Dreams

“Rahman dreamed of the reclamation of kilometers of fertile land from the sea. He dreamed that the Ganges Delta would be never be hit by those terrible floods. That Bangladesh’s golden people would forever be safe behind high dikes. Dikes, delta, land reclamation from sea: the Netherlands! It was a dream with a logical consequence. Only one country in the world was able to help Rahman with his vision: the Netherlands!”(source: Springer, 1990; translated from Dutch)

The above was written by the first ambassador of the Netherlands in Bangladesh after a conversation with Bangladesh’ first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in 1972. Many interventions later, including the famous Flood Action plan that was the result of deadly floods of the late 1980s, one has to conclude that perhaps, PERHAPS, there is a tiny chance that Rahman’s “dream” should not be taken too seriously.

In fact, I’m quite sure it should not, because it is 1) not realistic and 2) can even have negative consequences for some areas in Bangladesh.

First, is it realistic to believe that it is possible to control all the forces of nature that are exerted on the immensely dynamic delta of Bangladesh? The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna are among the largest rivers in the world, continuously eroding and creating land. Actually: the net sedimentation that is deposited by these rivers have made Bangladesh; have risen the country out of the ocean.

Second, floods are essential to keeping Bangladesh alive. Not only are seasonal floods essential for irrigation and fertilization, controlled flooding can also keep existing river systems alive.

In the southwest delta of Bangladesh, where tidal rivers are rapidly sedimenting up, the creation of tidal basins (depoldering) helps keep river systems alive by 1) keeping river flow relatively high and 2) by redirecting the sediment deposition from the river to the areas that are temporarily inundated. This, in a nutshell, is called “Tidal River Management”.

So, should Bangladesh battle water and build enormous dikes, dredge and poor concrete? Perhaps in some urban areas this might be helpful, but overall this is not be the right mindset to tackle water related problems.

In the southwest delta, it is all about the management of water and silt. The false belief of many people (mainly engineers and dredgers) that water can be controlled with concrete and pumps and big dredgers should be taken into serious consideration.

In his book Can Bangladesh be protected from floods?, Hugh Brammer concludes that Bangladesh cannot be, and it most probably will never be. And it shouldn’t be, because floods are Bangladesh. It has created this country and, with good management, will also ensure its survival in the future.