Climate Justice for Bangladesh: A Question Worth Asking?

Mohd Aminul Karim, Lt. General (Retd.)
Member of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh and Former Professor at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Introduction
Bangladesh is the world’s largest delta and is located on the
northern coast of the Bay of Bengal. It is longitudinally divided into three
main river basins: The Ganges, Meghna, and Brahmaputra, all of which flow from
the Himalayas. They transport tons of silt from the Himalayas and deposit it in
the Bay of Bengal, as all of these rivers have outlets in the Bay of Bengal.
The rise in atmospheric temperature results in greater ice melting, resulting
in more water flows in the Himalayas. This phenomenon powers these river basins
to carry more silt to the bay over time. Consequently, the continental shelf in
the Bay expands southward, increasing the size of the
Bay of Bengal continental shelf.
There are two conflicting theses regarding the depth of the bay in
the north. Some experts say that smaller Bangladesh is likely to merge in the
Bay because of the huge silts being deposited, while others argue that the
mysterious ‘Swatch of No Ground,’ situated in the northeast of the Bay, washes
much of these silts away as far as the Sumatra Islands in Indonesia. Even if
Bangladesh gains land area (one third of Bangladesh), much of the distress
caused by climate change can be overcome, as sea levels are projected to rise
and potentially devour about a third of northern Bangladesh by the end of this
century. This will lead to significant dislocations for the common people, who
may even have to cross international boundaries, raising traditional security
concerns for Bangladesh.
The Bay is notorious for generating numerous cyclones and tidal
bores year in and year out. The Bay’s northern side, touching Bangladesh, is
funnel-shaped and provides momentum to cyclones originating further south.
These cyclones were occasionally accompanied by tidal bores. The funneling
effect propels cyclones toward Bangladesh’s coast, making them more intense. As
sea levels rise owing to rising atmospheric temperatures, tidal bores inflict
unimaginable damage on the lives and properties of marginalized people. Approximately
one-third of the Bangladeshi population inhabits the coastal region for
sustenance. Many depend on the Bay for fishing, but they are vulnerable to
cyclones and tidal bores likely to hit the coastal region of Bangladesh.
Summers are gradually becoming more intense, winters are scarce, and monsoons
cause more floods. Cyclone shelters, built over the years with the assistance
of foreign donors, play a significant role in protecting the lives of people
and their livestock. These shelters provide relief to people in the coastal
region of Bangladesh.
Climate justice is a people-centred strategy for climate action.
This entails the fair representation, inclusion, and protection of the rights
of those most vulnerable to climate change. Solutions should prioritize equity
and basic resources and ensure that young people can live in a healthy and
clean environment. This approach is also based on human rights, as rapid
urbanization gives rise to crucial issues, such as water, sanitation, and
public health, especially for the younger generation. This chapter focuses on
these two aspects of climate change in Bangladesh. We need to reconsider the
traditional concept of Business as Usual. The next generation should not be
deprived of the benefits of nature enjoyed by the current generation.
Moreover, these poor countries are plagued by internal governance
issues, corruption, poor politics, and a multitude of climate-induced
disasters. That said, the loss of lives and property in Bangladesh has
dramatically decreased over the years due to significant improvements in
disaster management mechanisms. In 1970, Bangladesh was devastated by a cyclone
and tidal bores that reportedly killed about a million people; some even
consider it the worst disaster of the century on this planet. At the time,
cyclone warnings, rescue operations, and rehabilitation mechanisms
were not as effective and there was a lack of political will.
Today, even the adaptive attitude of people has significantly improved,
showcasing their resilience and motivation. Field staff in the affected regions
are now better trained and motivated to undertake the monumental task of saving
distressed humanity in terms of relief and rehabilitation at critical times.
Bangladesh owes a debt of gratitude to various UN bodies and governments for
their substantial assistance in building infrastructure and command-and-control
mechanisms. The resilient and adaptable people in Bangladesh deserve credit.
Different Bangladeshi agencies, including their professional armed forces,
NGOs, and local government officials, are doing remarkable work to provide aid
to distressed humanity in times of critical need.
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the
world. Its capital city is overcrowded by the influx of climate refugees,
mostly coming from the southern part of Bangladesh. About 50,000 people per km2 live in the capital city,
which is almost double the density of Manhattan, New York. Despite such
overcrowding, up to 400,000 low income climate migrants reach Dhaka every year
(Climate Reality Project, 2021). However, this crowding has been thinning out
recently from an almost unbearable life in Dhaka, due to the unaffordable cost
of living and the overbearing pollution and contagious diseases(1). Climate change is
exacerbating these challenges for the marginalized poor, who can barely afford
the costs of hospitalization and medicine. It is essential to note that
Bangladesh’s public health system is not sufficiently developed to provide
assistance to all affected people across the country, and that the system is
plagued by corruption.
