After mass protests ousted Bangladesh’s long-time leader, environmental activists are calling on the interim government to place climate change on its agenda even as it faces the urgent task of restoring normalcy after weeks of tumult.
Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in on Aug. 8 after student protests over jobs turned into a broader uprising, leaving hundreds of people dead and forcing former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee the country.
It remains unclear how long the technocratic government will serve, and legal experts have said it could be a year or more. Yunus, 84, has reportedly said he wants to see through “vital reforms” in the judiciary, security forces and bureaucracy before holding a new general election.
Amid the long list of priorities, experts are warning that climate change should not be given short shrift. Bangladesh is the world’s ninth-most climate-vulnerable nation, according to the World Risk Index, and everything from its food supplies to human health are endangered by extreme weather events.
“We have to make it clear to investors and partners at home and abroad that we will keep building on our achievements in tackling climate hazards and disasters and speed up our energy transition,” said Zakir Hossain Khan, chief executive of the Dhaka-based think tank Change Initiative.
Yunus, an economist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance, has appointed more than 20 advisers to a council that will effectively serve as his cabinet.
Among them is Syeda Rizwana Hasan, a 56-year-old lawyer and environmental activist, who will oversee the environment and climate portfolio.
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Now that we have got one of our fellow environmental activists in charge, our expectations for a better deal on climate action that works for ordinary Bangladeshis go higher.
Sohanur Rahman, executive coordinator, YouthNet for Climate Justice
Environmentalists are hoping Hasan’s activist credentials will make climate policies a priority in the Yunus administration.
While the de facto climate minister has promised to tackle pollution, protect wetlands and curb single-use plastics, Hasan has not yet specified Bangladesh’s next steps on the climate.
Green jobs
“Now that we have got one of our fellow environmental activists in charge, our expectations for a better deal on climate action that works for ordinary Bangladeshis go higher,” said Sohanur Rahman, the executive coordinator of YouthNet for Climate Justice.
One of Rahman’s fellow activists from YouthNet, Ishtiak Ahmed Srabon, was killed on Aug. 4 while taking part in the youth protests.
The anti-government protests that erupted on university campuses in July were driven by the despair many young Bangladeshis feel over a lack of enough jobs for a population of 173 million people, despite rapid economic growth.
Brought to power by this movement, Yunus will be pressed to tackle the jobs crisis early in his tenure. One way to do that is by creating work opportunities through a “just energy transition,” Rahman said.
Progress towards meeting the previous government’s goals of creating 40,000 “green jobs” by 2030 and generating 40 per cent of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2041 has been slow.
There is a scope for creating tens of thousands of green jobs by rapidly scaling up renewables and accelerating the transition towards net zero - while bringing a pause to any further expansion to fossil fuel power, Rahman said.
A key challenge for Bangladesh is raising an estimated US$230 billion over the next quarter-century to cope with recurring climate-induced disasters, like floods, cyclones and salinity. Presently, losses and damages from these extreme weather events cost Bangladeshis about US$2 billion a year.
The Bangladesh Climate and Development Platform (BCDP) was created last December with multilateral development banks and international aid agencies to mobilise investment in Bangladesh’s climate efforts.
For the BCDP to succeed, skilled workers will need to be trained and retained to deliver climate support to where it’s needed most, said Khan.
“We need to make sure that key climate institutions remain stable and effective during the transition,” he cautioned.
Keeping up momentum
Much of the work will require more time than the current government may have in office, but the climate emergency will not be on hold during the transition. Just this week, several districts in the northeast and southeast Bangladesh were hit by floods.
A number of climate-related policies and programmes that are already at work, such as the national adaptation policy, must be safeguarded during the current administration, said Khan.
Despite Hasina’s swerve towards authoritarianism in recent years, over the last decade Bangladesh has been lauded by the international community as a strong advocate for low-income countries that are the biggest victims of the changing climate.
Over the last decade, Bangladesh has earned acclaim for its action on climate adaptation, investing in projects from climate resilient infrastructure to disaster response.
It has been the only country to twice lead the Climate Vulnerable Forum - a global lobbying platform of 68 middle and low income countries - as an outspoken voice for a fairer deal on climate finance for the Global South.
That kind of energetic advocacy will be needed at this year’s UN climate conference, or COP29, in November, which will decide upon a new financial package to Global South countries dealing with the impacts of climate change.
Presently, vulnerable countries do not receive enough support, and it is mostly in the form of loans, not grants, said Mizan Khan, a visiting fellow at Brown University who is leading the LDC Universities Consortium on Climate Change (LUCCC).
“While Bangladesh is not at high risk as yet in terms of climate-related debt sustainability - in the upcoming talks on climate finance we should ask for a much bigger share of grant-based finance for adaptation, so that we do not edge towards debt distress,” said Mirzan Khan.
Under COP, Bangladesh will also have to submit new goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), in 2025.
“We are expecting a ‘people’s NDC’ this time, which means more grassroots participation and more youth voices in the decision process,” said YouthNet’s Rahman.
Yunus has reportedly pledged to work towards “national reconciliation.” As he navigates Bangladesh’s new political landscape, an inclusive approach to climate change can serve that aim, observers said.
“As Bangladesh revises its plans for a greener economy, it needs to integrate a just transition action plan that works for everyone, including women, youth and migrants,” Rahman said.
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