Project Khulna

From Global to Local: The Challenge of Climate Change Refugees in Khulna, Bangladesh

“We are here [Tupera Taltola slum, Khulna] simply because of the flood… There was heavy rainfall. Hens, ducks, doors, furniture - everything got smashed. We were starving. We had no choice but to move… I am not sure how many families left the village, but a lot of them have done so. I may not

return to the village. I have no place to live in. The house is not safe. There will be more floods in the future”. - Haowa Begum, Bangladesh (Environmental Justice Foundation, 2012)

Written by: Laura Kent (Indigenous Village Leader) , Atish Chandra(Local Citizen), Kai Ruangroj(Finance Minister), Linnea Bodegård (Human Rights Activist), Katarzyna Matysiak

(Environmental Activist), Javad Ghanei (NGO Founder) & Görkem Gömeç (Engineering Consultant)

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Table of ContentsIntroduction:...............................................................................................................................................3

Action Plan................................................................................................................................................3

Cultural Capital: Indigenous village leader................................................................................................4

Social Capital: NGO Founder....................................................................................................................6

Physical Capital - Engineering Consultant................................................................................................8

Human Capital: Human Rights Activist.....................................................................................................9

Natural Capital: Environmental Activist and Scientist..............................................................................11

Human Capital – Local citizen in the Khulna region................................................................................13

Economic Capital: Finance Minister........................................................................................................14

Character Relations.................................................................................................................................16

Conclusions.............................................................................................................................................18

Global Perspective:..............................................................................................................................19

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Introduction: Bangladesh contributes little to global greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to the developed

countries, however is one of the most vulnerable to climate change. It is situated at the intersection of

three river basins and “due to flat deltaic topography with low elevation, it is prone to a multitude of

climate-related events such as floods, droughts, tropical cyclones and storm surges” (Rawlani &

Sovacool, 2011, p. 846). This coupled with a high population density - particularly in mega cities such

as Dhaka and Chittagong - makes Bangladesh particularly vulnerable to climate crises.

Khulna city is situated in the district of Khulna; division is located in the south-west of

Bangladesh; is the biggest city in the division. Today, the division of Khulna is one of the places in the

world who suffers from rising sea levels as a result of global warming. Khulna division is now affected

by a 5.18 mm/year rise in the sea level, however it may reach to 85 cm by 2050 in total. It is already

facing severe salinity problem both in water and soil (Shamsuddoha et. al. 2007) which definitely has

huge impact on the agriculture-oriented livelihoods of people in the region for instance shrimp farms

will be threatened in Khulna. (Ahmed, 2006)

The main themes of this report will look at the connections between the local and global

solutions and emphasise the complexity of the issue of climate change refugees in Khulna. We will see

that, without global awareness of the challenges being faced in Bangladesh and global action, local

solutions to will not work. The report will begin by outlining an ‘action plan’ created with the input of

all our roleplay characters and will focus on local solutions and resilience as a way to reduce climate

change refugees.

Bangladesh continues to be a ‘Low Income Developing Country’; poverty, population growth

and political conflicts have caused lasting problems. Today however, Bangladesh needs to tackle these

problems, especially in the context of climate change, and this needs to be done sooner rather than later.

What does the future of Bangladesh look like?

Action Plan Our report will focus around one solution area: local adaptations. Although we discuss many

solution areas in this report, we feel local adaptations in the solution area in need of most focus. Stern

(2006, pgvii) gives a strong argument as to why local adaptations are especially important in this climate

change crisis; ‘Adaptation to climate change - that is, taking steps to build resilience and minimise costs

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- is essential. It is no longer possible to prevent climate change that will take place over the next two to

three decades, but it is still possible to protect our societies and economies from its impacts to some

extent - for example, by providing better information, improved planning a more climate resilient crops

and infrastructure (...). Adaptation efforts, particularly in developing countries, should be accelerated’.

Therefore, to solve the problem of increasing climate change refugees and to make local

communities more resilient we propose the following five steps:

1 Create workshops and campaigns to raise awareness of the obligations of developed countries.

2 Encourage research into local adaptation solutions and technologies by proposing increased

financial support from governments and other aid institutions.

3 Implementation of ‘platforms’ for residents. Platforms create a space for local communities for

continue traditional agricultural activities and a safer place for communities to live.

4 Create an education programme for local communities about possible new livelihood activities

such as shrimp farming, goat rearing, chicken/duck farming, crab fattening, saline tolerant crops

and handicrafts (Pouliotte et al, 2009, pg42).

5 Develop local institutions and NGOs that will hold the role of evaluating solutions in context

specific areas, continue to develop new skills and act as a platform for different actors to come

together.

