2022 Seed Grant Award Problem Statements 

Water / Sanitation

Problem #13:  Increasing Salinity in a Changing Climate in Sundarbans Deteriorates Water, Sanitation, Health, Livelihood, and the Ecology

Country/Region of execution: Bangladesh
Collaborating Organization: World Concern
World Concern, an international relief and development agency founded in 1955, focuses on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable within society, providing capacity-building for partners while having the flexibility to respond to disasters through relief and rehabilitation assistance. Currently, World Concern implements roughly $30 million in programming in its 10 country offices located throughout Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Since 1991, WCDO has received, implemented and administered grants in excess of $59 million from USAID. WCDO headquarters is based in Seattle, WA, and the Bangladesh country office is located in Dhaka.
Problem Statement Description: Upazila Mongla in Bagerhat district, Bangladesh, at the edge of the Sundarbans, faces a severe sweet water crisis.  Due to the increased salinity of farmlands, the soil has become infertile.  The freshwater ecosystems and rich biodiversity of this world heritage site are also getting severely impacted, leading to both socio-economic and ecological disasters for the local communities.  The problem dates to about three to four decades when the freshwater flow from upstream started to reduce.  This has led to the ingress of saline water contaminating both surface water and groundwater, which has impacted crop production and fisher-folk communities. As the saline increased its spread, paddy fields shrank, with the small and marginal farmers suffering the most. With an ever-increasing sea-level rise and more intense extreme weather conditions, things got worse.  The local natural canals and wetlands have undergone structural changes and other problems due to the change in farming patterns.  Cyclones like Sidr, Aila, and Amphan brought in more woes with water logging situation increasing by the day.  Salinity seems to have permanently settled in the area giving rise to water, sanitation, health, livelihood, and ecological problems.  We seek innovation to restore the farmlands by desalinizing soil and water resources to help restore and sustain crop farming and other livelihoods. Part of the solution will be to provide farmers with technological support to restore the local soil ecology and the local freshwater bodies called Beel.