I just hope Bangladesh is still habitable in 20 years.
Well before it is inundated by rising seas, rising temperatures (in the hottest times of year) and high humidity can make it impossible for humans to sweat enough to maintain a livable body temperature, even sitting still in the shade.
This will be a problem in other areas, particularly Sub-Saharan west Africa, much of Central America, and in and around Indonesia. Hundreds of millions of people live in those areas now. They will not sit down and die; they will try to move to where they can live, but there are borders in the way, and people blocking those borders.
By 2050, substantially less of Bangladesh will be below sea level than the Netherlands today. Much of that was reclaimed from the sea using 19th century technology.
It might be worth noting that the Ganges/Padma, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers combine and drain to the sea in Bangladesh. So, a dike would need to confine not just the sea, but the combined rivers; or you would need a really phenomenal pump, probably orders of magnitude larger than has ever been constructed. It is not easy to find out the annual water flow exiting to the sea from that system. And, it is not the only one.
I was a child though the first wave of Asian Tigers and remember viscerally the expansion of Singapore from muddy backwater to its current state. The arguments against the possibility of development and self determination in SE Asia back then are no different from the same points being made about South Asia today.
Glad to see a solid counter example being written up about a country recently deemed a basket case.
>India has outgrown Bangladesh overall since 1980, but its growth has been less even, and looks to be hitting a serious slump in recent years
Demonetization seriously messed up everything that could in a economy that runs primarily on cash. Around 90%+ of the indian economy runs on cash basis. Removing the rs 500 caused a panic in the streets.
Followed by the most botched GST implementation ever.
Followed by absurd NRC/CAA implementation.
And followed by the high handed approach of farming laws that severely disadvantages small farmers.
And taxing fuel to death. The prices of petrol in India is higher than in US, Canada or Australia. Also electric cars are not subsidized like what China did.
Now with covid: An abrupt lockdown that accomplished nothing.
And the worst move ever: Running an election campaign and organizing a festival of 12 million people all cramped up next to each other. Even without covid, Kumbh mela is famous for disease outbreaks.
Top it off by bullying any social media that dares question the government.
Yeah no. Not a serious slump. This is a slam in the wall move.
Is there any evidence to support that NRC/CAA and farm laws caused slowdown of growth? Or is it a laundry list of things that Modi government did so they must be bad?
Not to take anything away from Bangladesh, but the parent is correct. The current government in India has managed to self inflict multiple wounds on its economy, allowing Bangladesh to pull ahead.
Bangladesh also has a fertility rate of 2.04, allowing women to focus on investing resources into just a few children, and working themselves, instead of just being 'baby-making machines'.
And this is mostly due to women having widespread access to education, contraception, and (to an extent) abortion.
If we want to help other countries develop, we should cease all food aid, and instead replace it with a goal for universal access for women to education, contraception, abortion.
Well before it is inundated by rising seas, rising temperatures (in the hottest times of year) and high humidity can make it impossible for humans to sweat enough to maintain a livable body temperature, even sitting still in the shade.
This will be a problem in other areas, particularly Sub-Saharan west Africa, much of Central America, and in and around Indonesia. Hundreds of millions of people live in those areas now. They will not sit down and die; they will try to move to where they can live, but there are borders in the way, and people blocking those borders.
It has already started.