Published: 01:27 AM, 23 November 2025
The Future Is Local: Strengthening Union Parishads for a Climate-Resilient Bangladesh
Mahiul Kadir
As world leaders, scientists, and activists gather at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, to talk about cutting carbon and building climate resilience, Bangladesh’s story cannot be ignored. For us, climate change isn’t a debate—it’s real life, every day.
Last month, I had the chance to moderate a discussion with experts from government, academia, and civil society. The question was simple but urgent: How can Union Parishads—the country’s lowest tier of local government—drive climate-resilient development?
The numbers are staggering. According to the IPCC, Bangladesh is one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries. Disasters cost over US$3 billion every year and affect more than 6.3 million people. In 2024 alone, rising temperatures cost nearly US$1.8 billion—0.4% of our GDP.
But these figures only tell part of the story. Behind them are human lives. Each day, about 2,000 Bangladeshis move to Dhaka—not for opportunity, but because climate change has taken their homes and livelihoods.
Take Jerina Khatun from Bhola, now living in a Dhaka slum. “I dream of going back,” she says, “but my village no longer exists.” Or Nazrul Islam from Gaibandha, who lost his farmland to floods and now pedals a rickshaw in the city. “I used to grow food for others,” he says, “now I struggle to feed my own.”
These aren’t stories of war—they are stories of climate displacement, quietly eroding security, culture, and dignity.
This is where Union Parishads (UPs) can make a real difference. Being the closest government link to rural communities, they know which embankments are weak, which villages lack food security, and which families are being left behind. But right now, their potential is underused—because they lack funding, training, and a strong voice in national climate planning.
Empowering UPs means giving them the tools to turn national and global commitments—like the Paris Agreement—into action that helps local people.
In Dakop, Khulna, salinity is destroying crops and contaminating freshwater. Women and girls walk miles for water, facing harassment and exhaustion. UPs can help—by installing safe water points, involving women in planning, and funding climate-smart livelihoods.
True resilience requires inclusion. When UPs engage women, youth, indigenous people, and marginalized households, climate solutions work better for everyone.
Even small examples show this works. Each year, fisher families lose income during the seasonal hilsa ban. A proactive UP could provide temporary support, protecting both people and ecosystems. That’s what a just, local climate transition looks like. But UPs face several challenges: they do not receive enough funding for climate adaptation and disaster preparedness, their technical skills and human resources are limited, planning is often top-down and ignores local knowledge, and weak accountability reduces public trust.
To address these challenges, Bangladesh must direct more climate funds to Union Parishads, train local officials in climate planning, data management, and gender-responsive adaptation, include UPs in national climate coordination, and ensure transparency so that funds reach the communities who need them most
Empowering UPs isn’t just bureaucracy—it’s a moral duty. Families like Jerina’s and Nazrul’s deserve to adapt where they live, not be forced to leave home.
Locally led adaptation reduces migration, strengthens rural economies, and builds national resilience. It’s the same community spirit that built cyclone shelters and early warning systems—and it can now drive climate governance.
As COP30 pushes for a fair and inclusive climate transition, Bangladesh must champion local leadership. If properly resourced, Union Parishads can turn vulnerability into resilience—and despair into opportunity.
The time for pilot projects is over. The time for real, systemic change is now. Empowering Union Parishads is not just smart policy—it is Bangladesh’s path to a resilient, fair, and prosperous future.
Mahiul Kadir writes on contemporary global
phenomena including climate
issues. He can be reached at [email protected]
