Climate change is an everyday reality-- not a distant threat, but its complexity, cloaked in jargon, often alienates the people it impacts most, said Hasin Jahan, Country Director of WaterAid Bangladesh.
“To make adaptation meaningful, we must internalise climate action, embed it into national planning, and empower locally led responses,” she said at a national consultation held at a hotel in Dhaka on Monday.
The outcomes of the People’s Adaptation Plans—locally led climate adaptation strategies for water and sanitation in 106 low-income communities across 17 wards of Chattogram—were presented at the event.
The consultation, facilitated by WaterAid Bangladesh and Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK) with support from the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) and the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), aimed to inform the World Bank-financed Chattogram Water Supply and Sanitation Project (CWSIP).
More than 60 stakeholders, including representatives from Chattogram WASA, Chattogram City Corporation, Local Government Division, British High Commission and civil society, attended the event to review the findings, offer feedback and help finalise the adaptation plan.
The People’s Adaptation Plans were developed through climate risk profiling and participatory assessments in vulnerable neighbourhoods.
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The process, led by community members and facilitated by WaterAid and DSK, drew on scientific data provided by the Chattogram University of Engineering and Technology (Cuet), and had official backing from CCC and CWASA.
This locally led initiative, spearheaded by the communities themselves, has produced targeted plans that address their unique vulnerabilities, organisers said.
These plans have been reviewed and refined through multiple ward and city-level consultations.
Dr M Feisal Rahman, Country Manager of GCA Bangladesh, said the Global Hub on Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) is working to connect community-developed plans like these to funding through international financial institutions under the Adaptation Acceleration Programme.
“Although parts of the People’s Plans will be implemented under the CWSIP project, I urge all city authorities—CWASA, City Corporation and Chattogram Development Authority—to embed these plans into your annual development planning,” he said.
Md Fazlur Rahman, Additional Secretary of the Water Supply Division under the Local Government Division and Managing Director of Dhaka WASA, emphasised the urgency, saying, “We are responsible for climate change—our consumerism drives it. In the WASH sector, which is critically important, we can’t afford to wait until it’s too late. We must be proactive, shift our mindset, and step up before we reach the point of no return.”
He also called on WaterAid to share the findings with all WASAs using a national coordination platform.
ABM Feroz Ahmed, Livelihood Adviser and Deputy Team Leader for Climate Change and Environment at the British High Commission Dhaka, said the lessons from the People’s Plans could support the Government of Bangladesh’s Locally Led Adaptation Framework and its forthcoming National Urban Policy.
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Chattogram City Corporation’s CEO Sheikh Mohammed Tauhidul Islam acknowledged the absence of a dedicated research and development wing at CCC.
“This kind of in-depth, community-led assessment will help guide our future service delivery in low-income communities. We are committed to incorporating solutions identified in the People’s Adaptation Plans into our next annual development plan,” he said.