As a matter of fact, Bangladesh itself is not responsible for
these disasters, but the West, China, and India are causing most of these
emissions, making this planet inhabitable. Bangladesh produces only 0.56% of
the global emissions that cause climate change, yet it ranks seventh among the
countries that are most vulnerable to climate crises (Climate Change, 2021).
Thus, Bangladesh is not a predator, but has to suffer the consequences of
carbon emissions from industrialized countries. This climate crisis poses a
real threat, tangible to its teeming millions, day in and day out. Why should
Bangladesh suffer such colossal losses due to somebody else’s thoughtless
activities? This begs the question of whether Bangladesh is undergoing climate
injustice. Yes, it is. Climate impacts are imposed on Bangladesh by
high-emitting, wealthy countries. Bangladesh emits only a small fraction of
greenhouse gas emissions, as mentioned. To put in perspective, Bangladesh emits
0.5 metric tons of CO2 per person per year, while the U.S. emits 15.2 metric
tons per person, which is approximately 30 times higher (Climate Reality
Project, 2021).
1- Dhaka’s air quality index score rose from 145.1 in 2020 to 163.7 in 2020, implying air pollution has increased by almost 13 percent since 2020 (Source: “Dhaka City—Air Pollution Rose by 13 percent over three Years”, The Daily Star, September 28, 2023). Climate refugees are the worstsufferers as they live in shanties with minimal sanitary and clean water facilities.
With that said and emphasized, this chapter attempts to address
the climate injustice meted out to the people of Bangladesh and its harmful
impacts that people have to endure. It is even risking the very existence of
human life. The chapter remains confined to the damages done to distressed
people because of the huge volumes of emissions of other stakeholders. This
chapter also attempts to highlight the linkage between climate change, climate
justice, and human rights. A causative relationship exists between these
outcomes. The chapter underscores the unfortunate reality that humanity is
often sacrificed on the altar of industrialization, affluence, luxury, etc.,
particularly in developed countries. It conducts content analysis and
observation given the author’s personal experience engaging in the government’s
relief and rehabilitation efforts over three decades.
Vulnerability of Bangladesh Due to Climate
Change
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guitterez hosts an annual Climate
Action Plan in September. Over the years, in an attempt to describe climate
change, the most significant human-induced global crisis, his language has
taken on increasingly apocalyptic tones. Earlier, he described the world as
having entered an era of “climate boiling,” which he now describes rather
dramatically as “entering the gates of hell.” Despite such dramatization, the
world leaders responsible for emitting most of the greenhouse emissions (GMG)
are not doing enough to keep the global temperature below 1.5 °C as agreed to
under the Paris Agreement in 2015 (Huq, 2023). Countries responsible for high
carbon emissions have a high moral responsibility to provide the necessary
compensation to Bangladesh, one of the most vulnerable countries in the world
to climate change. Its vulnerability is more pronounced because of its
overpopulation, lack of natural resources, and exposed coastal belts. Climate
justice here is related to distributive and procedural justice. The Swiss
Embassy Project ranks Bangladesh as the seventh most vulnerable country in the
world and fifth in terms of losses and damage incurred due to climate change.
Located in the “high climate exposure risk area”, Bangladesh lost
$3.72 billion over the past 20 years due to climate change. The impacts of
tropical cyclones cost Bangladesh approximately $1.3 billion annually. As the
World Bank forecasts, by 2050, one-third of the agricultural GDP may be
lost due to climate variability and extremities. This is most
disconcerting as the agricultural sector caters for around half of the in-house
employment as Bangladesh, as yet, could not make any breakthrough in
industrialization except in Ready-Made Garments (RMGs). 13.3 Million people, as
per the World Bank forecast, may become internal climate refugees in the next
30 years owing to climate impacts on agriculture, water scarcity, and rising
sea levels, with profound impacts on women. In 2000-2009, Bangladesh suffered
economic losses of $4 billion and had to witness 185 extreme weather events
caused by climate change. A U.S. government report showed 90 million
Bangladeshis—56% of the people—live in “high climate exposure areas”. Out of
these 90 million, 53 million are subject to “very high” exposure (Climate
Reality Project, 2021). In addition, if severe flooding occurs almost every
year, the GDP may fall by as much as 9%. Bangladesh will need at least $12.5
billion, approximately 3% of its GDP, for climate-change correction in the
medium term. This financial gap can be partially covered by carbon taxation,
external financing, and private investments. External financing is coming too
little and too late. There is a potential for climate finance from the private
sector to increase to 0.2% of the GDP, that is up to $1 billion by 2025 (The
World Bank, 2022).