Cultural Capital: Indigenous village leader I am leader of a small community based in rural Khulna and I am worried for my village’s

future. Over the last few years we have experienced devastating flooding which has damaged our

homes, animals and land and led to many families moving to the big cities such as Khulna and Dhaka. I

do not want anyone else from the village to be forced to move away from our lands as not only do the

lands act as an important symbol to us of the past generations that have all been able to live here, but

often living standards are even worse in the cities (Mega Cities: Dhaka, 2010). Therefore, I am

motivated to be part of this ‘action plan’ where I can contribute understandings of cultural capital as

'traditions, customs, values, heritage, identity, and history' (Roseland, 2005, pg11).

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The first way I feel I can contribute to solutions is through communication of my villages values

and other understanding of local cultures. Through doing this we might be able to come up with

sustainable solutions that complement more traditional, context specific aspects of our culture and

lifestyle. This is important because if our values and traditions are not taken into account then many

people in my village will feel the solutions are not respectful and may leave for this reason. This will be

crucial aspect in step two of the action plan where solution ideas will be put forward and analysed to see

whether they are worthy and viable in reality.

Another way I feel I can contribute, is by supporting my village using cultural traditions. We can

find comfort in culture and this again emphasises the need for our traditions to be incorporated into any

solution. Here I am arguing that cultural capital is an essential coping mechanism based on social

relationships. This has also been a significant tool in dealing with our situation in the past where many

families have left to go to the cities and had to deal with problems in sanitation, access to clean water,

diseases and decline in well-being compared to lives here in rural Khulna (Mega Cities:Dhaka, 2010).

As an indigenous leader, I wish to be particularly involved with the final action plan step: the

development of local institutions and NGOs as I believe I could help set up these groups which can

complement aspects of our culture and help us cope with a challenge that will continue for many years.

A strong continuing relationship between the different actors in essential for me to feel valued and

continue to work with the other actors in this project.

Finally, I also understand my responsibility, as an village leader, to encourage my community to

be flexible, to participate in solutions and to understand our cultural livelihoods as ‘creative’ (oxford

dictionary, 2012). This is emphasized in theory by Pouliotte et al (2009, pg33) who encourages

'Community-Based Adaptation (CBA), in which the participation and engagement of community

members themselves is viewed as vital in determining the factors that render them vulnerable and the

needs and opportunities for reducing these vulnerabilities'. One of the main problems we have faced as a

community is that our grazing lands become too saline to grow feed for rearing cows or crops for our

own consumption (Pouliotte, 2009). Building more ‘platforms’ is a good way for us to keep some more

essential livelihood activities and is therefore a step welcomed by many people in my village.

Adaptations, such as those outlined in the action plan, shrimp farming goat rearing, chicken/duck

farming, crab fattening, saline tolerant crops and handicrafts, are also very necessary and valid

suggestions of how we could adapt in our community and become more resilient (Pouliotte et al, 2009,

pg42). Education in these new livelihoods, action plan point four, is fundamental as the villages have

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had little education and don’t know how to participate in these new activities. I am confident, as a

village leader, that I can encourage many of the families in my community to take up these adaptations

in order to save many other aspects of our culture.

Social Capital: NGO Founder I am a NGO founder headquartered in Stockholm with offices in Khulna. I’m working on

adaptation measures to mitigate climate change impacts in Khulna mainly in three sectors of education,

adaptive agriculture and local participation. I think that Bangladesh due to its geographical location,

high population density, high poverty rates, and the crucial role of climate on many Bangladeshi people

livelihood (agriculture and fishery) is extremely vulnerable to climate change especially for women and

girls. (Climate Change Cell, 2006, pp. 11, 13, 14)

According to Das, 63 million children in Bangladesh may become socially vulnerable due to climate

change consequences. He lists “loss of parents and family, internal displacement, risk of being

trafficked, loss of property and assets, and lack of educational opportunities” under social vulnerability.

For instance in education sector tropical cyclones from the Bay of Bengal (south of Khulna)

along with storm surges have serious negative consequences on the region. The cyclone SIDR affected

education of more than 100,000 children in 589 schools in 12 districts of the country.

One of my main field of activities in education sector is promoting adaptive measures through

specifying school design and construction, renovating the existing schools to be more robust, making

school and test schedule flexible, considering reserve teachers and educational materials, boat schools,

provision of food, water and medicine stock in schools, putting climate change into curriculum of

teachers and students, public awareness on the necessity of education even during the harsh climate

situation. (Das, 2010, pp. 7-8) I will contribute to create an education programme for local communities;

adults and children about possible new livelihood activities also in parallel with my other field of

activities according to action plan.

