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Reference: Climate refugees add strain to seething Bangladesh capital, AFP, October 18, 2009

It is alleged that Bangladeshis displaced by cyclone Sidr in 2007 are "climate refugees" because they have been rendered homeless by a climate change event that was caused by carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and it suggests that cyclones like Sidr will continue to ravage this poverty stricken nation unless we forge a plan in Copenhagen to reduce CO2 emissions (Climate refugees add strain to seething Bangladesh capital, AFP, October 18, 2009). The authors of this article should know that cyclones with intensity equal to or greater than that of Sidr form on the Bay of Bengal during late summer and fall with great regularity. They are a natural phenomenon and not something that is caused by human activity and therefore not something that can be mitigated by attenuating human activity. In the alleged climate change era described as 1979 to the present, there were 14 cyclones that made landfall in Bangladesh. In the correspondng 30 years prior to 1979 there were 19 cyclones in Bangladesh one of which - the 1970 storm - was the most destructive in recent times and was the proximate cause of the separation of Bangladesh from its union with Pakistan. The mother of all Bay of Bengal cyclones occured in 1737. These events occured when atmospheric CO2 was less than 300 ppm. Bay of Bengal cyclones have not increased in frequency or severity since atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen above 300 ppm. If they had, the authors would not have to reach back three cyclone seasons to find one of sufficient severity to serve their purpose. It is not possible to relate cyclone activity with atmospheric carbon dioxide content.

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Cha-am Jamal

Thailand