Bangladesh, despite being globally acclaimed for disaster management, needs to rethink its responses to calamities to save livelihoods along with lives, researchers have said.
They made the comments while talking to Dhaka Tribune on the sidelines of the International Food Policy Research Institute's (IFPRI) Global Food Policy Report 2023 launching event in Kathmandu on Monday.
The report focused on rethinking food crisis responses and building a resilient system that can withstand frequent volatility and shocks.
This is because crises, shocks, and volatility are so common now, that the director general of IFPRI, Johan Swinnen, says those “may become the new normal.”
Bangladesh faces floods and cyclones every year. Big cyclones take place every two to three years, according to the government's Delta Plan 2100.
“Bangladesh had done remarkably well in terms of disaster management. It is widely recognised to be a success story when it comes to disaster risk management,” Dr Shahidur Rashid, Director of South Asia at the IFPRI, told Dhaka Tribune.
“Bangladesh has done well in terms of saving well. But we have not done very much in terms of saving livelihoods. So, what happens when there is a cyclone you will not see many people dying anymore because of the precautionary measures. On the other hand, infrastructure, and livelihood is lost. The next focus should be on building infrastructure in the cyclone-prone areas that can withstand calamities,” he said.
“Another emphasis Bangladesh should give is that it needs more coordination with the regional bodies and regional countries because the challenges we are facing are not confined to the border of the country. It is beyond that. That coordination is very important to deal with in future,” Dr Rashid, who is well known for implementing multi-country research programmes in both Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, said.
“If we focus on livelihood, we will need to relocate people or infrastructure. Government alone cannot do it when we think about sustainable infrastructure that can protect livelihood. Those are expensive propositions. That's why the government needs to join hands with the international development partners, private sectors and others to do that.”
Referring to an IFC report, he said investment for a climate-resilient future has a business proposition in it. Billions of dollars can be generated from there as well.
“So, we have to think holistically about how we can tap into private resources, how we can tap into international resources, and how the country can match with those resources so that this kind of investment can be successful.”
Blended financing mechanism
Syed Yusuf Saadat, Research Fellow of the think-tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), attended the IFPRI event as a panel discussant.
He told Dhaka Tribune that you will see that people in the most climate-affected areas are poor and their average income is less than other districts. That means one vulnerability is reinforced by another vulnerability. Therefore, the poor become poorer.
“In a crisis situation, we provide relief and respond to emergency needs and humanitarian responses. We need to rethink that. With scientific and technological advancements, we can predict better. So, we need to take proactive measures,” he said.
“We need to relocate people from the areas where river erosion occurs, where sea level rise causes salinity. The government needs to do it proactively.”
Besides, he said with the economic development, people will focus more on industrial services than agricultural works. “And that industrial services are available in the towns. But in Bangladesh, it all happens in Dhaka. One job brings 500 people,” he said, for example.
“Every year the slum population is increasing in Dhaka. We need to decentralize (job creation) so that people can avail jobs in other cities. People are forced to migrate because of climate change. Either they lose homes or they lose income sources. We need to save lives and livelihoods. For that, they need a minimum income from which they can save to cope with the disaster or any other shocks. For that, they need education and skills training so that they can do other things when they lose their jobs or livelihoods.
“The climate-vulnerable people are backwards both socially and skill-wise. Once they lose a job, they cannot shift to another job.”
On measures to address the issue, he said: “But government alone cannot do it. We need to develop a blended financial mechanism in which the government, private sector, NGOs, and multilateral funders will come together. Government can mitigate risks by giving guarantees while profit-oriented projects can be generated so that the private sector can come up.
“All countries are talking about such a mechanism. So far, we do not see any progress. I think Bangladesh can explore. We need huge money to achieve the climate change-related SDG targets.”