GovTwin / Institution
Chattogram District
Local Gov
Bangladesh's principal port city and second-largest economy, Chattogram spans coastal plains, the Karnaphuli estuary, and hill terrain. It is among the wealthier districts nationally but carries heavy industrial, port, and hill-cutting pressures alongside the country's highest tropical rainfall.
Wealth rank 56/64
(1 = poorest district)
Warming +0.75°C
(1980s–2020s)
Air NO₂ #20/64
(1 = most polluted)
Night-lights +66%
(2014–23 activity)
Built-up 136 km²
Forest loss 22,295 ha
(2001–23)
Rainfall 3,086 mm/yr
Indicators: Meta RWI (HDX); ERA5-Land; MODIS; Sentinel-5P; VIIRS night-lights; GHSL; Hansen v1.11; CHIRPS v2.0. Exposure: GloFAS v2.1, FABDEM, MODIS LST, ACAG PM2.5, WorldPop 2020.
Problems and issues
- environment Chattogram lost about 22,295 ha of tree cover between 2001 and 2023, by far the largest forest loss among these districts, driven by hill-cutting, settlement expansion, and conversion across its hill terrain. So what: Stripping hill forest destabilizes slopes and primes the district for the deadly landslides that recur in the monsoon. Source: Hansen Global Forest Change v1.11 (UMD) via Google Earth Engine
- climate disaster The district receives roughly 3,086 mm of rain a year, the heaviest in this set, concentrated in cyclone-and-monsoon season over deforested hills and a dense low-lying port city. So what: Extreme rainfall on cut hills and congested drainage produces repeated urban flooding and landslide fatalities. Source: CHIRPS v2.0 precipitation (UCSB Climate Hazards Group) via Google Earth Engine
- air quality Aerosol optical depth reaches 0.395 yet ranks 60th of 64 (relatively clean on aerosols), while tropospheric NO2 is 40.6 umol/m2 (20th-highest of 64) from port traffic, shipping, and industry. So what: Elevated NO2 around the port-industrial belt is a combustion-source health burden even where regional aerosol haze is comparatively low. Source: Sentinel-5P tropospheric NO2 via Google Earth Engine
- urbanization Built-up surface has reached about 136 km2, the largest footprint among these districts, after roughly 43% growth since 2000 across hill slopes and coastal flats. So what: Dense built-up expansion onto hills and floodplain concentrates people and assets in exactly the landslide- and flood-exposed zones. Source: GHSL built-up surface (JRC) via Google Earth Engine
- climate disaster As an open-coast district with only about 1.9 km2 of mangrove recorded in 2000, Chattogram has minimal natural buffer against the storm surge of Bay of Bengal cyclones. So what: A thin mangrove fringe leaves the port, industry, and coastal communities directly exposed to surge during major cyclones. Source: Global Mangrove Watch (2000) via Google Earth Engine
Probable solutions
- Enforce a hill-cutting moratorium with slope-stability mapping and reforestation of denuded hills before the monsoon, paired with relocation of households on the most landslide-prone slopes. Responsible: Department of Environment · policy proposal
- Rehabilitate and de-silt the Karnaphuli-linked canal-and-drainage network and integrate it with the city's flood master-planning. Responsible: Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) · policy proposal
- Tighten emission controls and shift port-and-freight handling toward electrified and lower-emission equipment along the port-industrial belt. Responsible: Chittagong Port Authority · policy proposal
- Restore and expand coastal greenbelt and mangrove afforestation along exposed shorelines to buffer cyclone surge. Responsible: Bangladesh Forest Department · policy proposal