Tag: Blog
-
Study visit to Hopley Farm in Zimbabwe
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…
-
The case for a values-based understanding of loss and damage
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…
-
Loss and Damage fund established at COP27: what happens next?
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)…
-
Access to water services in informal settlements in Mongla, Bangladesh
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.…
-
Ensuring water security for ethnic minority communities in CHT
The ethnic minority people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts already apply the methodology of Nature Based Solutions and Locally Led Adaptation in order to adapt to climate change
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…
-
The impacts of human-induced climate change are exacerbating social and economic inequalities of indigenous peoples – A case study from Bangladesh
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…
-
Nature Conservation, Climate Change and Indigenous People – Evidence Base, Research and Environmental Justice
Indigenous peoples (IPs) have long been living with nature and observing natural changes whilst sustainably managing and protecting more than 25% of world’s landscape. While IPs constitute only 5% of the world’s population, they contribute to 80% of global biodiversity conservation. However, they are often subjected to systemic racial, socio-economic and legal discrimination resulting in…
-
Centring human rights, choice and agency in forced climate displacement policy design in Bangladesh
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”] Rural to urban climate-linked displacement is increasing worldwide, stretching urban slum capacity Conditions in Dhaka’s temporary settlements in the slums are inhuman, with poor access to basic services In the short term, investment is needed to make conditions liveable in the slums In the long term, a robust protection framework that centres…
-
Doing climate adaptation better
I have written about the need to ramp up adaptation in order to avoid the worst impacts of human-induced climate change around the world, as lead author on adaptation for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for over a decade. So the Sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC containing that message was nothing new.…
-
Community perceptions about social research in informal settlements
‘What benefit will we get by talking to you?’ is one of the most common questions residents ask researchers in informal settlements in Bangladesh. Both extreme and slow-onset climate change-induced events are increasing the vulnerability of people, especially those who are already socially and economically marginalised. As this trend is becoming more prominent globally, social research on…
-
Why COP26 failed to address loss and damage from climate change
On 9 August 2021, the science working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report showed that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are responsible for approximately 1.1°C of warming since 1850-1900. Climate change is not just what is happening now and will happen in the future but also what has been happening…
-
PRINTING THE CALAMITY: PATTACHITRA SCROLLS ON TROPICAL CYCLONES AND NATURAL DISASTERS IN SHYAMNAGAR, SHATKHIRA
“We are the people of coastal area, Our sufferings know no bounds, We have to survive fighting various disasters.” —Shagorika Mondol, song sung to pattachitra scroll on disaster awareness How do you creatively inform the community about dealing with a tragedy that regularly befalls them? Or encourage them to stand back on their feet after…