Blog written by Rushanara Ali MP, Labour Shadow Minister for International Development, UK
When Bangladesh hosted a meeting of the 18 countries most vulnerable to climate change recently they were pressing for two things. Firstly, for rich nations to provide the funds they have promised to the countries that have contributed the least but are suffering the most from climate change, and secondly to ‘showcase some of the most innovative adaptation strategies already in place in vulnerable countries’.
I recently returned to Bangladesh to see for myself this innovation in action. I travelled with CARE International UK to the Haor region of North East Bangladesh, where the land on which people depend on is under water for eight months a year.
Local people designing local solutions
CARE Bangladesh was the first development agency to design ‘community based adaptation’ models to address climate change back in 2002. This model is essentially about local people designing local solutions to cope with increased flooding. The interventions range from people growing pumpkins on vertical frames rather than on the waterlogged ground, to agricultural companies working with NGOs to develop more saline resistant seeds. Livelihoods are changing too – people can’t sell chickens because there is no land for them to feed, on so they are turning to ducks and geese instead – and as the staff of CARE Bangladesh told me, ‘ducks float, chickens don’t!’
This community led approach has a positive impact in improving the very poorest people’s ability to engage with local governance structures and local elites, thereby further increasing their security to the climate change threat. It’s not only men that lead the village development committees – the one I visited was chaired by a woman. Indeed, 653 women in the Haor region have now become involved in local politics, further enabling them to access services, including vital flood defences. Other successes have included securing the right to fish in a river where the local population had been prevented from doing so for the last 30 years. People are also developing their own ‘village savings schemes’, - they literally start by saving a handful of rice each week until they have enough to sell, and then use the cash to start saving. Less dependence on money lenders is vital as communities get further indebted when flooding occurs and food is scarce.
The very poorest working the hardest
These are just a few examples of how the very poorest are working the hardest to innovate, and adapt to the reality of climate change. This year the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies hosted an international conference on community based climate adaptation to showcase and share innovation with other parts of the developing world.
This kind of innovation must be used to turn Bangladesh into a leader in developing a green economy. The hundreds of thousands of rickshaws that line the roads of Dhaka have already switched to natural gas – but so much more is possible with funding and political will.
Yet, some of the big emitters have been stalling the global negotiations and are in danger of starting a race to the bottom in terms of ambition. There has been progress in recent years but these countries must do more to help drive progress in the negotiations on mitigation, finance and adaptation.
Key international players, which have the power to deliver a global solution, must come to Durban prepared and committed to take decisive actions to address climate change and secure a sustainable future for the most vulnerable countries, communities and people.