The significance of social capital is highlighted when it comes to impacts of climate change on

economic development and well-being (Adger, 2001, p. 4) in this very context, another big impact of

climate change in Khulna is that the large-scale shrimp farming has been becoming less and less

productive in recent years which has had huge economic impacts in the region. As an adaptive measure

and with regard to this fact that Golda shrimp can be grown and rotated with crops on a small scale,

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following the example of the NGO NGF which introduced organic shrimp farming, supported by a

German buyer, I’m advocating shrimp farming in rotation with other crops like vegetables, rice and carp

(Linda Lönnqvist, et al. p. 17) and trying to market in Sweden.

There are also people in Khulna region who are especially more vulnerable than others: disabled

people, Dalit (casteless) and ethnic minorities. Women in southwest Bangladesh (including Khulna) also

have their specific problems. Apart from these problems and according to Lönnqvist and her colleagues,

the government doesn’t properly handle the situation in Khulna.

The reason is found in the University of Khulna’s statement:” the region's political representation

in central government is weak: the region is traditionally underrepresented in budgetary allocations and

in influence. The southwest also has a large proportion of Hindu inhabitants – many of them

disenfranchised Dalit - which reduces its influence with the Muslim majority. Some Cabinet ministers in

the current government are from Khulna division but allegedly their influence is not enough to counter

the long standing side lining of the region.” (Linda Lönnqvist, et al, 2010, p. 18) I will try to highlight

the benefits of local participation in policy making process through lobbying with people in Dhaka.

As an NGO and in line with what I outlined my initiatives in education, agriculture and local

participation sector, I admit the significance of the following measures in Lönnqvist and her colleague's

work through my “Action Plan”:

● Arranging cooperation between organisations and leading networks

● Offering long-term development supports to local NGOs to be more adaptive to climate change

● Financing innovations and innovative practices.

● Sharing clear and interactive information on climate change.

● Promoting local NGOs so that to be considered in national strategies.

● Making connections between local NGOs and global strategies.

● Making connections between local NGOs and other climate change stakeholders, like national or

international campaigns, academic initiatives, training courses and initiatives to promote local

government coordination. (Linda Lönnqvist, et al, 2010, p. 22)

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Physical Capital - Engineering Consultant Physical capital can be explained the collection or the individual parts of material resources such

as equipment, buildings, machinery and other infrastructure that can be used to produce a continuous

future income. To improve the physical capital one should focus on community assets; public facilities,

water and sanitation, a safe, quality housing and adequate infrastructure and telecommunications

(Roseland, 2005). As an engineer consultant, I, Tony Stark, focus on an infrastructural system built to

stop flooding in the rural areas of Khulna. I have graduated from MIT focusing on engineering and

business, and I am in Bangladesh volunteer and an investor.

Even without climate change Bangladesh is in trouble as a result of the yearly effect of

monsoonal flooding increases the run-off from the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers coming

down from the Himalaya. They flood low-lying paddies for several months, sometimes years at a time

and they ferry mountains of silt and sand from far away upstream (Sengupta, 2009). The sediments are

mostly washed out to Bay of Bengal but and old system created by the people living by the stream,

harnessing the dark and rich Himalayan sludge can create some protection against the sea level rise.

Tidal River Management (TRM) has been taking place in the waterlogged, deltaic, and low-lying

areas of Khulna since 1960s under the Pakistani government, with support from the Dutch government

but I want to use this system as an adaptation for climate change, and fight the risk of sea level rise. The

local people used to ‘overflow’ irrigation which uses sedimentation to raise land out of the water. The

technique benefits from tides themselves; they carry out sediment deposits and silt, raising the level of

low-lying lands and reclaiming them for agricultural use. In order for this to happen, an area must be

enclosed by the embankments. The tide is then allowed to reach as far as possible and then return to sea

freely on the outgoing tide. Once the level of the land has risen another area is opened for the process to

be repeated. However, the practice is still to be universally recognised and much advocacy work needs

to be done before it can be tried out elsewhere(Sterrett, 2011).

The “People’s Plan” we have drafted with a wide variety of stakeholders represents the

communities’ needs to restore the river and water bodies of the areas using TRM. These include: a

strategic plan for TRM in the region, an inter-river linking network, revival of so-called ‘dead’ rivers,

and management of canals and waterlogged areas inside permanent embankments. The benefits of the

TRM system include, the formation of new alluvial land in tidal wetlands as a result of sediment

deposits, more conservation of bio-diversity and a return to more ecological balance, enhancing

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livelihoods through agriculture and fisheries; square ponds to cultivate fish and shrimp and mitigation of

climate change induced by sea level rise if sea level rise is kept under 1m or so (Sterrett, 2011).

