The members of Shyamnagar Upazila Climate Advocacy Forum have demanded that the newly elected government take integrated actions for the development of coastal people to deal with the effects of climate change. They said in their statement that due to the negative effects of climate change, coastal areas will eventually become depopulated. In this situation, the government needs to take special steps to protect the livelihoods of the coastal people.
This demand was raised at the half-yearly coordination meeting of the Shyamnagar Upazila Climate Advocacy Forum in collaboration with LEDARS on February 18. The program was presided over by Master Nazrul Islam, a valiant freedom fighter and President of the forum. The Vice-President of the forum valiant freedom fighter Debiranjan Mondal, valiant freedom fighter Dr. Ali Ashraf, Secretary Ranjit Kumar Barman, Manabendra Debnath, Chandrika Banerjee, Tapan Kumar Mandal, GM Abdur Rashid Gazi, Lipika Roy, Shahana Hamid, and many others were also present in the meeting.
Highlighting the current state of the coast in the meeting, the speakers said that the climate crisis is a threat to humanity. Therefore, it is necessary to take effective initiatives of the newly elected government to face the challenge of climate change. The speakers also said that the adaptation process should be increased to deal with the harmful effects of climate change. In the future, the interests of the coastal people who are at risk of disaster should be given priority in taking up government projects. For this reason, the speakers told the newly elected government to come forward to protect the coast. Besides, an action plan of the forum is made for the next 6 months. The forum hopes that the plan will play a role in protecting the rights of the coastal people.
It is mentionable that LEDARS also supported to organize half-yearly coordination meeting of Assasuni Climate Advocacy Forum on 12 February 2024 and Koyra Climate Advocacy Forum on 13 February 2024 where the members demanded special consideration for the protection of the south-western coast to the newly elected government.
