Water as Leverage- Setting the scene for a call for action

Water as Leverage for Resilient Cities Asia Setting the Scene for a Call for Action Content
2.1.4
Fertile Delta
An example of the agriculture in the rural area around
Khulna is fish farming, in this case with crops being
grown in the nets above the water.
Khulna’s soil is so fertile that ‘if you drop a seed,
you’ll find a tree tomorrow’. It allows for a variety
of economic activities (land-based agriculture,
aquafarming, cement and brick industry) related to
the rich soil on which it is built.
Khulna is the third-largest city in Bangladesh
and has been an important manufacturing
hub since the 1960s. Today, the service
sector comprises about 75% of the labor
market, while the manufacturing sector (i.e.
jute, food processing and brick) is declining
and provides 19% of the jobs. Nine percent
of the population is unemployed and about
half the population lives below the poverty
line (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2011;
Zohar, 2011). In the Khulna region, agriculture
is still an important sector, thus it is important
for Khulna to improve urban–rural integration.
A recent topic in relation to agriculture has
been the fact that the local population does
not seem to have gained from the profits of
the growing shrimp farming and processing
industry (Lovatt, 2016).
The Khulna region produces many raw
materials such as food, sugar cane, jute
and tobacco. Materials are either processed
in the industrial areas throughout the city
or transferred to the coastal regions of
Bangladesh or to Calcutta, India. Given
the importance of agriculture in the area
surrounding Khulna, current ambitions include
improving urban–rural linkages.
Khulna is currently served by the port of
Mongla, which is the second-busiest seaport
of Bangladesh and a vital node in Southeast-
Asian trading routes with an annual container
volume of 70,000 TEUs (Parvez, 2017). Future
economic growth is expected to be facilitated
by Khulna’s strategic position by the river:
economic growth will likely be steered by the
trading sector. With these prospects, there is a
chance that Khulna’s road-based infrastructure
will become more water-based (Asian
Development Bank, 2016).
Lastly, even though Khulna has large amounts
of green space and electric vehicles, Khulna
is still affected by air pollution. This concerns
the industrial areas around Daulatapur in
particular, where the air quality is hazardous.
Besides industry, biomass burning (used as
energy source in households) and unmanaged
waste seem to be the biggest sources of air
pollution in the city (Begum et al., 2014). As
such, the entire residential area is affected by
an unhealthy level of air pollution.
A farmer shows his
crops. The salinization
from the artificially
salted shrimp farming
ponds is threatening
future food supply.
182 KHULNA
Urban Dynamics
PART 2/Background Information on the Partner Cities
183