By now we have heard a lot about climate change and its impacts and our response, or lack of it both, at both the national and global level. Bangladesh’s participation in COP26 has been spectacular. It appears that our nation went with a lot of spade work to participate in this forum. We are fortunate to have a band of experts who successfully steered the whole gamut of activities.
Some of our experts have duly gained global recognition for their knowledge and innovative intervention. There is a plethora of material available on the internet and print media covering the wide ranging aspects of climate change, its impact on lives, coping mechanisms, adaptation, mitigation, etc.
Bangladesh, by virtue of chairing the forum of vulnerable countries, successfully made a global impact in promoting considerable awareness triggering activities on a host of climate-related issues. This positive display of leadership is expected to pay great dividends not only for our country but for other nations in dire need. We proudly prepared and propagated The Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan (MCPP) with its 10-year goal to achieve prosperity for the country in the face of adverse impacts of climate change.
This particular plan, taking a whole-of-society approach, implies that it is designed to enable all sectors, entities, and even individuals to play their respective roles in achieving the desired prosperity by 2030. Our experts claim that Bangladesh has already been acknowledged as a global leader when it comes to aspects such as Locally Led Adaptation (LLA).
At COP 26 there was a robust initiative in favour of generating a fund to address damage and loss. Having done so much work befitting our role as global players on this very critical issue, organizing a “conference of victims” could be a step in the right direction. Experts keep hammering on the importance of listening to victims to ascertain the actual impact of climate change. We talk a lot about local response, local experience, involving local population, and local youth. But we don’t really see much of it being done on the ground.
If we talk about an upazila in particular, haven’t we pinpointed the areas vulnerable or already affected in our worst affected 19 districts already? We need to collate all kinds of data including people, families, cattle, land, and other properties and infrastructure devoured and damaged.
It is possible to plan properly if only the planners have access to reliable data.
In affected areas due to climate change, the common problem we encounter is our preparation in terms of infrastructure. In most cases these are non-existent or decayed and not maintained well. Every time there is a catastrophe, some poor administrative head is exposed to the media to answer queries, whose usual responses are that they are aware of the issue. It has been already informed to the water development board for instance and that they await fund allotment for the work to start.
Our participant experts have come back from Glasgow with a lot of disappointment regarding the poor response from developed countries for the loss and damage funds. It reminds me of the prominent Indian parliamentarian and prolific orator Mr Shashi Tharoor in one of his speeches elaborating the loot and plunder in India by the British Raj and his subsequent claim for recompense.
He has irrefutable logic in favour of his claim that the British very genuinely owe us a huge compensation. But it would be rather naive to think the British would compensate to wipe away their debt. In a similar vein, we cannot expect that industrialized and developed countries will dig deep into their pockets to pay for the loss and damage in the developing world due to unmindful exploitation of resources giving rise to global warming.
Now, concentrating on Bangladesh to do some meaningful work beyond mere dialogue and conference would be to make a proper assessment of the actual damages and take stock of our capability to compensate for them. If we can take on mega projects such as Padma Bridge using our own resources, we might be able to garner wherewithal to construct, repair, and maintain dikes and embankments which are crucial to save our vulnerable population. For funds we possibly can lay our hands on the sizable black money allowed to be whitened in addition to recovering the large sums being siphoned away from the country every year.
Koyra is one of the worst affected Upazilas of Khulna District. Thousands of people have already migrated from villages of such badly-hit Upazilas. In absence of accurate statistics it can be safely concluded that a lot of people are displaced or are living in huts on embankments, losing almost everything of their livelihood, their cattle, shrimp farms, and cultivable land.
Unfortunately, nobody can give a timeline for such crucial, life-saving endeavours in the coastal area. The local administration would say that repair work would be enhanced and food support was being made available to the victims -- but can we stop here, repeating such things when we talk so much about mitigation and sustainable development?
October till March is a prime time in our country when we have the dry season usually before the monsoons set in. Activities such as the construction or repair of dikes and embankments this actually is the best time. The Upazilas which experienced the brunt of the damage in the past due to tidal surges, storms, etc need special attention so that all preliminary surveys, fund requirements, fund allocation, tenders, and employment of contractors are done while the sun is still up.
Brig Gen Qazi Abidus Samad, ndc, psc (Retd) is a freelance contributor.