Rights groups have called on COP31 to prioritise the implementation of existing climate commitments over new pledges, ensure adequate and accessible grant-based climate finance, and provide dedicated long-term funding for women farmers.
They also called for fulfilling the commitment to triple adaptation finance, ensuring that loss and damage funding reaches affected people quickly and directly, and providing finance and technology transfer to support a just transition away from fossil fuels.
The demands were raised at a seminar jointly organised by EquityBD, BCJF, COAST Foundation, AVAS, Bindu and Street Child at the CIRDAP Auditorium in Dhaka on Thursday.
Speakers stressed that women farmers must be recognised as independent producers and economic actors, rather than merely as a vulnerable group, and given meaningful roles in local adaptation planning and agricultural decision-making.
They highlighted the growing risks faced by women farmers, including difficulties accessing safe water, security, technology and healthcare, alongside losses in agricultural production and income.
They called for tracking how much adaptation finance reaches women farmers and assessing its impact on production, income, control over resources, losses, labour and time burdens, and adaptive capacity. They also demanded equal access to productive resources, technology and markets, integrated action on salinity, and equal pay for women agricultural workers.
Presenting the keynote paper, M A Hasan, head of climate change at COAST Foundation, outlined the issues surrounding climate change, agriculture and women's rights.
Dr Md Akter Hossain Khan, chief seed technologist of the Seed Wing under the Ministry of Agriculture, said grassroots organisations should unite to present their demands to the ministry. The government should also establish small-scale local cold storage facilities, while climate-resilient seeds were being developed and promoted for wider adoption.
A K M Jasimuddin, president of the Association of Development Agencies in Bangladesh (ADAB), said Bangladesh's representatives on the COP negotiating team needed to be more vocal and assertive.
Although Bangladesh's economy is agriculture-based, development planning has not been centred on agriculture, with an emphasis instead on quantitative results, he said.
Professor Mohammad Ali of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University questioned whether carbon trading, in the name of climate action, was effectively legitimising continued greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries.
Rahima Sultana Kajol, executive director of AVAS, said women farmers must have meaningful participation, leadership and decision-making power in local adaptation planning and agricultural decisions.
Imtiaz Ridoy, country lead of Street Child Bangladesh, said existing policies did not adequately recognise women farmers as a distinct group.
He proposed introducing a one-stop service for women farmers at the upazila level under the Department of Agricultural Extension, enabling them to access services and support from different government departments through a single platform.
Syed Aminul Haque, coordinator of EquityBD, called for allocating at least 50 percent of climate finance to adaptation, supported by strong evidence of effective use and successful adaptation initiatives in Bangladesh.
He also stressed the need for a bottom-up approach to climate policies and strategies to ensure that local needs are reflected in planning and financing.
The seminar was moderated by Mostafa Kamal Akand, director of COAST Foundation. It was attended by representatives of civil society organisations, youth groups and the media, as well as women farmers, including Nur Nahar Begum from Kuakata, Rina Begum from Satkhira, Kalpana Rani and Najma Begum.