Environmental factors of climate change in Bangladesh over the years

Abstract

Bangladesh is in danger of losing some of its regular seasons because of ever-increasing global warming and other environmental factors. Some unusual patterns have been being noticed for last couple of years in case of seasonal cycle. The winter is getting shorter and shorter whereas the summer is lengthening more and more. The objective of this study is to assess the variation patterns of climate in the country over the years along with some related environmental factors like urbanization, deforestation, and carbon di oxide (CO2) emissions based on historical data available. Data on average monthly temperature, rainfall, forest area coverage have been collected from World Bank‟s website. Deforestation data have been collected from mongabay.com whereas urbanization data have been collected from banglapedia.org. Data on CO2 emissions have been assembled from World Bank‟s website and ychart.com. Temperature and rainfall have been found to have strongly positive (r = 0.80) and highly significant relationship, while forest area percentage and CO2 emissions have been found to have strongly negative (r = -0.95) and highly significant relationship. The results of the study have significance in policy making since variations in climate pattern have its consequences on the overall economy and livelihood of people of the country.