The World Bank’s Global Change Knowledge Portal projects that the
world’s climate is changing over this century and even beyond. Even if there
are substantial reductions in GHG emissions, the increase in the average global
temperature could be limited to 2 °C or below. If no such drastic actions are
taken, the average annual global temperature could rise by 5 °C or more by the
end of the century compared to pre-industrial levels (Rahman, 2023). What is
most disconcerting about temperature rise is that September 2023 was the
hottest month on record, as the EU climate monitor says. September’s average
surface air temperature of 16.38 °C was above 0.93 °C above the 1991-2020
average for the month and 0.5 °C above the previous 2020 record according to a
Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) report. “Climate change is not
something that will happen 10 years from now. Climate change is here.” The C3S
also reported average world temperatures from January to September of 1.4 °C higher
than 1850-1900, which is breaching the 1.5 °C warming goal of the 2015 Paris
Agreement (AFP, Paris, 2023).
Not only do carbon emissions affect the atmosphere, but also
oceans. When oceans absorb excess CO2, they become more acidic, which is known
as ocean acidification. Ocean acidification disrupts the food chain and can
cause substantial damage to fisheries. People living in the coastal region of
the Bay of Bengal greatly depend on fish resources for their livelihoods.
Carbon emissions cause enormous damage to the environment and economy, which is
glaring in Bangladesh. In addition, it also impacts society and social
mobility. Vulnerable communities, such as Bangladesh, which have limited
resources on shore and are less resilient, are disproportionately affected by
climate change. When countries fail to meet their carbon emission reduction
targets, and national interests are involved, a significant geopolitical issue
arises (Uddin, 2023). Climate
change gives rise to traditional Climate Justice for Bangladesh
security when there is a huge migration of people in Bangladesh from south to
north by the end of 2100, as discussed later in the chapter.
Bangladesh is vulnerable to looming disasters. It is already
experiencing the impacts of climate change in its life, ecology, internal
migrations of people called climate refugees, public health hazards,
intensified cyclones and floods, almost-no-water in its rivers during dry
seasons and too-much water during monsoon seasons, riverbank erosions(1), damaged forestry,
1- River erosion has impacted a single upazila (sub-district) called Chowhali in Bangladesh, where around 50,000 people from 50 villages became homeless in the last twenty years. This upazila extended over 210 km2 of land in 2011, but by now it has lost 70% of its land to the river. A few decades age, this upazila had 73 km of concrete roads, which have now been reduced to 30 km due to river erosion. Added to these damages, what is most disconcerting is that at least 100 out of 128 government primary schools have been damaged—80 of them sustained significant and had to be relocated multiple times—due to river erosion in recent times. There were 32, 0000 students in the academic year 2017-18. This number fell to 24,000 in the academic year 2023. River erosion began after the 1998 devastating flood that engulfed almost the entire country, which took a severe turn in 2010 (The Daily Star, October 3, 2023).
especially its world’s largest mangrove forests called Sundarbans
as life sustaining trees called Sundari are dying due to saltwater intrusion
from the Bay of Bengal, and serious depletion in the flow of sweet waters along
the Ganges River basin, which runs through India before joining the Bay of
Bengal in Bangladesh. Bangladesh does not get enough water for the sustenance
of its agriculture, fisheries, and biodiversity, below the water surface level,
going further down, as it is a lower-riparian country. Much of the water is
withdrawn or diverted by India to meet its needs before it enters Bangladesh.
This has resulted in the natural death of many of its smaller rivers, mostly
distributaries from the three main basins. There are speculations and
indications—too much sand accumulated in the riverbank—that desertification may
someday overwhelm Bangladesh. There is another looming disaster in Bangladesh
on this horizon.
Bangladesh is affected by the growing threat of rising sea and
plastic pollution in the Bay of Bengal (Karim, 2023). Two-thirds of the country
stands at less than 15 feet above sea level. By 2050, one in every seven people
in Bangladesh is expected to be displaced by climate change. Scientific
American notes how “climate change in Bangladesh has started what may become
the largest mass migration in human history. Some scientists project a five-to-six
feet (sea level) rise by 2100, which would displace perhaps 50 million people.”
In an estimate by Bangladesh’s Soil Resources Development Institute, in 1973,
8.3 million hectares—321,623 mi2—of land got affected by saltwater encroachment.
By 2009, it had grown to over 105.6 million hectares. In addition, the overall
salinity in the country’s soil has increased by 26% over the past 35 years.
Due to climate change, rainfall all over the world is becoming
more erratic and often more intense, and Bangladesh is already trapped in this
cycle, as in the month of October Monsoon lingers on in the most populated city
of Dhaka. Due to severe river erosion, supercharged water levels in the
Ganges—Meghna—Brahmaputra Rivers are destroying many villages and the livelihoods
of millions of poor rural people in Bangladesh remain uncertain. Such
devastation has caused over ten million people to become climate refugees,
thronging cities like Dhaka and Chattogram for at least two meals a day. To sum
it up, the UNICEF makes a pertinent observation, “Around 12 million of the
children most affected [by climate change] live in and around the powerful
river systems which flow through Bangladesh and regularly burst their banks.
The most recent major flooding of the Brahmaputra River in 2017 inundated at
least 480 community health clinics and damaged some 50,000 tube wells,
essential for meeting communities’ safe water needs” (Climate Reality Project,
2021).
