Bangladesh, identifying as one of the most disaster prone areas on the globe, also faces unique social, political, and economic challenges. It boasts one of the highest population densities and population growth rates within the mega-city of Dhaka. It regularly sees its fair share of developmental aid and non-governmental agencies hard at work for promoting improved societies, striving to address the millennium goals, and aiming at promoting sustainable human development among all populations.
Disaster resiliency, equality and women empowerment, universal access to various services, energy independence, and sustainable development are all utopian concepts that have infiltrated normal daily conversation. They have become trendy, fashionable buzzwords. They are used so freely, but still there lies a deeper, more profound meaning that is as relevant today as 15 years ago with the inception of the MDGs; and as relevant as 25 years ago with the shift toward a human-centric approach and sustainable development in the Manila Declaration and the Brundtland Commission report “Our Common Future,” and as relevant today as 40 years ago with the UN Conference on the Human Environment and emergence of contemporary environmentalism.
These buzzwords hold valuable meaning for the marginalised populations, poverty-stricken communities, and victims of disaster. These buzzwords litter reports, seminars, conferences, and meeting rooms. These buzzwords are used to motivate change, inspire action, solicit program funding, and reach the ears of policymakers.
But recognising the disparity these words stand for, and understanding the suffering these development trends seek to address, is critical for true sustainable and equitable human development.
In Bangladesh, there has been positive growth in many areas of social development, including education enrollment, health service delivery, and reduction of poverty. But Bangladesh is far from finished. Disaster resiliency, despite the number of programs and large sums of money working to improve community-based adaptation and risk reduction efforts, is still failing on the whole in terms of improved community wellbeing.
Disaster resiliency, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states “the ability of a social or ecological system to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the capacity for self-organisation, and the capacity to adapt to stress and change.”
So, in the most literal sense, many communities in Bangladesh according to the definition can be deemed disaster resilient; many communities in rural and urban Bangladesh lack infrastructure or overall access to basic services even before disaster, making their situation unchanged or worse after disaster strikes. So, it can be seen that the problem with this definition is that it is limiting. It does not account for improved wellbeing or a current standard of living; it assumes static conditions. and in the case of Bangladesh, this is often disparate conditions for many urban and rural populations.
More infrastructure development, community-based expertise and planning, and improved rapid response services are necessary to encourage community recovery, growth and improved wellbeing for all.
Sustainable development is more than just environmental conservation, renewable energy use, and energy efficiency. Sustainable development is a complicated web of cross-cutting human issues that in no way can be mutually exclusive and none can be prioritised over another. Each pillar of social, environmental, and economic factors directly influence the other. Sustainable development, due to its interweaving and intertwining themes and complex linkages among the population, can only be pursued through active cross-sectoral collaborations, shared resources, and effective communication to properly convey the meaning of true sustainability in development. The development sector is open for all to participate.