Satkhira Climate Advocacy Forum has raised demands for specific commitments for the development of coastal people to include in the election manifestos of different political parties to address the harmful effects of climate change on the eve of 12th National Parliament Election. All the speakers of this dialogue stated that due to the harmful effects of climate change, coastal areas will become depopulated in someday. In this situation, special political commitments are importantly needed to protect the life and livelihood of coastal people.
Dialogue on ‘Manifesto of Coastal People’ held on 07, October 2023 at Satkhira Quraishi Food Park, Satkhira organized by Satkhira Climate Advocacy Forum with the cooperation of LEDARS. The dialogue was addressed respectively by Mr. Abu Ahmed, Vice President of Bangladesh Awami League’s Satkhira District, Mr. Habibur Rahman Habi, Joint Convener of Bangladesh District Jatiyatabadi Dal, Satkhira, Ms. Farida Akhter Beauty, Women Secretary of District Jatiyatabadi Dal, Mr. Ashrafuzzaman Ashu, General Secretary of District Jatiya Party, Satkhira, Mr. Idris Ali, Organize Secretary of Central Committee of JASAD, Mr. Obaides Sultan Bablu, President of JASAD District Committee, Mr. Abul Hossain, President of CPB, Satkhra, Mr. Nityanand Sarkar, Coordinator of BASAD, Satkhra, Mr. Munsur Rahman, General Secretary of Workers Party, Satkhira and Mr. Ali Noor Khan Babul, President of Gono Forum of Satkhira.
The dialogue was presided over by Principal Mr. Abdul Hamid, Convener of Satkhira Climate Advocacy Forum and was moderated by Mr. Madhab Chandra Dutta, Member Secretary of the Forum. Mr. Mohon Kumar Mondal, Executive Director of LEADERS displayed the plight of coastal people through multimedia presentation. He said that the government needs to take required initiatives under a grand plan to resolve the crisis that the people of the coastal region are facing due to climate change. Besides, Mr. Momtaz Aahmed, President of Satkhira Press Club, Advocate Mr. Azad Hosain Belal, Convener and Advocate Abul Kamal Azad, Member Secretary of District Citizen Committee, Ms. Laila Parvin Sejuti, Editor of Daily Patradoot, Ms. Josna Dutta, general Secretary of Bangladesh Mohila Parishad, Satkhira, Professor Dr. Dilara Begum, Member of District Citizen Committee, Satkhira, Mr. Sorifullah Kaysar Sumon, Journalist, Mr. Ramkrisna Chakraborti, Ms. Amina Bilkis Moyna and many others participated in this dialogue.
In the dialogue, all speakers urged to include their specific demands in the manifesto of the political party in the upcoming 12th National Parliament Election for the development of the coastal people. These are includes 1. Formation of Coastal Development Board 2. Permanent provision of safe drinking water 3. Undertaking a house a shelter construction project 4. Declaring South West coastal areas as disaster prone areas 5. Protect the Sundarbans, protection of the coast and 6. Reconstruction of permanent embankment and repair of fragile switch gates. In the dialogue, the coastal victims Ranjan Raptan, Parul Akhtar, Habibullah Ghazi shared their experiences of their sufferings different coastal crises and their transition and raised their specific demands to include in government’s election manifesto.
In the dialogue, the speakers also emphasized about the adaptation processes that should be addressed to deal with the harmful effects of climate change. In future, the interests of the coastal people who are at risk of disaster should be given priority in taking up different government projects. For this reason, all the representatives from civil society strongly demanded to include specific promises in the election manifesto of different political parties in the upcoming 12th National Parliament Election.
