An Inception Meeting of the CCDB PCRCB Project was held on 9 October 2023 at the No- 9 Burigoaliny Union Parishad of Shyamnagar, Satkhira.
Nazrul Islam, Chairman, No- 9 Burigoaliny Union, was present as the president of the meeting. Additionally, Assistant Agriculture Officer Md. Jamal Hossain, Social worker Md. Zillur Rahman, Md. Abdullah Al Baki , UP Member Md. Rabiul Islam, Md. Mahatab Uddin Sarder, Female UP Member Masura Parveen, and Fatima Begum were present as special guests in the meeting.
In the meeting, Mr Sujan Biswas, Upazila Coordinator, Shyamnagar CCDB office, shared the PCRCB project phase-2 activities. Nazrul Islam, Chairman of No- 9 Burigoalini Union Parishad, highly praised the activities of CCDB. He expressed that the activities implemented by the CCDB Climate Change Program since 2012 are beneficial for the area.
Assistant Agriculture Officer Md. Jamal Hossain hoped that the new agricultural technologies used by the climate change project of the CCDB would play an essential role in creating a climate-tolerant population.
Md. Rabiul Islam, Satkhira Zone Tourist ASI, Minoti Mallick, Vice President, Bonobibitola CCRC, Md. Golam Rabbani Ghazi, Ijaz Ahmed, Suparna Raptan, Vice President, Bhamia CCRC, Md. Abdul Hakeem Gazi, Organizing Secretary, Bhamia CCRC, Md. Sahar Ali Sardar, Secretary, Bhamia CCRC, Nityananda Mondal, Bonobibitola Village Health Assistant and Md. Imam Hossain, Md. Abu Raihan Belal & Mrs Mina Rani, the Bhamia and Banbibi Tala village Youth Team members were also present at this inception meeting.
Neelima Rani, Program Officer, CCDB Engage Project, Ms. Nancy Biswas, Accounts & Admin Officer, Climate Change Program, CCDB Shymanagar Office, Mr. Kangkan Bairagi, Field Organizer; Ms. Dil Afroz, Field Organizer and Akhil Mondal, Field Organizer were also present in the meeting.
The meeting was managed and facilitated by Mr Kangan Bairagi and Mr Jagdish Sardar.
A simple $5 loss and damage aviation levy could be imposed on every passenger flying on any of the airlines under the jurisdiction of the UAE.
There are only a hundred days left until the start of COP28 in Dubai, set to be held on November 30, and already the world has crossed the critical threshold into what I call “the era of loss and damage,” and what the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres calls the era of climate boiling. July was the hottest month on Earth in over 100,000 years. We are therefore at a point that can be described as a new world of climate change impacts leading to more losses and damages than ever before. Just in the last few days, extraordinarily heavy rainfall in the Chattogram region of Bangladesh led to landslides that killed tens of people. The port city is still largely waterlogged, bringing misery to its citizens. Similarly, the US is currently facing the deadliest wildfire it has seen in over a century, happening in Maui county of Hawaii. Over 90 people have died so far, with the death toll expected to rise significantly in the upcoming days.
With all this in mind, one can say that we have left behind the old era when climate change was perceived as something that would happen in the future. As such, the upcoming COP28 should be considered as COP1 of the “new era,” where climate change is no longer a threat for the future, but one that is increasingly impacting the present. Leaders who attend COP28 will have to rise to the occasion with the sense of urgency that the crisis requires today.
The COP28 President-Designate, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, has been travelling around the world meeting leaders with the aim of conveying this sense of urgency. He recently made a brief stop in Bangladesh to meet the government and Climate Envoy Saber Hossain Chowdhury.
The president-designate also made time to meet with a group of young climate change leaders, for which I am grateful to him. One issue for which I have high expectations from COP28, concerning the fulfilment of the COP27 agreement last year in Egypt, is the setting up of a new loss and damage fund. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has set up a Transitional Committee (TC), which is tasked to come up with related recommendations by COP28.
However, having observed the UNFCCC process for over 27 years, I can predict that even with the strongest will in the world from the committee members – and they are all excellent individuals – they will most likely not finish the work and will come to Dubai asking for more time. But time is something we have run out of. So, unless the COP28 president and United Arab Emirates (as the host) make a declaration now, with a hundred days left, that they want a new loss and damage fund set up in Dubai and put pressure on the TC to deliver on it, I am afraid that we will end up with a lost opportunity.