Climate Change, Adaptation(1) and Resilience
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate (IPCC) Sixth Assessment
Report 2022 states that “Climate change is affecting nature, people’s lives and
infrastructure everywhere. Its dangerous and pervasive impacts are becoming
increasingly evident in every region of our world. These impacts are hindering
efforts to meet basic human needs and they threaten sustainable development
across the globe”.(2)
IPCC projects different possible scenarios of how badly global
warming will affect the planet. The warming may range from limiting warming to
1.5 °C to worst case scenario where the global average temperature will be
higher than 4.5 °C by 2100 as indicated. The IPCC thinks the deadline
for greenhouse emissions, reaching the peak, should be by 2025.
Such a situation is called mitigation. Many countries have committed to the
goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to around
1- Adaptation implies decreasing the flow of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Its goal is to discourage human interference the earth’s climate, “stabilize greenhouse gas levels in a timeframe sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.” (Source: The 2014 Report on Mitigation of Climate Change from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, page 4). Adaptation, on the other hand, is adapting to a different environment condition due to climate change. One has to get acclimatized to actual or potential future climate. Its goal is to offset the harmful effects of climate change like sea-level rise, more extreme intense weather condition, or food insecurity. It has its positive impacts too like longer growing seasons or increased yields in some region.
2- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the
United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. The IPCC provides regular
assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options
for adaptation and mitigation.
1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels (World Economic Forum, 2022).
There are efforts to decarbonize relevant sectors of the world or Bangladesh
economy, such as heavy industries, brick kilns, coal-fired gas stations etc.
In Bangladesh, RMGs industries are massively going for green
technologies, which have been acknowledged by different stakeholders. But sad
enough, Bangladesh is not doing good enough to green urban areas. This is
important for water storage. Dhaka city suffers badly due to losses of lives
and properties when fire breaks out, as both natural and artificial water
storage facilities are not available in different parts of the city. Even the
natural canals, flowing normally about a few decades back, are now clogged due
to huge infrastructure development.(1) City
roads become non-passable for transports and people when there is incessant
rainfall during monsoon. This is also alarmingly true for the port city of
Chattogram, the second largest city of the country. The municipal services of
the city corporations are dismally poor in these cities. This is clearly
visible in the death toll of this year’s dengue outbreak in Bangladesh that has
resulted in nearly 1,000 deaths this year-till date across the country with
concentration in the Dhaka City. The year 2023 is the deadliest since the
disease was first detected in the country in 2000. At least 206,288 cases of
the disease were detected or reported this year(2). The public health system
needs to be decentralized than being so centralized. Referral system does not
work in Bangladesh.
1- In the capital city of Dhaka itself, open areas and waterbodies are fast depleting. 70% of 71km2 of the Hatirjheel project, including Begunbari canal area, will be transformed into a built-up area by 2025. If this trend continues, the capital’s open areas, including waterbodies, will be reduced to 3.5%. The storm water caused by six hours of rainfall on September 21, 2023 in Dhaka city took 32 hours to recede. Around 113 mm rainfall is not much in quantity, but due to the faulty drainage system, they all have to bear the brunt. The way forward is to build a nature-friendly drainage system, reclaiming the canals, improve the capacity of the drainage system, etc. Moreover, people need social awareness and political will, especially from local governments (Source: “Modernise Drainage, Reclaim Canals. Speakers tell Authorities on Mitigating Dhaka’s Waterlogging Crisis”, The Daily Star, October 4, 2023).
2-“Dengue Outbreak. Deaths Cross 1,000 Marks. 2,882 Admitted to Hospitals in a Day”, The Daily Star, October 2, 2023. This news item also mentions, quoting Mushtaq Hussain, a Consultant at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control, and Research in Bangladesh, “All our efforts to control the mosquito population have been ineffective. This led to the rise in the number of cases and deaths. The extended monsoon is yet another reason why dengue cases are persisting this year.”
The IPCC says that “adaptation to climate change means adjusting
our behaviour (e.g., where we choose to live; the way we plan our cities and
settlements) and adapting our infrastructure (e.g., greening of urban areas for
water storage).” Adaptation can take place by building roads and bridges, reinforcing
coastal protection, and introducing drought- and flood-resistant crops.
Bangladesh has done a good job developing flood resistant paddy. Here creative
ideas are clearly visible. All said and done, Bangladesh continues to remain a
victim of climate injustice as only around one-fifth of climate finance
provided by wealthier countries goes to adaptation and resilience, which is
about $16.8 billion a year. COP26 adopted the Glasgow Climate Pact that called
for doubling this amount for resilient and adaptation programs.
