Bangladesh has been one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change for a while now. According to a report from the Global Climate Risk Index in 2021, Bangladesh ranks seventh on a list of extreme disaster risk-prone countries in the world.
This year, 350.org Bangladesh organized a climate strike that spans 20 cities in collaboration with Save the Children, Bangladesh Environmental and Lawyers Association (Bela) and other youth organizations such as Seetco Bangladesh, Step Up 4Tomorrow, Go Up Foundation, Towards Sustainability, Nivoy Foundation, and others.
Fridays for Future holds two annual Global Climate Strikes on a recurrent basis.
Last year, 180 countries organized strikes in their respective cities and communities, giving voices to young students to unite and demand climate justice and climate action.
The theme this year is effective climate financing.
A study from Save the Children found that only 2% of international climate finance is directed to children.
To echo the legitimization of the students' plight for climate action, Nauman Haque, senior climate adviser from Save the Children in Bangladesh, supported their demands.
Haque provides a specialized perspective for the kids.
The framework for climate change action stresses a brighter future for children, yet in practice, they receive the lowest finances to shield them from climate-related risks. It's ironic, Haque said in disappointment.
Last Friday (September 20) a diverse set of people were engaged by the Bangladeshi youth at a climate strike in 20 different cities across the country, most affected by climate change, including Satkhira, Sundarbans and Rangpur, demanding various timely actions to ensure climate justice in their respective cities and as a result, the entire country.
Satkhira, located in an expansive coastal area, is vulnerable to natural disasters, floods, and water salinity.
Water salinity refers to the amount of water as a result of heavy flooding and rainfall.
According to several reports, A salinity of more than 1,000 milligrams per litre is considered undrinkable but the water in Satkhira and other coastal regions have a salinity ranging from 1,247 mg to 2,406 mg per litre, due to sea water intrusion and floods interfering with crop production, and preventing fresh drinkable water.
“We are overexposed to saltwater and deprived of freshwater,” said student activist Maruf Hasan from Satkhira.
In 2021, the Bangladesh Resource Council for Indigenous Knowledge (Barcik) found that urinary tract infection (UTI) and gestational hypertension are both increasing among women in coastal areas, due to the excessive salinity and contamination in water which can lead to preeclampsia, a health condition causing high blood pressure and liver damage among pregnant women.
When women are on their periods, the use of salted water, in particular, is dangerous and unhealthy.
“A lot of the women in our area have had uterine cancer and UTI”, Hasan added, emphasizing women’s deteriorating health in Satkhira.
Lack of access to care
The unavailability of doctors in remote areas in Satkhira also presents bigger challenges.
“A father went to visit his daughter in a remote area once, and passed away simply because there was no one there to check and treat his high blood pressure on time,” Hasan further said.
His key demands during the strike included access to clean water through government services, increased access to gynaecologists for women financed by the government, and higher economic opportunities that are not detrimental to local populations' health.
Maruf underscored the importance of freshwater and advocacy. He mentioned the continuous efforts these students have pushed for with support from ActionAid to push for a higher budget for environmental-related disasters.
Satkhira has a limited income source as the land that was once used to cultivate rice and paddy is no longer producing the same.
“This eliminates our primary source of income”, he added. However, the locals in Satkhira still have to pay up to Tk25 a litre for water
The unavailability of jobs and more income sources leads people to travel from Satkhira to Dhaka and take up rickshaw-pulling as a job to earn an income.
“The well-off people, who can afford water, and have roofs over their houses are being helped. But what about the less-fortunate and those severely economically struggling?” Hasan added.
Another student activist, Tasnim Hasan, from Rangpur who is founder of “Step Up for Tomorrow” mentioned that key problems Rangpur faced were adverse agricultural impact by tobacco, and nicotine production.
The ongoing nicotine production makes the land and water difficult for farmers to produce potatoes.
She underlined that people in positions of power refuse to collaborate in keeping the canals clean as it would require corporations to relocate their businesses, which are currently located right by the rivers and canals.
“We can't keep the canals clean, and that leads to contaminated water as it's hard to get through and communicate with policymakers,” Tasnim also said.
Lack of awareness also further exacerbated the issue as their advocacy is not taken seriously, especially against powerful stakeholders.
This climate strike is important for Rangpur as the region is desperate for fresh, drinkable water. “The problems we’re facing are entirely political,” she added.
She hoped tobacco and nicotine production was stopped and that people in positions of power began to listen to people like them so they could keep the environment, including the rivers and canals, clean.
The mangrove
The Sundarbans brings about a different set of challenges as some areas tend to have too little water from both underground and river sources.
Being a major tourist attraction, the government has always evaded any kind of responsibility towards transforming Sundarbans into a more eco-tourist space for tourists.
“In theory, the principles of ecotourism are there, but not in practice,” said student activist Nushrath Jahan Juhi
Juhi seeks policies to “include local people so that they are not tokenized but are not given actual management power that can lead to tangible changes in the long term.”
She also mentions that the locals depend on timber, fish, honey sectors in Sundarbans, and their income sources need to be diversified too so that their economic situation is not vulnerable to climate change.
Focusing on the climate injustice problems that have plagued Bangladesh's weak institutions, Bareesh Hasan Chowdhury, campaigns and policy coordinator at Bela, mentioned that the lack of transparency and accountability from the government’s perspective has led to the current distraught situation of Bangladesh.
"The government needs to listen to the needs of the stakeholders including youth and civil society. The government also needs a pathway out of the fossil fuel regime nationally and globally,” Chowdhury added.
Emphasizing the need to amplify the kids’ voices, Haque added that “continuity in education cannot be compromised as it hinders the country's ability to develop.”
The climate strike is the need of hour as is the response to the nationwide strike.