Therefore, I would recommend that the UAE government make a declaration expressing its intentions to set up a new loss and damage fund by the end of COP28 in December. In order to push the TC to come up with something concrete, the country should declare its intention to make $100 million available for the fund and ask the TC to come up with an interim plan to utilise the funds immediately.
To procure this fund, a simple $5 loss and damage aviation levy could be imposed on every passenger flying on any of the airlines under the jurisdiction of the UAE. This would generate approximately $100 million in a year. A similar levy could be imposed by individual governments on the airlines under their jurisdiction. Take for example France, where a few euros are imposed on all passengers buying an airline ticket, which is collected by the airline. Then, the levy is passed onto the French government, and the amount collected is used to finance organisations implementing health programmes for developing countries. This practice has been operating successfully for over ten years. The French levy has nothing to do with climate change, but a new loss and damage levy would be justified as every air passenger is indeed a polluter.
There is no need to reach a collective decision by all countries or for all airlines. But each country, especially the developed ones, could decide to impose the levy on airlines under their jurisdiction and contribute to a new loss and damage fund. None of this would involve the taxpayer or the central government budgets of any country, but would be a nominal amount of a tax on air passengers who do in fact act as polluters.
Another aspect of this proposed levy is that it is a trivial amount – less than the cost of a coffee and croissant at any international airport – and will make absolutely no impact on the decision of a passenger to purchase their ticket. In fact, air tickets have no set price per passenger, as almost every passenger pays a different price for their ticket, depending on when they bought it.
I would urge the UAE government to take this idea forward and for the COP28 president to use the remaining days to talk to all his counterparts around the world and persuade them to contribute to the new loss and damage fund in December. If the loss and damage fund agreed upon at COP27 is not set up in Dubai, I will deem COP28 to have been a failure.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Porsha Upazila, Salma Akhter, visited the various activities implemented under the “PCRCB” project of the Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB)’s Climate Change Program.
Upazila Project Implementation Officer Mr. Md. Dostdar Hossain, Chairman of No. 3 Chaor Union Md. Mostafizur Rahman, ward members and other dignitaries of the area were present.
Meanwhile, a courtyard meeting was organized in Danipukur village of No. 3 Chawur Union, organized by CCDB. In the courtyard meeting, 25 beneficiary members of the PCRCB presented the various activities implemented by the project. After the presentation, Mr UNO expressed his satisfaction with the project activities and gave various encouraging suggestions. She also informed the members about the various government facilities.
After the courtyard meeting, she visited the organic agriculture demonstration plot using various mitigation and adaptation technologies at the field level to deal with drought. The upazila coordinator of the project, Steve Roy Rupon, led the project in organizing the inspection.
The money will go into the Climate and Transformation Fund, which was created in 2010 and back then, it only had a contribution of just some hundreds of millions of euros.
Germany’s Finance Ministry said the approved figure for 2024 represented an increase of nearly €22 billion, or 60.2%, from the 2023 target.
“We are creating the basis for decarbonization and digitalization which will create opportunities for the future,” Finance Minister Christian Lindner said about the plan.
Germany’s green fund is not part of the government’s regular budget and as such, it is not subject to debt limit rules.
It is financed by European and national emissions trading and carbon taxes on heating oil, natural gas, gasoline or diesel, which are expected to rise next year in order to keep the fund’s €57 billion target.
A bulk of the sum in 2024 will go to Germany’s construction sector, with some €18.9 billion in subsidies for building renovations and new buildings in 2024, the ministry said in a statement.
Construction Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) said that the financial boost could provide “important impetus for the construction industry” to make buildings greener.
Subsidies for renewable energy will also get a boost, with some €12.6 billion allocated.
Berlin is hoping to shore up the hydrogen industry, with €18.6 billion, as part of its plan to transition to renewables.
In terms of transportation, the fund will provide some €12.5 billion to Germany’s rail network between 2024 and 2027.
Likewise, on electric automobiles Germany will allocate €4.7 billion for the country’s e-mobility charging infrastructure.
Reducing reliance on China
Germany’s boost in green funding for next year comes as countries like the US have increased subsidies that threaten to lure European manufacturers and as China maintains its position as exporter of critical parts in green infrastructure.
o reduce its reliance on Chinese imports, Germany is investing €4.1 billion form the green fund in subisidies for local production capacity for raw materials and transformation technology such as solar power components.
