The current Covid-19 pandemic emergency is combining with the climate change emergency as we speak, and as we tackle the first, we also need to tackle the second at the same time. The next major opportunity to tackle the climate change emergency will be at the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) to be held in Glasgow, Scotland next year. Prime …
The longest ever COP in the history closed in Madrid with disappointment as expressed by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres. As many issues remain unresolved despite major fights by civil society and rights group. However, the frustrating climate talks could produce a key breakthrough and rare success story at this year’s COP was the decision on a new five-year gender …
As this is my last column for 2019, I am going to share some of its highlights and also my verdict on the year as well as some reflections on the next year and the next decade. In terms of the climate change issue, there were a number of important turning points in 2019. The first, and by far the …
Highlights • Rural livelihoods are intrinsically connected with seasonal climate fluctuations. • Rural livelihoods get more economic benefits from the local ecosystem services (ES) during monsoon and post-monsoon months. • Livelihoods of ES dependent are vulnerable in the pre-monsoon season. • Communities are increasingly diversifying their livelihood strategies to non-ES sectors. • Non-ES dependent livelihoods enjoy increasingly better economic security. …
The majority of developing countries have indicated capacity building as a condition for implementing their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. This is in the context of shortfalls in past initiatives on capacity building under different bilateral and multilateral agencies including bodies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which can be largely attributed to …
We have known about the denial of climate change by president Trump of the United States and that he has decided to withdraw his country from the Paris Agreement and is also actively undermining efforts in the US to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. However, joining Greta Thunberg on the climate strike and march in New York on Friday, along …
Finding solutions to the global problem of climate change Last week, Bangladesh hosted a major global climate change meeting in Dhaka, hosted by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with Ban Ki-moon, former secretary general of the United Nations, Chief Executive Kristalina Georgieva from the World Bank, and President Heine of the Marshall Islands present. The visiting dignitaries all praised the role …
Over the last two decades or more, the global scientific community has been raising the alarm about climate change, through the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which were then considered by the governments of the world at the annual Conference of Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). A landmark agreement, …
The words refugees, migrants and climate change are increasingly becoming connected to each other, but sometimes causing more noise than shedding light! The three terms have very distinct origins and global fora for discourse which were quite different and siloed in the past. However over the last year all of them have recognised the need to connect with each other. …
This paper aims to understand how environmental stressors influence people’s livelihood options in the coastal belt of Bangladesh. We argue that environmental stressors such as cyclones, riverbank erosion, salinity intrusion, and floods have negative impacts on people’s lives by reducing their livelihood options. Twelve in-depth interviews (Livelihood Histories) and twelve Focus Group Discussions (FGD) based on two Participatory Rural Appraisal …
