When Abdur Rahim looks out over his once-fertile paddy field in Gabura Union of Satkhira’s Shyamnagar upazila, he no longer sees the golden hue of ripening rice.
Instead, the land is dull, cracked, and glistening with salt.
“The land used to sing with life,” he said quietly, running his fingers through the hardened soil.
“Now it burns the roots.”
For Rahim and thousands like him in coastal Satkhira, climate change is not a distant debate—it is a lived disaster.
Rising sea levels, frequent tidal surges, and saline intrusion have turned arable lands barren and made drinking water increasingly scarce.
“We cannot grow Aman paddy, nor vegetables. Even the fish ponds are too salty. Every day is a fight to survive,” Rahim told Dhaka Tribune.
As Bangladesh prepares its position for COP30, the global climate summit scheduled for late 2025, voices like Rahim’s underscore the urgency behind the country’s call for real climate finance—not vague promises.
Frontline of climate collapse
Satkhira, located on the edge of the Sundarbans, is among Bangladesh’s most climate-vulnerable districts.
Cyclones Aila, Amphan, and most recently Remal have repeatedly battered its fragile embankments, allowing saltwater to flood farmlands and villages.
What was once a mosaic of paddy fields and shrimp farms now resembles a patchwork of desolation.
“After Amphan, the water never really left,” said Rahima Khatun, a mother of three from Munshiganj upazila in Satkhira.
“The land turned white with salt. We tried to plant rice, but it didn’t grow. So now we migrate. My husband works in Khulna city as a rickshaw-puller.”
Local officials estimate that more than 60% of farmland in parts of Satkhira and Khulna districts has been affected by salinity.
Freshwater ponds are drying up, and rainwater harvesting—once a simple solution—can no longer meet demand.
Finance that never reaches the roots
At COP29 in Baku, wealthy nations agreed to a new global climate finance goal of $300 billion annually by 2035 for developing countries.
Bangladesh, however, argues that the figure falls far short of what is needed.
According to the Change Initiative (CI), Bangladesh requires $8.5 billion annually for climate adaptation but receives only $0.4 billion—most of which comes as loans, not grants.
“Over 70% of climate finance flows to Bangladesh are loan-based,” said CI Executive Director Zakir Hossain Khan.
“Communities like Satkhira’s farmers end up paying for the climate damage they never caused.”
Rahim’s frustration mirrors this global inequity.
“They talk about billions of dollars, but here, we don’t even have fresh water.” he said.
“The money never reaches us.”
COP30: What Bangladesh wants
Experts say Bangladesh will advocate for three key priorities at COP30.
First, it will push to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund with new and predictable funding commitments.
Second, the country aims to scale up the global climate finance goal from $300 billion to $1.3 trillion by 2035, with at least half of that amount earmarked for adaptation.
Third, Bangladesh will seek to ensure direct access for local governments and community-based groups to international climate funds, emphasizing equity and grassroots resilience.
Md Shamsuddoha, chief executive of the Center for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD), told Dhaka Tribune: “The focus this year must be on accessibility and justice. Funds must go directly to local adaptation—to farmers, to women-led groups, to those who are truly at risk.”
He emphasized that Bangladesh and other developing nations should advocate for a ratcheting-up mechanism, starting with $300 billion in 2025 and scaling to $1.3 trillion by 2035.
Without a clear, functional definition of climate finance, he warned, transparency and accountability will remain elusive.
“Bangladesh needs a finance framework rooted in justice, clarity, and real commitments—not vague promises.”
Shifting tides of survival
Back in Satkhira, climate migration is reshaping the social fabric.
Every year, thousands leave for cities like Khulna, Jessore, and Dhaka in search of work.
Those who remain are experimenting with salt-tolerant rice, crab fattening, and duck rearing.
But adaptation is expensive.
“We need embankments, rainwater tanks, and solar pumps,” Rahim said. “We cannot do it alone.”
Thirst that COP must quench
Bangladesh’s climate policy now prioritizes grant-based funding, faster disbursement, and the inclusion of vulnerable voices in decision-making.
Yet in villages like Gabura, these policies feel distant.
As dusk falls over the brackish canals, Rahim fills a cracked earthen pot with harvested rainwater—his family’s only source of drinking water for days.
“They speak of climate justice,” he says, gazing at the horizon where the sea meets the sky.
“For us, justice is simple—water that we can drink, land that we can farm.”
For Bangladesh, COP30 is not just another negotiation.
It is a fight to keep farmers like Rahim rooted in their homeland—a fight for survival against a rising tide of broken promises.