The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report, released in 2021, stated that South Asia will face intensified monsoon seasons, heatwaves and changing snowmelt patterns as the planet warms. And yet, the people most affected are often left out of adaptation projects. According to the think tank International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), “estimates suggest under 10 per cent of climate finance …

The fight against climate change is difficult even at the best of times. But this week began with the loss of one of the foremost warriors in this fight. My first encounter with the maverick, Dr Saleemul Huq, happened about a decade ago. I had already been working for many years in the remotest, most vulnerable and unaddressed communities in …

The litmus test of success for the U.N. climate summit will be the creation of an urgently needed fund to help the most vulnerable people. Open letter to the incoming president of the COP28 U.N. climate summit Dear Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Let me thank you for inviting me to join the Advisory Committee for the COP28 Presidency, which will …

Last November, at Cop27 in Egypt, a pivotal decision was unanimously agreed by all countries to establish a funding mechanism to address loss and damages caused by human induced climate change. The process for doing this was also agreed by setting up a Transitional Committee (TC) on funding loss and damage with 24 members representing different geographical and other constituencies …

  Last week, my young colleagues at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) spent seven days at a hotel in Dhaka hosting the third annual Gobeshona Global Conference on locally led adaptation (LLA) and resilience. This is now a well-established, fully online conference that takes place round the clock, for seven days, with three eight-hour sessions each …

UN Climate Change High-Level Champions for COP27 and COP28, H.E Ms Razan Al Mubarak and Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, along with our Global Ambassadors, explain why women’s equal participation and leadership in political and public life are key to accelerating the race to a net zero and resilient world. H.E Ms Razan Al Mubarak, President of the IUCN and UN Climate Change …

The world has entered the third era of loss and damage from human-induced climate change. In the first era, the experts were focused on completely avoiding the potential losses and damages from climate change by stopping – or at least drastically reducing – greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which caused the global temperature to rise. This understanding came from the scientific …

A conversation from COP27 on inclusive locally led adaptation. When it comes to climate change adaptation in affected communities, top-down approaches where international- and national-level decision-makers drive interventions do not work. In recognition of this, efforts to promote locally led adaptation (LLA) have been growing steadily and in August 2022, over 100 organisations endorsed eight core principles to strengthen the …

The lights are out here in my home city of Dhaka as I write these words. Cyclone Sitrang has knocked out the electricity in Bangladesh’s capital, plunging much of this city of 22 million people into darkness. But one thing we Bangladeshis are not in the dark about is climate change. We understand that overheating the planet has made cyclones—or hurricanes, as …

The upcoming talks must agree to set up a funding facility to help countries deal with the growing harm caused by climate change impacts It has now been 30 years since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1972 – and we are about to hold …