I also notice that this new embarked land is sometimes found to be too muddy and slushy for

people to safely live on, and the force of the Himalayan rivers can be powerful enough to wash away

newly gained land (Lönnqvist, et al., 2010). There has been also cases where, TRM used illegally to

create freshwater ponds or reclaim farmland, these are “leased” from the District Commissioner – a

practice which the low accountability of government officials. The illegal activities also include cutting

down the stabilising trees from the banks. These trees, which are very important to rehabilitate existing

river flood embankments so that they are fully functional and able to provide the level of security for

which they were constructed.

On the other hand, I have talked with Atiq Rahman of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced

Studies who told me; Bangladesh needs a faster and more effective solution as accretion happens slowly,

while human-induced climate change is coming fast toward Bangladesh. “If you have time to wait, it

will happen,” he told me while adding his country does not have time to wait (Sengupta, 2009).

Human Capital: Human Rights Activist Human Capital is the knowledge, skills and competencies and other attributes embodied in

individuals that facilitates the creation of personal, social and economic well-being. (OECD 2001).

Human capital is formed consciously through training and education and unconsciously through

experience (Ostrom 1993).

My name is Tania Islam and I am active in the world-known organisation Environmental Justice

Foundation as a Bengal human rights activist. My priory work concerns people struggling for the

environment and the rights of them struck by climate change in Bangladesh. I mainly focus on raising

awareness about rights of environmental refugees around the world. One important part of the activity

within EJF is recording information movies and documentaries to spread across the world

(Environmental Justice Foundation, 2011).

As quoted from the book “Toward Sustainable Communities” (2005) by Mark Roseland, human

capital is the asset of a community that consists of the knowledge and skills of people living in the area.

This includes both pure labour and higher educational science. Human capital plays one of the most

important roles in the development of a community. Not only does it provide the competence,

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qualification and skill of building new inventions, ideas and political decisions, it can also act an

essential part of the motivation of creating a sustainable community both socially and environmentally.

In the case of Khulna, Bangladesh and the climate refugees both adaptations amongst the locals

and higher political decisions must be made. Many people of Khulna do not have the possibility to stay

in the area because of today’s climate changes. Some might be able to adapt their daily life to flooding,

stormy weather and salt water pollution but certain parts of the people will undoubtedly be forced to

migrate. The environmental justice foundation says that in 2010 more than 38 million people were

displaced because of disasters caused by climate changes (Environmental Justice Foundation, 2011).

This makes climate refugees the biggest group of refugees in the world.

This text is about the political decisions that have been and can be made in favour for the

inhabitants of Khulna, Bangladesh and other climate refugees of the world.

In 2007, the Bangladeshi finance minister Abdul Muhith claimed to the UN the need for an international

law which comprises climate refugees to be treated equally to refugees fleeing political persecution, as

in the 1951 Geneva Refugee convention (Climate Justice Action, 2012). At the UN COP15 climate

summit in Copenhagen in 2009, the rights of climate refugees was discussed and global civil society

demanded a legal and institutional structuring of the rights of those forced to move as a result of climate

changes (The Guardian, 2009). This law has not yet been put through.

Bangladesh is an underdeveloped country in the south, who have had a low rate of carbon

emissions and has therefore not contributed to the global warming and the rising sea levels in a large

extent. Bangladesh however is one of the countries in the world most severely hit by natural disasters

due to climate change. Further, this injustice is strengthened by the fact that Bangladesh is one of the

poorest and populous countries in the world and suffers a lack of natural and economic resources for the

adaptations in society and displacement of population that is needed to manage climate change. (Richard

Heinberg, 2010) Consequently, it is of great concern that the surrounding world is prepared to help

Bangladesh and other areas in their struggle against global warming. By opening the borders to countries

around the world climate refugees will be given a chance to a new life safe from storms and flooding. It

is only fair that the countries responsible for global warming take their responsibility to help the people

who suffer from heating climate by giving them rights like other refugees. Moreover it is crucial that the

world raises money for a climate fund to help countries in need with economical resources for education

of adaption to the new climate. Also, the surrounding world must be prepared to encourage and finance

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some of the research that must be made on local adaptations and technologies. So that the

implementations of platforms and other solutions can be created. It is important to take into

consideration the importance of everyone working together as a team to make a change. Politicians as

well as NGO’s and other local institutions must, with help from activists as me, keep a good

correspondence for creating a sustainable future.

Natural Capital: Environmental Activist and Scientist The main cause of climate change is carbon dioxide. Human activities (such unlimited burning

of fossil fuels) caused changes in the balanced and natural carbon dioxide cycle. Increasing CO2 in the

atmosphere have a significant impact on what is happening nowadays (WWF, 2012).

