Observing World Day of Social Justice

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Mohammad Simon Rahman The international community observes today (February 20) as the World Day of Social Justice, which is an annual event of the United Nations (UN). The day is observed to encourage communities worldwide to realise how social justice is directly linked with and can make an impact on poverty alleviation. It also focuses on the goal of achieving full employment and support for social integration. As for Bangladesh and other developing countries, which are the most vulnerable to climatic hazards, their theme while celebrating this day should be highlighting climate justice. The concept of climate justice brings recognition to the perception that the countries which are least responsible for climate change ironically experience its greatest impacts. With extensive use of fossil fuel for rapid growth in diversified sectors, the first world countries are gradually sending blankets of green house gases (GHG) in the atmosphere of earth, heating the planet in the process and thus contributing to climate changes and increased amount of vulnerability to many communities. One of the most alarming impacts of climatic change is the rise in sea level. Considering that half of the world population lives near coastal areas, rise in sea level is a serious concern for the world. This vulnerability applies to Bangladesh as well due to its geographical proximity to the Bay of Bengal. So, Bangladesh should intensify its efforts towards international level advocacy initiatives through the global forums to ensure its stake in climate justice. In the first Climate Justice Summit back in 2000, the mission stated: "We affirm that climate change is a rights issue. It affects our livelihoods, our health, our children and our natural resources. We will build alliances across states and borders to oppose climate change-inducing patterns and advocate for and practise sustainable development." If we consider the Bangladesh context, the extreme climatic events have intensified over the last decade. Despite the growing level of resilience in our communities to these climate hazards thanks to relentless efforts from the government and non-government entities, it is fact that these communities are suffering through losing their land, their livelihood, their agricultural practices and the list will go on as the climate change impacts are leaving their long-term mark on their lives. People living in the coastal region of Bangladesh, are the worst climate change victims as their life has gone down a downward spiral due to the impacts of climate change. With the projected rising sea water level over the next few decades, they are in constant threat of losing their living and agricultural land. Meanwhile, the existing agricultural land is turning into land lost as these lands lost their productivity as a result of the aftermath of long-term salinity following the tidal surge and water-logging caused during super cyclones Sidr and Aila. As a result, the communities were affected in more than one ways. Their livelihood and earning options have been dented and mostly the people migrated and those who stayed back, have been competing among themselves for the limited and lowly alternative income generating opportunities like working in shrimp farms, daily labor or risking their lives to wildlife and dacoits while making a livelihood in the forests. This 20 February, the world will rise together to ensure social justice with the same goal, as the governments made a commitment to promote social justice at national, regional and international levels to achieve "a society for all". Along the same line, Bangladesh should promote 'climate justice for all' at international stages and should combine with other climate change affected countries to take a stand against the questionable concepts like carbon trading or climate insurance. Instead of selling the carbon emission rights to the industrial super powers, the affected nations instead should urge them to reduce their ratio of emission. Similarly, the burden of climate insurance might be a government agenda to be considered for the countries which are directly exposed to the climate change impacts, but the countries largely responsible for inflicting these climate changes on planet earth should come forward and take responsibility to take their stake in this climate insurance scenario and be accountable for any future loss and damage through natural disasters as a result of climate change. We should take this opportunity to promote a modified concept of 'a safer society for all' at the community level as well while celebrating the occasion of World Day of Social Justice. Bangladesh has set the bar high in terms of community based disaster resilience and climate change adaptation through ensuring a sustainable approach. In the disaster prone and vulnerable areas of the country, we can intensify initiatives from the government and non-government level to sensitize communities about the fact that they are the first responders in an emergency scenario; and they are the ones who should take lead in ensuring 'a safer society for all'. It is time the community members across the country realized that they have to come forward and work together to build a disaster resilient future. We know about the vicious of poverty and how a disaster can drag a community back by damage and destruction. So disaster preparedness and risk reduction initiatives at the community level can help them set a culture of safety; and thus, ensure eradication of poverty through community participation. Mean-while, the government should plan ahead and mainstream disaster risk mitigation measures into its development plans so that any step towards development is not held back by a future disaster, and thus affect the community members. The private sector has a large role to play in this regard and these organizations should ensure funding in implementation of such initiatives. To celebrate this year's World Day of Social Justice, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said in his official message that, "As we seek to build the world we want, let us intensify our efforts to achieve a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable development path built on dialogue, transparency and social justice." The world will never be the world we need unless we have similar beliefs and work together to achieve that. We, the world as one society, have to ensure that the 'lesser' nations have their voice heard and their rights ensured. s_r575@yahoo.com