However, developed countries over promise and under deliver. It is
still possible to double the adaptation fund in 2023. Another initiative by the
UN promised funding a new Loss and Damage Fund to be created at COP28 in Dubai
in December 2023. Optimistic discussions were held, but there were hardly any
concrete pledges of fund except from the Government of Scotland, which is not
even a party to the UNFCC (Huq, 2023). However, a silver lining has been
showing in this dark cloud very recently. The UN Green Climate Fund (GCF) has
pulled in $9.3 billion in pledges from 25 different countries to help the
vulnerable countries such as Bangladesh to cope with climate change. The GCF is
meant to channel money to poor countries to meet their targets to reduce carbon
emissions, develop cleaner energy sources, and adapt to a warming world
(Reuters, Berlin, 2023). There is a hunch that adaptation costs for developing
countries could reach a staggering amount of $300 billion a year by the end of
the 2020s. It may even skyrocket to as much as $340 billion a year by 2030. One
of the four priorities for the COP27 summit was climate adaptation. According
to the UN, “The Global Goal on Adaptation was one of the significant outcomes
of COP26. We must ensure that COP27 makes the crucially needed progress and
urge all parties to demonstrate the necessary political will if we are to
capture and assess our progress towards enhancing resilience and assist the
most vulnerable communities” (World Economic Forum, 2022).
Climate Justice: A Human-Centred Approach
Climate justice encompasses “a set of rights and obligations,
which corporations, individuals and governments have towards vulnerable people
who will be disproportionately affected by climate change” (Rahman, 2023).
Justice implies that while all stakeholders need to contribute their bit to
contain climate change, maximum burden should be shared by those who have
contributed the most. The world’s richest 10% are responsible for 50% of GHG,
and the poorest 50%, such as Bangladesh, are responsible for 10% of emissions.
Climate justice encapsulates areas like social injustice, gender injustice,
economic injustice, economic injustice, intergenerational injustice, and
environmental injustice. Justice should not prioritize maximizing profit over
sustainability (UNICEF, 2022).
Bangladesh is a densely populated country as mentioned with over
160 million people vulnerable to constantly changing and emerging climate
change issues. By 2050, Bangladesh is likely to experience an increase of
temperature of about 1.5 °C that may threaten the livelihood of about 15
million people residing near the coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal. During
COP26 in Glasgow, the issue of climate justice was brought to limelight in the
eyes of negotiators and world leaders. Developed countries during COP15
promised $100 billion for developing countries by 2020 but faltered. It could
raise about $84 billion. This setback has created a fragile bridge between
high-emitters and climate victims. However, the Glasgow Climate Pact, an
outcome of COP25, is showing some silver lining towards climate justice
becoming an integral part of the UNFCC (North South University, 2021).
If climate victim nations are to resolve this injustice, they have
to raise the issue in the appropriate fora that the Global North has the
historical responsibility to accept the problem in right earnest and contribute
meaningfully to the Global South. This becomes a win-win for both people and
the planet. Unless it is a win-win for all, climate crisis will hit all
stakeholders, either in the North or the South. This may be called climate
justice—a human-centred approach to tackle climate change,
which was the complex outcome of a myriad of social issues.
Climate justice recognizes that climate change is a result of many interlocking
systems of capitalism, resource extraction, labour exploitation, and the
commodification of nature.
Nature has been badly mauled by the developmental urge of both
industrialized and developing countries. The sad part of the story is that
people who are hardest hit are least responsible for this ordeal. To give a
concrete example, the workers of the Bangladeshi garments factories are badly
exploited both by the Bangladeshi owners and western businessmen who buy these
products at a throwaway price. Pope Paul once called these workers ‘sweating
slaves’. Most of these workers—who are mostly women—are climate refugees who
have thronged the capital city for sustenance as mentioned. They lead a
sub-human life as the buyers from the richest western countries do not want to
pay enough to the suppliers from Bangladesh. They tend to curb the profit
margin as much as possible. Accordingly, the owners pay minimal wages to these
workers that hardly meet the nutrition, and other lower-orders sanitary needs
of these helpless people. There is also another side of the coin even during
the economic downturn of Bangladesh. Due to the depreciation of Taka,
Bangladeshi garments’ owners incurred an additional profit of Tk. 90,000 crore(1) fiscal
year (2022 -2023). In fact, it is a striking level of growth in Bangladeshi
currency. Here lies a big question: will the owners share a miniscule part of
this profit with the workers? They are disposal human capital, and it is a
daydream for them to become respected citizens and, thus, can enjoy the
higher-order needs of life((2) (Akhtar, 2023). There is a remote possibility
1- One US dollar equals to Tk. 110 (Approximately).
