I recently took a group of international young researchers from a number of countries on a field visit from Dhaka to the south coast around Khulna to demonstrate to them how Bangladeshis have adapted over the centuries and more recent decades to changes in the ecosystems in which the people live. However, it came to light that adaptation was not …

The G20 meeting of leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies ended a few days ago in Hamburg, Germany with a strong statement of commitment for implementing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change by 19 of the leaders, with the exception of President Trump who has decided to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement. This marks the effective split …

I have just returned from Kampala, Uganda, where I attended the 11th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation (CBA11), where around 300 participants from over fifty countries came together for a week of discussions and knowledge-sharing on how the most vulnerable communities around the world are already taking action to tackle climate change at the local level. This conference series …

Now that the challenge of tackling global climate change has been universally accepted by all countries and people (with the notable exception of Mr Trump and his cronies in the White House and Federal US government) through the Paris Agreement, it is important for all countries, companies, NGOs, universities and other relevant stakeholders to share knowledge and hard technology for …

Since the announce-ment by President Trump that the US will withdraw from the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change, he has been facing a whirlwind of push backs and rejection by all the 195 countries who are parties to the Paris Agreement (only Syria and Nicaragua did not sign it), and it looks like the US will be on its …

At the turn of the century, under the United Nations, all countries agreed to try to achieve a set of ten Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Bangladesh was relatively successful at achieving most of them. Since then, all countries have negotiated and agreed upon a set of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. Besides the …

The US withdrawal might not be such a bad thing after all During his campaign for the US presidency, Donald Trump had said that he believed that human induced climate change was a Chinese hoax, and promised that he would “tear up” the Paris Agreement if he became president. Since taking office, he has put in place confirmed climate change …

The haor basin in the northeastern part of Bangladesh is currently experiencing severe flash floods, causing considerable hardship to people, and destroying crops and other infrastructure. Some people are asking if this flood can be attributed to human-induced climate change. Firstly, it is important to distinguish weather events (like rains, cyclones and floods, etc.) from climate. The former happens on …

Is it the time to think big, again? Can only mega projects catch the country’s attention and lead Bangladesh to becoming a middle income country? On the road to 2021, the Government of Bangladesh has declared, among many other goals, to reach universal electrification (currently somewhere between 62-75 percent, and a matter of heated debates) and a 10 percent share …

ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE Apart of the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change, agreed in 2015, was the pledge by developed countries to provide a minimum of USD 100 billion a year from 2020 onwards, to assist developing countries tackle climate change through both mitigation and adaptation. They also created a new funding body called the Green Climate Fund (GCF) …