Greenwire: Scientists in Bangladesh have released a study indicating that higher sea levels would not cause devastating flooding in the low-lying country, as suggested by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s most recent report.
The U.N.-affiliated panel has taken pressure in recent months for mistakes in its 2007 report on global climate change. According to scientists at the Dhaka-based Center for Environment and Geographic Information Services, that report may have erred in its claim that a 3-foot rise in sea levels would flood 17 percent of Bangladesh and drive 20 million people from their homes by 2050.
Himalayan rivers carry 1 billion tons of sediment into Bangladesh every year, the researchers say, shoring up coastlines against rising sea levels. Even if sea levels rise 3 feet, the accumulation of sediment should mitigate the problem, said Maminul Haque Sarker, the director of the environment center and the study’s lead researcher.
“Sediments have been shaping Bangladesh’s coast for thousands of years,” he said. “Studies on the effects of climate change in Bangladesh, including those quoted by the IPCC, did not consider the role of sediment in the growth and adjustment process of the country’s coast and rivers to the sea level rise.”
Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, defended the panel’s conclusions on flooding in Bangladesh. He also criticized broader efforts to discredit the report, saying that “one single error doesn’t take anything away from the major findings of the report.”