Bangladesh is one of those countries who suffer from climate change. The most responsible for

the greenhouse gas emissions are industrialized countries and Bangladesh is responsible at least for their

situation (Bimal Kanti Paul, 2010). The above statement shows the most important conclusion – there is

no good solution at a local level. Previous generations and also our generation didn’t make a good job

when it comes to climate change, let’s mention about unlimited burning of fossil fuels and our

consumption lifestyle. We see the global warming consequences at that time. It is the obligation of each

person in the world to avert negative effects of climate change. Mr.L. Craig Johnstonein in his speech

said: “billions of dollars of prevention is worth trillions of dollars of mitigation” (Mr.L. Craig

Johnstonein, 2008, page 1).

As an environmental activist who has scientific background I would like to increase the

awareness of people around the world, especially in developed countries. They have to realize that they

have a big power, they can affecting the climate and inhibiting its changes. I would like to advise them

how they can reduce their “ecological footprint” and help the world. My role is very important, because

increasing awareness in society can bring good effects in the future. If people will change their

behaviours they will contribute to stop global warming and mitigate the effects of climate change e.g.

hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters.

My aim is to establish cooperation with the German artist Hermann Josef Hack. He is a great

example of person who increases the awareness about climate change. He prepared a lot of projects that

refer to climate change. The most popular are “Climate Refugee Tree”(Hack installed flags on the tree in

Siegburg in Germany that remind passers-by about climate refugees) and “World Climate Refugee

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Camp” ( Hack created model camp consist of about 1000 miniature tents, it was to realize passers-by

about plight of millions of climate refugees). The world needs more of such projects! (Gestalten, 2012).

With help from NGOs I would like to prepare internet and media campaigns which will teach

people how to behave and life in sustainable way. They should e.g.: buy local products, use bike and

public transport instead own cars, stop using fossil fuels and start using more environmentally friendly

sources of energy, start planting trees in their own area, buy products only from companies who have

proper certificates that they don’t hurt our planet (ClimateRefugees.com, 2012).

In accordance with Ramsar Convention more than 2/3 of Bangladesh can be considered as

wetlands (Paul. M. Thompson, 2008). The most characteristic feature of wetlands is rich diversity of

flora and fauna. They also support livelihood of people who are living in Bangladesh. Wetlands provide

e.g. food, nutrition, fish, fuel etc. People in Bangladesh have ignored importance of wetlands, they have

started interfere with nature and they degraded wetlands (due to e.g. accelerated expansion of physical

infrastructure without proper planning, drainage structures and expansion of agriculture, increase of

population and human habitats, urban and industrial pollution of water). Human impact caused a lot of

problems: reduction of fish habitats and its diversity, reduction of characteristic fauna and flora, loss of

natural soil nutrients and water reservoirs, loss in agricultural crops diversity, loss of income from

potential eco-tourism and deterioration of living of inhabitants.

I will try to convince local government to start protecting wetlands in their country, because it

will improve the lives of people in Bangladesh and bring potential financial benefits from ecotourism. I

would like to increase awareness of authorities in Bangladesh about the importance of such areas, they

should create proper wetland management in their country to stop future degradation of wetlands.

Authorities should also prepare sustainable policy and land use patterns, try rehabilitate degraded

wetlands, pay attention to awareness and education (Rahman, M. Mokhlesur, 1995). Due to recultivation

we will gain habitats for endangered flora and fauna species, improvement of water retention and of

course improvement of living standards in this country.

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Human Capital – Local citizen in the Khulna region “… these climate problems are especially tragic for us because we are not responsible for the

warming seas, the rising tide, or for anthropogenic climate change. We are not heavy emitters

and yet we are forced to deal with global warming problems first.” – Local citizen of Kutubdia

(Chowdury, 2012)

I am a local citizen living in the Khulna region and I want to be active in finding solutions to the

increasing vulnerabilities of my village. Local citizens play a large role in overcoming the climate crisis

in Bangladesh, however often when talking about issues of climate change; local citizens are not part of

the conversation. This importance is evident in literature by Rawlani & Sovacool (2011) who state that

“responsiveness to climate change through adaptation has been recognised as necessary to the very

political and economic survival of the country” (p. 846). Therefore I would like to take an active part in

adaptation at a local level.