Some €4 billion in subsidies will also go to support semi-conductors production next year as part of a €20 billion allocated for the industry, including some €5 billion just for Taiwan’s TSMC to build a factory in Saxony.
Germany’s Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, will take a look at the government’s green fund plan in September, with a final vote of approval expected some time in December.
Mollahpara, a living place of approx. Three hundred families of Vamia village under Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira district. The story of the sufferings of acute potable water is not different compared to other coastal towns of Bangladesh. But how they manage the problem compels us to turn back the flashlight to them. The women of this place have come forward and taken the leadership role in solving the drinking water problem by themselves.
Climate change induces coastal salinity intrusion into the freshwater, for which 20 million coastal people are suffering from the crisis of safe drinking water in the coastal area of Bangladesh. Though water is an essential requirement of human life and livelihoods, access to safe drinking water is minimal for the people of these areas, which becomes extreme during the dry season. The rising sea level is one of the significant causes of salinity intrusion into freshwater aquifers. Natural disasters like cyclones, tidal surges, river bank erosion, and flood are very frequent in Bangladesh and pollute the freshwater with salinity and create an acute drinking water crisis. Initiatives have been taken widely by the government and non-government agencies to reduce the scarcity of drinking water by installing different adaptive measures such as Pond Sand Filtration (PSF), Community-Based Rainwater Harvesting, and Water Desalination Plants. But the mechanism for equitable utilisation and sustainable management by the community people was not in place, which failed to reduce the people’s suffering for a more extended period. It is essential to create access for vulnerable people to drinking water by different adaptive measures, and similarly significant to make it effective significantly for a more extended period.
Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB) focuses on reducing the climate risk, especially for women and children, due to climate change impacts. The approach is to “Bring Women in Action” to reduce the potable water crisis and to establish a local-led management system at the community and household levels. CCDB facilitates women to raise their voices, initiate solutions and finally get them involved in management practices to solve problems.
“This women’s participation and leadership role is bringing positive social changes at the community level”
Traditionally in Bangladesh’s rural areas, women are the main ones responsible for collecting and managing water for the daily fulfilment of the families. The women of the Mollapara was seeking a suitable and sustainable source of potable water. Considering the crisis of almost 250 families, CCDB extended the support by installing a Pond Sand Filtering system at Mollapara of Vamia village in 2017 to fetch water from walking distance. Prioritising sustainable community management rather than creating some short-term solutions, CCDB mobilised the women of Mollapara and formed a Management Committee to transfer the role for the sustainability of the efforts. The 30-member Women-led Management Committee established a community water governance system in a participatory way where approx. Two hundred vulnerable families are getting access equally to reduce the potable water crisis. They developed a guideline on water distribution and transparently collected a minimum monthly fee for the maintenance of the PSF throughout the year. From 2017 to 2023, the continuous six years of successful management portray the effectiveness of women’s leadership. The excitement blooms in Sufia’s words, the leader of the group, “We, the women, were always treated as water collectors, now people used to call us the water manager”. The treasurer Taslima Begham described how they ensure transparency through monthly meetings and use the additional money for women’s welfare. The community fund, skill, and local management have been established through this initiative to serve women for a long time.
“Women play a central part in the provision, management, and safeguarding of water” was agreed in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. As women are closer to water resources, they mostly take responsibility for collecting water. So, Women have appropriate knowledge about the use and management system of water resources. CCDB’s ‘Bring people in action’ of this strategy gives room to the ‘Bring women in action’ to create equitable water access for people of the coastal community in Bangladesh. This women’s participation and leadership role brings positive social changes at the community level. It reduces the water conflict among community groups, provides safe drinking water, helps to decrease waterborne diseases, and uses natural sources (rainwater) properly. This women-led community water governance system can make the PSF technology a successful adaptation practice and be replicated by other communities and development partners.
Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB) and Coady Institute of St. Francis Xavier University, Canada have jointly conducted the short course on “Community-led Solutions for Climate Change” at Coady Institute Campus, Canada.
Twenty-one development professionals, academia and researchers from 12 countries of the continent of Africa, and Asia exchanged knowledge, experiences and learned together the practical solutions to tackle the ever-growing climate change impacts. This course has unfolded the path of contextual climate action planning based-on the calculation of climate risk and ensuring gender-responsive approach.
Md. Foezullah Talukder, Mousumi Halder from CCDB and Marian Turniawan from Coady Institute facilitated this two-week course from 19th-30th July, 2023.