2- Food inflation, according to government data, accounted for 12.54% in August 2023, while overall inflation accounted for almost 10%. Another study, covering the period from September 2018 to September 2023, shows how prices of daily essentials have skyrocketed. The price of lentils has gone up by 120%, flour by 88%, potatoes by 80%, and fish by 100%. A family of four needs Tk. 23,000 per month just to meet their caloric needs. It may go up to Tk. 40,000 per month to lead a somewhat dignified life. Considering productivity, wages in other countries, production cost, owners’ profits, inflation, and daily expenses, wages should be much higher. They generally get between Tk. 8,000-10,000 per month, when they start working in factories. (Source: Taslima Akhtar, “TK. 25,000 for Garments Workers. Don’t They Deserve a Dignified Life?” The Daily Star, October 3, 2023).
for such a thing to happen since profit maximization is the main
motive of any business. Social and environmental responsibility is still a far
cry in Bangladesh. That said, some businessmen are gradually getting sensitized
of this responsibility.
“Climate displacement and migration will continue to raise global
security issues. We want justice, fairness, and a sense of responsibility from
the world community. We want the world community to fulfil its promises to reduce
carbon emissions and ensure climate funding,” Sohanur Rahman, a founding member
of a grassroots movement on Climate Justice appealed so to the industrialized
world(1) (UNDP, Bangladesh, 2021). Another young climate
activist and founder of Climate Justice, Bangladesh Jabed Nur Shantaw, talks in
a similar vein, “If we want to save our future generations, we must move away
from coal-fired power plants. We need to move towards renewable energy sources.
We had discussions with various levels of government officials. After that, we
came to know that the government has cancelled ten coal power projects”(2) (UNDP,
Bangladesh, 2021). It was a good move by young activists in 2021, but once the
prices of fossil fuels skyrocketed after the Russia-Ukraine War, the government
had no choice but to start operating some of the coal-fired stations. There is
a huge depletion of in-house gas, on the shore, or no serious effort was made
to explore the wells, even in the Bay of Bengal, so as an emergency
measure, the government had to start operating the stations by
importing coal from abroad. The government is even importing LNG from abroad at
a high price. All these are a big burden on this climate-change afflicted and
densely populated—170 million in an area of 56,000 mi2—country of Bangladesh,
where even the possibility of solar or non-renewable sources is far-fetched, given
the technology or the non-availability of space in crowded Bangladesh.
1- His movement is called Fridays for Future Bangladesh. He is also a coordinator of YouthNet for Climate Justice, a large network to support coastal communities during crisis. He conveyed these to Gaon Connection (Source: (COP26: Climate Justice is the Strident War Cry of Young Activists in Bangladesh. UNDP Bangladesh, November 10, 2021).
2- He also told these to Gaon Connection. He was at the forefront of the movement against the ‘coal-power project’ in Cox’s Bazar, a town in Southeastern Bangladesh (Source: (COP26: Climate Justice is the Strident War Cry of Young Activists in Bangladesh. UNDP Bangladesh, November 10, 2021).
Use of Renewables - A Far Cry?
That said, as an expert shows us the silver lining in using
renewables in Bangladesh, renewable resources include biomass, tides, waves,
sunshine, wind, rain, and thermal energy stored in the Earth’s crust, which are
easily accessible almost anywhere in Bangladesh. These resources do not
harm the climate or the eco-system as fossils do. They are
inexhaustible in contrast to finite fossil fuels, such as oil, coal, and
natural gas. More emissions are produced by fossils than renewables. But the
renewable picture is not rosy at all. Today, less than 2% of the energy mix
consists of renewables in Bangladesh. The government of Bangladesh had
introduced the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan (MCPP) in 2021 that aims to reach
a 30% renewable energy share by 2030 and at least 40% by 2041 (Raihan, 2023).
Bangladesh is a country that can do good planning, including
setting targets, but its implementation is shockingly poor. It has inefficient
bureaucracy—mostly generalists—so young activists, NGOs, private entrepreneurs,
or professionals have to come forward to take over these challenging jobs of
keeping this country and its economy functional. Good news is in 2019,
Bangladesh declared climate change a “planetary emergency”. UNDP-Bangladesh,
British Council-Bangladesh, Action
Aid-Bangladesh, Change Initiative are some of the organizations
involved in training and empowering the youth to address climate change. They
can do a good job doing climate risk-assessment, local adaptation, planning and
climate change adaptation tracking. Their goal should be to transform the
society and economy into a low-carbon climate resilient economy and society(1) (UNDP,
Bangladesh, 2021). These youths should also be utilized to better harness the
renewables. They should be integrated with risk-taking entrepreneurs to install
the renewable energy infrastructure.
1- “COP26: Climate Justice is the Strident War Cry of Young Activists in Bangladesh”. UNDP Bangladesh, November 10, 2021. The sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in August 2021 carried the voices of Ayna Rani Sarkar and those who are climate endangered. The people of coastal Bangladesh, like Ayna Rani, endured extreme weather conditions for more than a decade. They are marginalized with no homes, livelihoods, or savings, and they continue to languish in displacement.
Space may be limited, but creative ideas can generate fruitful
results. Ideas range between installing the infrastructure on the rooftops of
big factories and other organizations, in the Barind areas in northern
Bangladesh, in the Char areas in the big river basins, in the coastal areas,
etc. There is abundant sunlight in all parts of Bangladesh throughout the year
except during the monsoon.