As a resident of the Khulna region rural life is the only way I know and adaptation should be

explored when dealing with the climate crisis. Bangladesh has already begun the “Community Based

Adaptation to Climate Change through Coastal Afforestation” Program or CBACC-CA. A key focus of

this 5-year $5 million adaptation scheme being funded and implemented by the Government of

Bangladesh, United Nations Development Program, and the Global Environment Facility is to “enhance

the resilience of communities… [and] collecting, sharing and disseminating lessons and knowledge

across the region (UNDP, 2009). Particularly relevant to the coastal communities in the Khulna region is

“Triple F” model of forestry, fisheries and food. Rawlani & Sovacool (2011) write that the model

attempts to “maintain community livelihood and adapt to climate change whilst also integrating

aquaculture and food production” (p. 859). It is important that initiatives such as this provide a

continuous flow of income for local communities.

I feel I could contribute by being involved in step four of the action plan – creating education

programs for local communities. Adaptation measures such as this provide a way in which local citizens

of the Khulna region can continue their way of life to a certain degree, and with the proper education,

training and community leaders it serves as a way of coping with the climate crisis. An example of this

in action is from the “Mega Cities – Dhaka” documentary where it shows a local woman adapting to the

changing climate conditions and informing others in her community (BBC World News, 2009). This

includes making clay ovens which can be used in wet conditions, tightly packing hay so cows can still

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be fed when floodwaters rise and putting plants and trees up above the water level. Adaptation with local

solutions in practice such as shows that the knowledge and competencies of citizens and community

leaders play a large role. I would also like to see money being invested into step three - platforms for

residents which provide safe places where agriculture and community activities can be safely conducted.

When my fellow people from rural communities such as Khulna do decide to move away often

they move to the heavily populated urban slums of Dhaka or Chittagong. A quote from a local woman

living in the Khulna region is, “I couldn’t have this lifestyle in Dhaka so I am better off staying here”

(BBC World News, 2009). A number of issues arise when moving to these large slums due to a lack of

education in rural areas forcing families to pursue a much lower standard of living when moving to the

city. Common issues include child labour (resulting in missing schooling, continuing the poverty cycle)

and waterborne diseases (such as diarrhoea). This is why I want every possible avenue to be pursued

before I am forced to pack up and leave.

The adaptation solutions discussed above provide ways in which local citizens can maintain their

rural way of life. However, with floods and natural disasters projected to get worse in the near future a

range of adaptation measures that cut across all the capitals in this report are needed to build resilience

and effectiveness. There is frustration from local citizens regarding the lack of support from the

developed countries. More involvement should be made from the developed countries as “they produce

disproportionately more greenhouse gases, and developing countries lack resources [alone] to

adequately respond to climatic displacement” (Lange, 2010). Therefore adaptation measures should

continue to be pursued however the developed countries should give greater support to climate refugees

– including greater funding, government support and preferential migration policy.

Economic Capital: Finance Minister As the Finance Minister, I am in charge of the entire budgetary planning of Bangladesh and

responsible for the financial support for activists and their projects. Our country has ever been a low

income country and our gross domestic product was only $110.6 billion USD in 2011 (World Bank,

2012). Clearly, in our current position we cannot handle these situations solely by ourselves. This year

we received a loan from the International Monetary Fund of about one Billion US-Dollars. This amount

is above the money which we actually need but will serve a as buffer for future problems or investments

(IMF, 2012). Also we received a loan of $600 million USD from the World Bank in 2005. In addition,

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we received from the Financial Intermediary Funds, part of the World Bank, since 2006 an amount of

about $190 Million USD. In 2008 were the highest payment with about $33 Million USD and in 2012

the lowest with about $8 Million USD (World Bank, 2012). With all these measurements to help our

nation we can handle these issues but we still need to do more than just to expect that international

organizations and developed countries will help us all the time. In order to generate more money, the

following steps are essential. Empirical measurements have shown that there is a positive relationship

between financial support and economic growth (Dawson, 2008).

In addition, the Solow–Swan growth model delivers the empirical evidence that the standard of

living on a long term run depends on their saving rate and on their population growth. That implicates

that developing countries, on average, grow faster than industrial countries and in a long term run both

converge to each other (Bashar, 2012; Klump, 2007). But what does that mean for us? How can we face

the global challenges of the future? From 1975 to 2004, the average saving rate was 10 per cent.

Compared to other developing countries Bangladesh is below that average. However, since the

beginning of the 1980’s, Bangladesh increased its saving rate from a level less than 5 percent to more

than 17 per cent (Agrawal, 2009). The population of Bangladesh has reached a threshold were it

becomes difficult to plan for a sustainable development (Islam, 1999). In 2007, Bangladesh had a

population of about 150 million and the population will rise to 250 million people later this century.

With this enormous growth the population has also become a question of health. In Bangladesh, “old

people” outnumber “young people” (Stratified, 2008).