This animation shows a series of waves, called Kelvin waves, moving warm water across the equatorial Pacific Ocean from west to east during March and April. The signals can be an early sign of a developing El Niño, and were detected by the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich sea level satellite. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The most recent sea level data from the U.S.-European satellite Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich indicates early signs of a developing El Niño across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The data shows Kelvin waves – which are roughly 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) high at the ocean surface and hundreds of miles wide – moving from west to east along the equator toward the west coast of South America.
When they form at the equator, Kelvin waves bring warm water, which is associated with higher sea levels, from the western Pacific to the eastern Pacific. A series of Kelvin waves starting in spring is a well-known precursor to an El Niño, a periodic climate phenomenon that can affect weather patterns around the world. It is characterized by higher sea levels and warmer-than-average ocean temperatures along the western coasts of the Americas.
Water expands as it warms, so sea levels tend to be higher in places with warmer water. El Niño is also associated with a weakening of the trade winds. The condition can bring cooler, wetter conditions to the U.S. Southwest and drought to countries in the western Pacific, such as Indonesia and Australia.
Sea level data from the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite on April 24 shows relatively higher (shown in red and white) and warmer ocean water at the equator and the west coast of South America. Water expands as it warms, so sea levels tend to be higher in places with warmer water. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite data shown here covers the period between the beginning of March and the end of April 2023. By April 24, Kelvin waves had piled up warmer water and higher sea levels (shown in red and white) off the coasts of Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. Satellites like Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich can detect Kelvin waves with a radar altimeter, which uses microwave signals to measure the height of the ocean’s surface. When an altimeter passes over areas that are warmer than others, the data will show higher sea levels.
“We’ll be watching this El Niño like a hawk,” said Josh Willis, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “If it’s a big one, the globe will see record warming, but here in the Southwest U.S. we could be looking at another wet winter, right on the heels of the soaking we got last winter.”
Both the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the World Meteorological Organization have recently reported increased chances that El Niño will develop by the end of the summer. Continued monitoring of ocean conditions in the Pacific by instruments and satellites such as Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich should help to clarify in the coming months how strong it could become.
“When we measure sea level from space using satellite altimeters, we know not only the shape and height of water, but also its movement, like Kelvin and other waves,” said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, NASA program scientist and manager for Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich in Washington. “Ocean waves slosh heat around the planet, bringing heat and moisture to our coasts and changing our weather.”
More About the Mission
Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, named after former NASA Earth Science Division Director Michael Freilich, is one of two satellites that compose the Copernicus Sentinel-6/Jason-CS (Continuity of Service) mission.
Sentinel-6/Jason-CS was jointly developed by ESA (European Space Agency), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), NASA, and NOAA, with funding support from the European Commission and technical support on performance from the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales). Spacecraft monitoring and control, as well as the processing of all the altimeter science data, is carried out by EUMETSAT on behalf of the European Union’s Copernicus programme, with the support of all partner agencies.
JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, contributed three science instruments for each Sentinel-6 satellite: the Advanced Microwave Radiometer, the Global Navigation Satellite System – Radio Occultation, and the Laser Retroreflector Array. NASA also contributed launch services, ground systems supporting operation of the NASA science instruments, the science data processors for two of these instruments, and support for the U.S. members of the international Ocean Surface Topography Science Team.
To learn more about Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, visit:
Giving TOT to project front liners is vital to make them efficient as they are the most important change-makers of society through implementing any development program or Project. A three-day training was arranged from 7th May to 9 May 2023 at CCDB Hope Center to achieve this goal.
The training was planned to make the whole STEP & Building Project’s Program Staff (Incl. all partners) in active facilitation roles on the WDMC rollout for building a climate-induced disaster-resilient society through the whole society approach.
The modules included Disaster Management Issues, Basic Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Resilience, Facilitating WDMC in people organization approach, WDMCs Change structure and roles by Community Climate Resilience approach (CCRC), AIGA selection procedure, process and staffs facilitation skills demonstration, Result Based Management (RBM) Approaches covering RBM principal, RBM Process, Implementation, and Facilitation Challenges and overcome Strategies.
Youth leadership is crucial to tackling the current and upcoming climate crises, particularly for Bangladesh’s coastal regions. The young people of this region can be powerful advocates in the fight against climate change.
To build the capacity of 20 enthusiastic youths from the villages of Bangladesh’s coastal regions, a two-day training on “Youth Advocacy and Action Plan on Climate Change” was arranged.
