Around 50 children have participated in a demonstration for the conservation of the largest mangrove forest Sundarbans and demanded actions against climate change for the security of livelihood in coastal areas.
The young climate activists holding placards formed a human chain on the Choto Chandipur embankment as part of the “Fridays for Future” movement led by Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg on the occasion of World Environment Day.
Youth Net for Climate Justice organized the program in collaboration with ActionAid Bangladesh in Padmapukur Union of Shyamnagar upazila in Satkhira Friday morning.
Youth Net’s Satkhira District Coordinator SM Shahin Alam said: “Climate change poses a threat to the livelihood of our coastal people, especially in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic.
“Due to long-term unemployment and the loss of relatives, homes, and crops by the Amphan, all these people are at risk of becoming climate refugees.”
“Every cyclone acts as a reminder to protect the Sundarbans. Now is the time to move away from pollution and environmental degradation projects to conserve the biodiversity of Sundarbans,” Shahin added.
Expressing solidarity with the program, Padmapukur Union Chairman Adv SM Ataur Rahman, UP members SM Saifullah, Muhtaram Billah, Obaidullah Mukul, SM Kamruzzaman, Masum Billah, and Ashiq Billah among others delivered a speech.
The speakers demanded that the responsibility of maintenance of the dam be handed over to the local people through public hearings, setting up of Climate Commission and Coastal Development Board, and an increase in the national budget allocation for the affected-areas by the climate crisis.
