FIVDB USA staff presented on FIVDB’s work to mitigate and respond to climate change in Bangladesh at the United Nations Day celebration in St. Louis, MO. United Nations Day, celebrated annually by United Nations Associations across the world, commemorates the anniversary of the United Nations. This year’s theme, “Our Planet. Our Future,” recognizes the UN’s declaration that the climate crisis is the defining issue of our time and highlights the role of United Nations members in preventing, mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Rising sea levels, increasingly frequent and severe storms, and dramatic flooding due to increased rainfall are just some of the reasons many scientists have deemed Bangladesh “ground zero” of climate change.  As shared at the UN Day event by Kate Curoe, program assistant for FIVDB USA, climate change most severely impacts vulnerable populations such as women, children, older adults, people with disabilities, and people living in poverty. In Bangladesh and beyond, housing and food security are at imminent risk due to climate change-related destruction of homes and farmland. Climate experts predict that by 2050, rising sea levels will submerge some 17% of the nation’s land and displace about 20 million people.

FIVDB is helping communities across Bangladesh to respond to, prepare for and adapt to the effects of climate change. In the northern Haor and Char regions of Bangladesh, which suffer regularly from floods and droughts, FIVDB established 25 climate smart villages and supported the development of community-based emergency plans to foster community preparedness and food security. FIVDB staff additionally support and implement climate resilient agriculture technologies such as sack gardening, floating gardens, hybrid rice farming and duck farming. FIVDB has also planted 4,500 trees in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps to offset the deforestation and land erosion exacerbated by tree-clearance to generate firewood and shelter for refugees.

Following FIVDB’s presentation and photo gallery, FIVDB USA’s very own Sadhana Matheswaran performed a moving dance about the impacts of climate change – and climate inaction – using Bharatanatyam, a classical southern Indian dance. You can catch a preview of Sadhana’s dance, along with other highlights from the event, in the United Nations Association’s video wrap-up of the UN Day event here.  

FIVDB USA thanks the United Nations Association of St. Louis for the opportunity to highlight the impacts of climate crisis already underway. To read more about FIVDB’s initiatives to support climate resilience in Bangladesh, please visit our programs webpage.

FIVDB USA is a 501c3 organization in St. Louis, MO and international affiliate of Friends in Village Development Bangladesh.