We should direct our initiatives from oil and fuel use to
renewables like solar and wind energy and energy efficiency. Major investors
are coming forward to invest in clean energy as it is, as it seems more
profitable. Fossil fuels such as coal are becoming non-competitive without
subsidies. To encourage more vigorous investments in renewables, subsidies on
fossil fuels must be withdrawn immediately (Huq, 2023).
Human Rights and Climate Change
The governments have traditionally treated climate change as an environmental problem or an economic problem, recently. Now there is an awareness climate change should be seen from the prism of human rights, such as rights to life, to food, and a place to eat and work. Moreover, policies formulated to address climate change have implications on human rights. As an example, climate change may affect one’s right to life, which can be both immediate and gradual. Extreme climate change induced weather may cause sudden death of many people. Again, climate change may cause people’s health to deteriorate gradually, as it may limit people’s access to safe drinking water or make them more susceptible to diseases such as pandemics. Another such example could be the right to adequate food. Increased temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns may lead to more erosion and desertification. This may make previously productive land infertile thus affect negatively crop and livestock production. Yet, another example could be right to water and health. As this planet gets warmer, heat waves and water shortages will make it difficult to access safe drinking and sanitation. Changes in temperature are likely to affect the intensity of vector-born, water-borne and respiratory diseases (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2008). Bangladesh is already in the throes of extreme climate change conditions as discussed in this chapter. Marginalized people or the extreme poor people, especially in coastal areas and northeaster part of Bangladesh are already suffering from such human-rights deprivations.
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2018
commended the establishment of the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust and the
Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund as mentioned. It also recommended
that strategies and action plans on climate change and disaster response and
risk reduction be formulated and implemented in the light of human rights. So,
we see an interlinkage between human rights and climate change impacts. The
Human Rights Council recognized this linkage in its recent resolution 50/9 and
adoption of special procedures mandate on human rights and climate change. The
United Nations General Assembly recognized that a clean, healthy and
sustainable environment is a universal human right. This is a great call of the
day. We grow up in the state of nature, which should be clean, healthy and
sustainable. This is a right every citizen of this planet should be able to
enjoy. Over 150 countries already recognize the right to a healthy environment
within their legal system, in one form or another.
International human rights law provides a valuable framework to
develop national policies and ensure accountability of the state and nonstate
actors in protecting the environment and stall climate change. The national
courts of law should come forward to implementing the direction of the United
Nations. Environment is not national so all members should work together to
protect the environment and its sustainability. That said, national courts can
play an effective role in domestic implementation.
Bangladesh Supreme Court gave a landmark decision in 2019 to grant
legal identity to the Turag River, in the outskirts of Dhaka city and all other
rivers of the country. It identifies the potential for public interest
litigation and action by the courts to protect the environment. The Court not
only recognizes the legal entities of the rivers but also directs different
government agencies to protect the endangered rivers, mostly encroached by the
influential local businessmen, politicians, and even the big business houses of
the country (Office of the High Commission of Human Rights, 2022). These can
easily hoodwink the local administration and destroys the natural flow and
cleanliness, ecological balance, normal trade and commerce through these
rivers, keeping the transportation potential of these rivers alive, cultivation
of fisheries etc. These age-old potentials of these historical rivers get
destroyed by petty business interests, even to the extent of destroying the
entire river system by building a mini-city on the riverbeds. This is happening
in the Rivers Turag, Balu and Buriganga, all surrounding the city of Dhaka.
They are extremely unscrupulous people who have no commitment to social and
environmental responsibilities to the people living along the coasts of these
age-old rivers. It is expected that the legislative and executive organs of the
state will move expeditiously to implement the courts’ directives. As mentioned
earlier in the chapter, Bangladesh administration is good in charting out a
good plan, but it falters in implementing it. So, the Court has to issue its
orders time and again. The executive bureaucracy is otherwise inefficient, but
they are also stymied by the unscrupulous people. Corruption has also its tolls
in this timid process. So, climate justice or human rights are sacrificed at
the altar of judicial formal justice. It is extremely difficult to evict the
river encroachers in the Rivers Buriganga, Turag and Balu. These encroachers
build permanent structures inside or industries on the banks of the rivers thus
contributing immensely to polluting or death of these rivers. These rivers are
today biologically unfit to cultivate natural fisheries.
Concluding Remarks
Climate change is taking its toll on the people who bear the least
responsibility for these changes. This, therefore, calls for justice to be
meted out to the people who are seemingly undergoing existential threat. This
chapter has highlighted the plight of the helpless and marginalized people, who
are specially living in the coastal region of Bangladesh.
Climate justice can be achieved by providing adequate funding for
both adaptation and mitigation. However, the available funds are insufficient.
