Adopting policies to build a climate-resilient society

Bangladesh is placed among the world's top 10 climate-vulnerable nations, thanks to its geomorphological low-lying deltaic plain and exposure to severe floods, cyclones and encroachment by the sea on its coastal region. Evidently, measures to adapt to climate change impacts have been among the key policy priorities of the successive governments. As part of the process, Bangladesh prepared and submitted its National Adaptation Plan (NAP) for 2023-2030 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to build a climate-resilient nation.
To address the climate-related issues impacting the country, academicians and researchers of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), a public research body and think tank, recently came up with their research findings at the organisation's 'Annual Conference on Development'. Notably, its research focused on adoption of resilient measures so far undertaken, their successes and existing gaps. As part of the discussion event, researchers presented different papers during the academic sessions dealing with various issues, including, for instance, adoption of clean cooking fuel such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and its positive effect on the environment and public health. It would be worthwhile to note that adoption of clean cooking fuels was one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-7. But despite its positive qualities, according to the World Bank (WB), clean fuels including LPG were not accessible to 72 per cent of Bangladesh's population. Worse yet, in South Asia, Bangladesh ranked the lowest so far as accessibility of the population to clean fuels goes. The majority of the population, especially in the countryside and the semi-urban areas, have been compelled to burn traditional fuels such as wood, jute sticks, leaves, twigs and branches of trees emitting carbon to the detriment of environment and public health.
So, as suggested in the relevant research papers at the said discussion event courtesy of the BIDS, it is incumbent on the government to adopt a consolidated policy to ensure the public's access to clean energy such as LPG and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) taking into consideration the demand and supply aspects of those clean fuels. Since climate-driven internal migration of the population is another major area of the policymakers' concerns, the BIDS-sponsored studies have also shed fresh light on the issue. It has been found that rather than the sudden shocks from cyclones and flash floods, the slow-onset shock like river erosion remains the major driver of internal migration of the population. It has been found that in the coastal areas, in particular, among the victims of river erosion, close to 27.50 per cent of the completely relocated people are members of entire households. Also, like river erosion, drought has been found to be another major driver of the internal migration. Regardless of the types of migration, the displaced households have invariably been found to face economic challenges that compel the female members of the victims to engage in income-generating activities. As of climate-impacted people's choice of varieties of crops including those, for example, tolerant of submergence, drought or salinity, interventions from the government would be required to build target population's confidence in adoption of the types of crop best suited to the climate condition in question.
In the industry sector, it has been observed that climate pressures such as heat stress are proving to be a major risk for, especially those working in the apparel industries. So, to survive the challenges before the apparel industries emerging from climate hazards, the government would be advised to come up with adequate support. This is not to say that members of the peasantry as well as others including manual labourers exposed to the extreme heat during summer, should be left to brave the elements. To be fair, along with the government, entire society needs to be made aware of and engaged in the efforts towards adapting to the emerging climate-related issues.