During my recent trip to Mongla, Bangladesh, I had the opportunity to visit two slum areas: Balur Math and Signal Tower Colony. These areas provided a unique glimpse into the daily lives, challenges, and resilience of the local community. Join me on this journey as I delve into the stories and experiences, I encountered in these two communities. In the …

In early May, we embarked on a journey to Colombo, the vibrant capital city of Sri Lanka. Our purpose was to attend the 3rd Annual meeting of the Inclusive Urban Infrastructure (IUI) project, a multi-country initiative is leading by the University of Sussex. The 3rd Inclusive Urban Infrastructure (IUI) annual meeting was held on 8-10 May 2023 in Colombo, Sri …

Mongla, the second seaport of Bangladesh, is situated in the southernmost part of the country. As the local economy has grown, the area has witnessed a massive population influx, with around 150,000 residents now living there. This has put a significant strain on water resources. The groundwater is saline, and the community relies entirely on surface drinking water sources. During the rainy …

The Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) concluded in Doha, Qatar on 09 March 2023. The event attended by around 5,000 participants, including 47 heads of state or government and 130 ministers and vice ministers, adopted the Doha Political Declaration. The declaration commits to implementing the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA), a ten-year plan to put …

During the Inclusive Urban Infrastructure (IUI) project’s annual meeting in Zimbabwe last year, we visited Hopley Farm, located on the periphery of the country’s capital Harare, and engaged with the community. As IUI colleagues prepare to visit urban neighbourhoods in Colombo (Sri Lanka) during this year’s IUI annual meeting, we thought it was a timely moment to reflect on our visit to Hopely …

  The loss and damage conversation largely centres around the economics of climate impacts. Losses and damages which are difficult to value on a monetary scale are termed ‘non-economic losses and damages’, often left out of the equation, and often misunderstood. Moreover, there is a limited appreciation of the connections between what is deemed economic and non-economic. This all leads …

Saleemul Huq, one of the most persistent long-term advocates of a ‘loss and damage’ fund on climate change, explores the origins and potential of the breakthrough at the recent COP. For thirty years the vulnerable developing countries led by the small island states had been demanding under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) the creation of a fund …

Globally, 24% of the urban population lives in informal settlements. Such settlements often have inadequate essential services, including housing, water, sanitation, energy, transportation and communications. In Bangladesh, 47.2% of the population lives in urban informal settlements. According to the World Health Organization, 60% of people in Bangladesh are forced to drink contaminated water, many of whom live in urban informal settlements. Thus the lack of availability …

People living in remote areas in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are more vulnerable to lack of adequate and safe water. Many people are experiencing severe water shortages due to the degradation of natural resources, including streams, and the unsustainable depletion of forest resources. This situation worsens in the dry season and persists from February to May due to a …

Introduction The impacts of climate change are evident on the social, economic and political spheres of the least developed and developing nations, and Bangladesh is no exception. Over the last few decades, multiple studies claim that the intensity and frequency of rapid and slow onset events such as cyclones, storm surges, sea level rise, salinity intrusion, floods, flash floods, erratic …