Bangladesh is suffering immensely both from cyclones and tidal bores that
emanate from the Bay of Bengal in the south and three river basins, responsible
for extensive river erosion and intrusion of salinity in the sweet water space,
emanating from the mighty Himalaya in the north. Even the largest mangrove
forest, the Sundarbans—bordering the Bay of Bengal—that protects the people of
the affected area from the fury of the cyclones and tidal bores, is under
existential threat as there is intrusion of salinity from the Bay of Bengal
replacing the sweet water vacuum created by the Ganges River as its up-stream water
is withdrawn by its upper riparian neighbour. This results in the death of its
life-sustaining Sundari trees. Due to sea water level rise in the Bay of Bengal
there are extremes of temperatures in the climatic condition of Bangladesh.
Climate change has now become more erratic and intense, so the suffering is
causing people living in the coastal areas to migrate to the big cities such as
Dhaka and Chattogram as climate refugees. These people live in sub-standard
living conditions in shanties, with hardly any access to safe drinking water
and food, and basic public health support. Bangladesh does not have an
efficient public health mechanism as this year alone more than 1,000 people
have already succumbed to death due to epidemic dengue fever. There are no
referral system working in Bangladesh so people are crowding Dhaka city for
medical support. Bangladesh needs to further decentralize its public health
system.
River erosions are uprooting the marginalized people from their ancestral homes to move to big cities as climate refugees. Even many schools are being devoured and have to be relocated time and again. This adversely affects the education of children. River erosions are even damaging local medical clinic facilities.
Bangladesh is heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels, including
coal, for generating electricity. This is more expensive and damaging for the
environment. Bangladesh is far removed from installing comprehensive renewable
infrastructure for electricity. It aims to increase the renewables share of
energy resources by 2030 and 2041. It has created two climate funds as
described in the body, which are great futuristic initiatives. These are the
ways forward for Bangladesh, as is true for any other developed or developing
country.
Climatic justice is a people-centred approach. However, ensuring
this justice in densely populated cities in Bangladesh is challenging. The
population density in Dhaka city is double that of Manhattan, where
marginalized people are one-third of its population. These are typical climate
refugees. Many of them work in the RMGs of Bangladesh, where they are poorly
paid even to meet their lower-order needs. These people are even called
‘sweating slaves’. That said, their sweats are sustaining the economy of
Bangladesh, as the RMGs industry generate the maximum export earnings—more than
80%—for Bangladesh. Thus, the poor workers do not have the option to go back to
their ancestral homes in the villages. They have no choice but to bear the
brunt of a cramped, unhealthy life in shanties of an otherwise posh city of
Dhaka.
Climate justice calls for funds both for mitigation and
adaptation. Temperature is higher than anticipated in different COPs. So, the
fury is going to take higher tolls in the developing South. The North does not
step up to salvage victims of the South as envisaged. This is in addition to
the lack of governance, accountability, people’s welfare projects, etc, in the
developing South, especially so in Bangladesh. This exacerbates the plight of
the socio-economic life of the people.
Climate justice is also linked to human rights as every people on
our planet Earth deserve a healthy life, safe drinking water, shelter, and
basic public health support. All citizens should also have access to education,
especially children and women. These segments suffer the most from climate
change. Sustainability is key here. The environment should be sustained in a
way that our next generation gets their due share as the present generation
does. Bangladeshi courts— even known as the rivers legal entities—are stepping
up, rather pre-emptively, to ensure environmental sustainability, especially of
the rivers, but the administration that is supposed to implement the court
directives are found, rather, not that agile as vested quarters are seemingly
more powerful to hoodwink them. Corruption also plays a role here. It is
heartening to see the Bangladeshi courts are stepping up to ensure human rights
for its marginalized and climate-change afflicted people.
On a positive note, young activists, different NGOs and UN
agencies are actively participating in both adaptation and mitigation programs
of the climate-change impacts in Bangladesh. These agencies could also be
integrated with the private-sector entrepreneurs of Bangladesh, especially
in the field of renewable energy.
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Human security is conceived here along with its seven dimensions
– that are Food Security, Health Security, Environmental Security, Personal
Security, Environmental Security, Personal Security, Community Security and
Political Security
See for this UNHCR Operational Data Portal
https://tinyurl.com/3djw8sjb/
See for this https://tinyurl.com/5de4jpea/
See for this https://tinyurl.com/5de4jpea/
See for this Gerald Kairu (NY). Drought and People’s livelihood
in the Horn of Africa:
https://tinyurl.com/396nvk2e
See for this https://tinyurl.com/bdd9s47d/
See for this https://tinyurl.com/yyzws3z2
See for this https://tinyurl.com/5yu7r5av
See for this https://tinyurl.com/yrtatujz
See for this https://tinyurl.com/y9f5x48w/
See for this Aryn Baker (2019). Can Africa’s Great Green Wall
Help Fight Climate
Change? https://time.com/5669033/great-green-wall-africa/
See for this https://tinyurl.com/225hs35s