Changing Climate; Bangladesh Facing the Challenge of Severe Flood Problems; A Comparison of Flood Management between Bangladesh and the Netherlands

Abstract: Both Bangladesh and the Netherlands are the most flood prone countries in two continents Asia and Europe. Bangladesh is known to be highly vulnerable to floods. Frequent floods have put enormous constraints on its development potential. Unfortunately, the frequency of high intensity floods is increasing every year. So far the country has struggled to put a sizeable infrastructure in place to prevent flooding in many parts of the country with limited success. Where, the Netherlands has developed a massive success in their flood management. The paper will represents the present flood management situation of the two countries Bangladesh and the Netherlands and by making comparison of flood management between these two countries, give some recommendation for further flood management. Historically Bangladesh has developed the flood management laws but lack of implementation and continuous inconsistencies of these laws make Bangladesh backward in their flood management, in compare to the Netherlands. Bangladesh has been practicing the construction of earthen flood control embankments is an established practice for protecting people’s lives and homes, agriculture and infrastructures since the beginning of flood management. Where, the Netherlands has developed spatial construction to control flood and different strategies have been implementing to minimize the flood hazards according to their needs. On the basis of overall present situation in Bangladesh, the paper also tried to suggests some solutions to minimize the extent of flood hazards in the long run.