Our country has an enormous potential to increase the gross domestic product. We should

increase our primary production, even if it is the biggest sector with about 45% of our Gross Domestic

Product, but there is still potential to grow. With our exponential growth of population, tertiary

production (25%) and secondary sector (30%) can also be increased (economywatch, 2012). Of course,

we cannot hire uneducated people. That is why I will allocate a bigger part of the budget to the

education sector. Not only because the people will then have a better education, but also because we can

employ them in the tertiary sector, which is the weakest of all three sectors. Having a well educated

population, means to have more potential to grow in the economy and to reach a higher standard of

living. If we increase all three sectors we would be able to increase our gross domestic product annually.

This year, we do have a deficit of around 0.4% (tradingeconomics, 2012). In 2012, USA and the

European Countries suffered from the finance and sub-prime crisis, leading to an enormous impact on

our export import balance, because these countries are our strongest trade partners (DataUn, 2012). That

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shows clearly that we depend on other countries and on our trading with them. In addition, our energy

costs will drive us to a higher deficit and we need to import more energy from abroad (Munim, 2010).

In order to fulfil our goals, it is important to improve our export import balance, to reduce our imports

by producing more by ourselves and to connect Bangladesh better to developed countries and

international organizations. At the next annual spring meeting of the IMF, I will try to raise even more

awareness about our situations and projects. With these measures we are on a good way and we looking

into a bright future.

Character Relations In an attempt to foresee the outcomes of our solutions and particularly the ‘action plan’ we need

to evaluate our relationships within the ‘action plan committee’ and see which characters hold the

greatest influence and how these relationships affect the outcomes.

Indigenous village Leader: Working with other actors is sometimes a problem for me as I am

not as well educated and cannot read very well. I also feel my viewpoints are not always valued as they

should be. However, I feel some actors make more effort than others like the ‘local citizen’, ‘NGO

Founder’ and ‘human rights activist’ who work directly with me to come to solutions I think are worthy

of implementation.

Social: As a NGO Founder, I will try to establish and institutionalise the chain of relationships

between local and international NGOs, financing initiatives locally and internationally, marketing

adaptive agricultural products in a way that provide local farmers with incentives on how to adapt their

businesses to climate change and also promoting local representatives lobbying groups in Dhaka.

I will be in a close contact with all other players since, as a NGO founder I’ll naturally be in

contact with; ‘Indigenous Village Leader’ as an influential person who can advocate my initiatives also

as a channel to get feedback of local people, ‘Engineering Consultant’ as a person who can consult with

to find adaptive technological breakthroughs, ‘Human Right Activist’ to promote the right of local

people to be heard in the centre, ‘Environmental Activist’ to consult with on environmental issues,

‘Finance Minister’ to find financing solutions for my initiatives and with the ‘Local Citizen’ to listen to

to understand their concerns and try to promote human capital.

Engineering Consultant: Building the platforms would be a hard job for the engineers but the

hardest part is to form a cooperation. In order to guarantee the land is usable first the engineers need to

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agree with the village leaders and the local citizens. After everything is agreed upon the application

would depend on a supportive NGO to will lobby for funds that will come from the Finance ministry.

Human Rights Activist: As an activist in human rights I consider myself the link between the

local citizen and the more formal roles as the finance minister. I mainly serve as a human rights

defender, working with the citizens informing the politicians and trying to influence or affect them and

their decisions.

Environmental Activist: As an environmental activist I am responsible for increasing

awareness in developed countries about that they have a big influence on global warming nowadays. I

need to prepare different campaigns where I will present the Bangladesh case. I need to cooperate with

local citizen and indigenous village leader. They know the situation better than anyone else. I will gain

reliable sources about situation in their country to present them to the world.

I will also cooperate with them because they can help me convince local authorities about the need to

protect wetlands. I need also a help from finance minister, he can give money to local authorities for

recultivation of wetlands.

Local Citizen: As a local citizen, I see my role to ensure local citizen’s views are included in

wider decisions. I see a link between myself and the human rights activist as I think we can work

together to ensure local views are voiced. The indigenous leader and I can also work together to ensure

local culture is upheld as there are going to be different solutions for the different social groups which

live in the Khulna area. Overall, though sometimes I may not understand complex solutions, I feel local

citizens should be consulted in all decisions as we are the people who have to live in the area and know

day-to-day life the best.

Finance Minister: As the Finance Minister I am responsible for providing money to each

activists and their plans. One of my main task is to finance their projects and make sure that they have

enough resources to implement the and therefore I work more closely with these actors rather than the

local citizens.

