, which occurred in May, struck the southern coastal districts and also neighbouring India, leaving a trail of death and destruction. Reports indicate that it destroyed about 232.01 kilometers of coastal embankments and more than 413 kilometers were damaged.
With the sea level rising, the need for protecting our coastal communities and ecosystems from erosion and pollution has become increasingly urgent. Amidst these challenges, we have got a remarkable ally in our fight to reduce climate impact on our coastlines 鈥� seagrass, or saltmarsh, to be specific. This silent but powerful grass is a vibrant shield against encroaching sea and the hurtling tides.
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What is seagrass or saltmarsh?
SEAGRASS is a kind of grass that grow in shallow coastal waters and in intertidal zone along the coast. To be specific, the ones that grow in the intertidal zone is called saltmarsh, a variety of seagrass. Unlike other grasses, this can survive in high saline marine environment. There are more than 60 species of seagrasses in the world. Some species grow in the intertidal zone and others grow submerged in shallow and sheltered coastal waters.
They form dense meadows in coastal waters and make the area compact. The sensitive grassland also plays strong roles in coastal environment by protecting shores and providing habitat for many marine lives.
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Seagrass on Banskhali coast
AT THE Ratnapur point of the Banskhali coastal belt, vast expanses of grassland, spanning more than a few kilometers are teeming with the beach. This grass, locally known as 鈥榰ri鈥�, thrives and paints the landscape by reclaiming areas from sea. They become submerged at high tide. In each season, these meadows transform and widen, becoming more vibrant and greener.
Only five years ago, the area was barren, devastated by tidal surges that uprooted many trees. The rising sea claimed all the sandy hammocks along the shore where people used to cultivate watermelons, tomatoes and vegetables. Much of coastal fisheries were affected. But now this grass is gradually building up the area and reclaiming lost areas.
The difference between embankments with the grass beds and without grass beds is obvious along the Banskhali shore. Still, the parts with no such grass are severely affected. During high tide, seawater often hits embankments and get into locality.
Banskhali, an outlying coastal sub-district of Chittagong, has a 40-kilometre coastlines with the Bay of Bengal. Unlike other coastlines, Banskhali has a vast coastal area that goes under water at high tide and at low tide, water recedes far from the shore to a few kilometers down making a 3-4-kilometre intertidal zone along the beach. Other coastal areas in the country such as Cox鈥檚 Bazar, Chakaria, Maheskhali and Kutubdia, Anowara, Barishal, Patuakhali, Chandpur, etc have a comparatively smaller intertidal zone.
Although there are efforts from the forest department and local communities, the grass beds at Banskhali coast are growing unnoticed. There has been no report ever on it by any national newspaper. The reason it remains out of attention is, perhaps, the poor communication to the remote area.
At these times of unpredictable global warming and sea level rise, the way the meadows act as coastal protection is remarkable. The immense potential of this grass in safeguarding our coast and also providing a crucial habitat for local wildlife should be fully understood. The way it has been phenomenal, it deserves recognition and should be studied and applied to other places as a nature-based solution to our coastal erosion.
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Climate change and biodiversity
According to a scientific report, seagrass meadows are among the earth鈥檚 most efficient and long-term carbon sinks. They absorb carbon from the atmosphere much faster than others. In our global race towards net zero, seagrasses and mangroves are the urgent new areas of conservation.
A study by Port of San Diego found in 2023 that they absorb up to 10 times more carbon than forests on land. They have an incredibly huge carbon absorption ability from the environment and, hence, considered a powerhouse in the climate change fight.
A few months ago, the Reuters news agency made a headline on a group of volunteers planting eelgrass seedlings, a variety of seagrass, on a popular beach in Yokohama, Japan. Japan has taken up this action in a bid to combat the climate change and to achieve Japan鈥檚 environmental goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
Visit to Banskhali would show that the seagrass medowes are full of life, providing shelter and food for a diverse aquatic species on the shore including crabs, seahorses turtles and many other tiny invertebrates. The grasslands are ideal place for mangroves to grow up and that is also evident there. Mangroves are gradually growing up. With this grassland and mangroves, the area around it has been so rich in biodiversity that, if more efforts are put, it could be made into a special zone for marine and coastal biodiversity. It should be saved from tourism and increased human movement.
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Nature-positive solutions
ACCORDING to ARUP, a global consultancy for sustainable development, nature-based solutions is an umbrella term for interventions that are designed with nature to restore ecosystems, reverse biodiversity loss, manage water and tackle the negative effects of climate change on infrastructure and society.
Nature-based solutions focus on harnessing the power of the natural world to provide sustainable protection, to restore ecosystems and to enhance biodiversity and human well-being. As we confront the multifaceted challenges by climate change, the need for sustainable, zero-carbon solutions is growing and is increasingly seen as the only future. Globally, these solutions are prioritised. We have to look ahead and embrace nature-based strategies to combat climate impacts on our coastal belt. We have many times been headlined before and hailed as a global champion in climate change adaptation. Maybe this seagrass could be our next initiative.
While the grass and mangroves may not immediately replace traditional hard solutions such as concrete walls, embankments fortified with concrete blocks or geo bags, they certainly serve as excellent complements. These natural defences can help embankments withstand the growing threats of hydrometeorological hazards. Over time, they create such a robust natural protection that embankments may become unnecessary. Moreover, their remarkable ability to restore ecosystems and reverse biodiversity loss is unparalleled. Not to mention the incredible capacity, it has to absorb carbon from the environment.
We have a 654-kilometre vulnerable coastline, going around all islands and up the estuaries, it is estimated to be nearly 1,320 kilometres. Every year, we spend millions on coastal embankment upgrade in the view of rising sea level and increasingly intense tropical cyclones. Nevertheless, we see every year thousands are displaced from coastal areas due to various climate related hazards including sea level rise, erosion, breaking embankments, high salinity, etc. Many reports indicate by 2050, around a million people will be displaced from coastal districts.
We need innovative nature-friendly measures for resilient and healthier coastal environments accompanied by strong community engagements. Nature-based initiatives by the government for building coastal resilience will never succeed without strong community involvement.
People also take away concrete blocks from coastal dykes, clear mangroves from coastal areas and cut seagrass for cattle. But there are active efforts from educated community representatives behind this seagrass thriving along the Banskhali coast. So, it is clear that we need meaningful community participation to bring about changes through nature-based initiatives. And for that, we need an organised network of community-based volunteers to be engaged and campaign on such initiatives so that communities understand and come forward to be a part of it.
On this International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, let us commit ourselves to working together to mitigate the risk of disasters in our communities so that we can ensure a safe and sustainable future for our children.
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Parvez Uddin Chowdhury is a development worker, climate enthusiast and writer.
