Saleemul Huq is Director of the International Center for Climate Change and Development at Independent University, Bangladesh. He writes with authority about the unfolding climate change narrative in his country, and the world. On January 2, 2019 he expressed his concerns in the Daily Star that 2030 is now just over a decade away.
The Science of Adaption During Unfolding Climate Change
Saleemul is concerned climate change adaption is difficult to measure, and controversial because the nations are unable to agree. He thinks this process will evolve through assessing current impacts, and evaluating future developments in the light of climate resilience.
Saleemul calls the third phase that follows transformational adaption, although he admits the meaning of this is vague. He has in mind modifying our behavior so that, if anything, the world is better off. This is despite the unfolding climate change being partly beyond our control.
Practical Examples of Saleemul Huq’s Approach
An example of the first phase would be preventing more informal housing in flood-prone areas. Alternative solutions would at the very least need to be climate neutral. Moreover new roads, bridges, airports and harbors would have to be able to withstand catastrophic weather.
Finally the people of Earth – that’s you and we – must adapt our own behavior to this unfolding climate change too. The thrust of Saleemul’s message is we need to take a holistic approach. We cannot pick away at pain points like limiting flooding of coastal areas. Those of us not affected yet, should start behaving as if we already were.
This could include helping pay for migrant-friendly new towns away from the Bangladeshi coast. “Then young girls and boys from coastal areas can be educated and skilled up to get better paying jobs in towns, rather than becoming farmers and fishers like their parents,” he says. And scraping an existence just in order to survive.
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Preview Image: Uttra Lake, Dhaka, Bangladesh