From this evaluation of our relationship between with each member in the ‘action plan

committee’ we can see there is a general split between the top nationwide actors, such as the ‘finance

minister’, and the more locally based actors, such as the ‘indigenous village leader’. However, there are

also actors that bridge this gap such as the ‘Human rights activist’ and the ‘NGO founder’. It is crucial to

17

a success of the action plan that all the actors communicate, trust, and respect each other as each actor

has valuable contributions to the problems and solutions. In particular, it is important that local actors

are not undervalued. Samuel Paul (1987, pg15) argues that increased Community Participation (CP) will

not only enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of any developmental project but also empower

citizens, build capacities of local people and finally help share costs of projects. Therefore, with

effective relationships between all the actors, but particularly towards the local actors the ‘action plan’

solution we have put forward can be sustainable in the long term and provide many more benefits to the

communities other than purely protecting them from climate change impacts.

Conclusions This report takes several routes to solving the problem of climate change refugees. These are the

key themes, which have arisen from our individual capitals:

Migration policies

● Reduce rural to urban migration through increased resilience of rural communities through

livelihood adaptations. This relates directly to our action plan.

● Extra funding for infrastructure projects for rural communities to reduce migration.

● More rights for climate change refugees internationally. Same right as political refugees (Lange,

2010). Opening borders and offering asylum.

Management of high density urban areas

● Greater health care and sanitation

● Employment opportunities for unskilled people from rural areas

● Focus on education and reducing child labour - stopping effects of the poverty cycle

● Increasing awareness among Bangladesh inhabitants about importance of natural resources such

as wetlands and forests.

International support

● Wider awareness of obligation of developed countries to support Bangladesh. Support should

include increased funding, government support and preferential migration policy.

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● NGO and government cooperation strategies.

● Increasing awareness about consequences of climate change in developed countries and educate

people that they should change their lifestyle.

Above you can see that the solutions fit into three major categories that relate to the ‘challenge’

at different levels. Firstly, we have looked at how to reduce migration by making rural communities in

the region of Khulna more resilient to sea level rise, and increased flooding. This is the primary focus of

our ‘action plan’ as it tackles the problems of climate refugees from the source. Secondly, we have

discussed the problems created by large scale migration in the urban areas including the city of Khulna

and stressed that the future management of these areas is of key concern. Finally, we have emphasised

the importance of global recognition of the crisis because it is clear that Bangladesh cannot solve it by

itself, but requires involvement from developed countries. This final point was again a key aspect in our

‘action plan’ and the importance emphasised by it being the first step.

There is no single solution but a number of solutions that form a whole. Our ‘action plan’ brings

together what we believe to be the most important elements and provides solutions to many different

aspects of this challenge. Bangladesh’s future is clearly unstable but with the implementation of our

‘action plan’ we hope communities such as in Khulna, become more stable and resilient to climate

change challenges.

Global Perspective:

The primary approach taken in this report, of increasing local resilience, can be applied to many

different contexts and challenges. It is in fact at the heart of ‘sustainability’ in many people’s minds.

Thomas Norrby (2012) argues for a review of relationships and connections between more rural

settlements and cities in Sweden and he recognises the dependence of each area on one another. He

argues more trust is needed and bottom-up projects in rural areas to make the regions as a whole more

sustainable. This view supports the work of Rob Hopkins (2008, pg.n/a) who puts importance on

relocalisation and defines his Transition Approach as ‘one of re-weaving this web, and remaking the

connections which will be needed by a resilient post-oil economy’. We can see then that there is an

abundance of theory supporting a global movement to the local perspective to find a sustainable future

economically but also that can protect communities in crisis as we have seen with the Khulna case. Our

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‘action plan’ then can act as guidelines for many countries, where the ‘local’ perspective needs to be put

in the heart of sustainable development and crisis management projects and policies.

In particular relation to the challenge of climate change and sea level rise, figure 1 below shows

the global extent of people and their connected areas that could be affected by this crisis. Although the

‘action plan’ developed in this report is considered specifically in the context of Khulna, Bangladesh, we

can see from figure 1 that it is also other developing, poorer countries that will be mostly affected by

sea-level rise. Therefore, many of the broader elements in the action plan can be transferred to other

regions and are essential for any solution to be successful. These include:

○ Raising awareness of issue and financial commitments needed

○ Planning and research into creative solutions

○ Local Community Participation and education

○ Cooperation, communication and respect for all actors

○ Creation of institutions for long term monitoring and action

Finally then, we can see how climate change and especially sea-level rise will mean the displacement of millions of people worldwide creating a global management challenge. The adaptation of many communities will be essential and key to this is a focus on building new relationships globally, nationally, and regionally to create more resilient and sustainable communities.

Figure.1: Nicholls, Hoozemans and Marchand (1999)

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