Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100

Technical assistance supported the Government of Bangladesh in formulating and implementing a long-term, integrated plan for water resources, climate resilience and delta management, combining Dutch delta planning expertise with Bangladeshi institutions to build a roadmap to the end of the 21st century.

Bangladesh faces substantial downside risks stemming from its deltaic geography, high population density, and recurring natural disasters, including flooding, river bank erosion, sea level rise, salinity intrusion, tidal surge, cyclones, and water-logging, compounded by seasonal water shortages and surpluses, its position as a lower riparian country, and rising water demand from urbanization and industrialization.

In response, the Government of Bangladesh adopted the long-term integrated techno-economic plan Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP2100), approved by the National Economic Council (NEC) on 4 September 2018. Drawing on the best practice of Dutch delta management, the plan was formulated by the General Economics Division (GED) of the Bangladesh Planning Commission, with technical assistance from the Government of the Netherlands under a Memorandum of Understanding signed in May 2012.

BDP2100 sets a long-term vision for the evolution of the Bangladesh Delta through the end of the 21st century “Achieving safe, climate resilient and prosperous delta” translated into three higher-level national goals (eliminating extreme poverty by 2030, achieving upper middle-income status by 2030, and becoming a prosperous country beyond 2041) and six delta-specific goals covering flood and disaster safety, water security, integrated river and estuary management, wetland and ecosystem conservation, effective governance, and optimal land and water use.

To support implementation, the Government of Bangladesh, the Netherlands, and the World Bank Group, including its private-sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), alongside the 2030 Water Resources Group, signed a further agreement in June 2015 to strengthen delta management and help implement the plan.

Activities carried out under the plan include:

• Developing an analytical framework based on eight hydrological zones, grouping districts into six “Hotspots” facing similar natural hazard and climate risks — the Coastal Zone, Barind and Drought-Prone Areas, Haor and Flash Flood Areas, Chattogram Hill Tracts, River Systems and Estuaries, and Urban Areas — plus district- and upazilla-level risk profiling.
• Formulating nationwide Flood Risk Management and Freshwater strategies, together with hotspot-specific strategies addressing water shortage, river erosion, coastal inundation and salinity, flash-flooding, wetland management, and urban water and sanitation challenges.
• Developing cross-cutting strategies for sustainable land use and spatial planning, agriculture and food security, transboundary water management, inland water transport, the blue economy, renewable energy, and earthquake risk.
• Building a macroeconomic modelling framework to quantify the economic impacts of climate change, comparing a “Business As Usual” scenario against a “Delta Plan” scenario incorporating BDP2100’s adaptation measures.
• Preparing a BDP 2100 Investment Plan (IP) of 80 projects (65 physical, 15 institutional/knowledge development) for the period to 2030, selected through a consultative process from an initial 133 candidate projects submitted by more than 20 agencies, screened using Adaptive Delta Management (ADM) principles. 
• Designing institutional and governance reforms, including a proposed Delta Governance Council chaired by the Prime Minister, a Delta Plan Project/Programme Selection Committee, a Bangladesh Delta Fund, and new local water management bodies to represent stakeholders in decision-making.
• Establishing a Delta Knowledge Bank and Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) system, including a digitized knowledge library, a delta data bank, and a 3–5 year research and data-updating programme coordinated by GED.
• Setting up a 5-year review cycle to periodically update the plan’s scenarios, strategies, and investment priorities as new information and technologies become available.
• Supporting implementation through the ‘Support to Implementation of Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (SIBDP 2100)’ project (from October 2018), which strengthens administrative, organizational, knowledge, funding, and natural-system adaptive capacity for BDP 2100 delivery, and through investments and analytics from the World Bank’s Bangladesh Water Platform.