DU Correspondent :
An international conference on ‘Water Security and Climate Change: Local Knowledge, Global Perspectives’ was held on Saturday at the Nawab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Building of Dhaka University.
The conference was organized by the Department of Anthropology of the university with the funding of ‘Climate Change Trust’ and in the support of DU’s ‘Center for Culture and Resilience Studies’.
The conference was chaired by Dhaka University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Niaz Ahmed Khan and was addressed virtually as Chief Guest by Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Advisor to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. The event was addressed as special guests by Gazi Md. Waliul Haque, Managing Director of Bangladesh Climate Change Trust, Professor Dr. Zahidul Islam, Assistant Director of WSCC Research Project and Vice Chancellor of Dhaka International University, and Professor Dr. Taiyabur Rahman, Dean of DU’s Faculty of Social Sciences and as keynote speakers by Dr. Ainun Nishat, Director of BRAC University’s ‘Center for Climate Change and Environmental Research’.
The event was addressed as special guests by Professor Madhusudan Subedi of School of Public Health, Pathan Academy of Health Sciences, Nepal, and Dr. Jablan Adane, Water Program Associate, Water Resources Institute, Africa. The conference convener Dr. Tarek Ahmed, Director of the Center for Culture and Resilience and Professor Hasan Shafi, Director of of Research Project, WSCC, delivered the opening speech.
The speakers at the event discussed the impact of climate change on Bangladesh and how Bangladesh’s knowledge in solving these problems can help solve global change problems.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Advisor to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, highlighted the reality that women in the coastal areas of Bangladesh are suffering from severe water shortages and called for ensuring climate justice, technical assistance and minimum financial assistance at the international level.
She said that women are the main providers of water in the family. But there are areas on the coast where women do not get enough water to bathe for three to four days in a row. They have to walk kilometers after kilometers to bring safe drinking water to their families, which wastes their time and leaves their children in an unsafe environment at home.
The advisor said, “Coastal girls are terrified of menstruation. Many take birth control pills and menstruate only once every two to three months, simply because they cannot keep themselves clean due to lack of water. Complications such as e-eclampsia are increasing among pregnant women, which has now become a common problem there.”
Rizwana Hasan said, “ Donor countries are not fulfilling their international commitments regarding climate change mitigation, adaptation and compensation. Despite the promise of new and additional financial assistance, in reality many countries are burdening themselves with debt. As a result, they are having to borrow to deal with suffering that is not the creation of vulnerable countries like Bangladesh – which is a ‘double punishment’, the speakers commented.”
Regarding Bangladesh’s water security, she said, “As the country is a ‘lower riparian’ with low flows of all rivers, the distribution of water in border rivers is involved in international politics. Although upstream countries are reluctant to provide water when needed, they inject excess water during the rainy season, which makes the flood situation worse. Water shortages occur during the dry season. Although the 1997 United Nations Convention on Trans-Boundary Water Management will come into effect in 2024, many upstream countries have not yet signed it. Although Bangladesh has not yet joined this convention, it has already joined another European-centric UN convention on water distribution, which could provide a new platform for international discussions in the future.”
He also said, “What is happening in the Himalayas or what is happening in the Ganges basin due to the impact of climate change is affecting cross-border countries equally. Most countries in South Asia are at risk of soon becoming ‘waterless countries’. If a country runs out of water, its people will be forced to cross borders in search of water – which will create a regional security risk. Therefore, regional coordination in water management is essential.”
The advisor said, “the Bangladesh government has undertaken various projects for rainwater harvesting and river and canal restoration. Small-scale, low-cost desalination plants are being launched on the coast, where local women will manage them.”
She warned that there is a limit to adaptation and said, “If developed countries do not take timely and effective mitigation measures, no amount of money will be able to help vulnerable countries adapt. No amount of money can compensate for the loss of large areas of land or the disappearance of countries like the Maldives.”
“Today, it is not just a question of water security, it is a question of water equity. Climate justice cannot be achieved without changing the development paradigm, consumption patterns and international commitments,” she added.
DU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Niaz Ahmed Khan said, “I hope that some common questions related to climate change will be answered from this conference. Dhaka University always comes first in any crisis and will come first in this climate crisis as well.”
Keynote speaker Professor Dr. Ainun Nishat said that Bangladesh’s contribution to climate change is 0.47% and the main culprits are China and USA.
