We have collaborated with designers, architects, engineers, local government bodies and students working on some of the SDGs. Our work on the Green Economy, sustainable production and the role of the private sector and the role of young people is ongoing. Facilitator Almeer Ahsan Asif of Bangladesh Youth Leadership Council (BYLC) introduces students to eligibility.
VISITING RESEARCHER PROGRAM
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain) working in the ERC-funded BIGSEA project as part of the Earth System Dynamics research group (https://earthsystemdynamics.org). Our sample locations had to include both remote areas and locations that were fully integrated into the global economy. In the future, I look forward to a fruitful, continued collaboration with ULAB's Center for Sustainable Development.
ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES
Healthy Oceans-Healthy People & Ramna Park Visit
Learning Through Live Experiences: Studying low-cost technologies related to climate change adaptation
Students responded positively to the field trip, stating that they found the experiential learning experience to be a very informative and valuable departure from the traditional course. Every year, a large number of our crops are wasted due to natural disasters and the amount of agricultural land is also decreasing. Researchers from BRRI have worked continuously to ensure food security in the country by reducing this loss.
During a lecture on the topic of food security and biosecurity in the Environmental Science course, Nishi, an 11th semester Media Studies and Journalism student who took the course as a GED, said, “What is Bangladesh doing to help achieve food security, despite the fact that we is a vulnerable country due to climate change". This question revealed the importance of introducing students to an organization working in Bangladesh to ensure food security. BRRI (Bangladesh Rice Research Institute) is an agricultural research institute known for its excellent contribution to food security in Bangladesh.
It is one of the most famous agricultural research institutes among the rice producing countries worldwide. Students visited BRRI and interacted with three departments specifically, plant physiology, the gene bank and the plant breeding facilities to find solutions to the problems related to paddy production and climate change. The concrete demonstration about the genebank gave them a clear idea about the biosafety regulations in Bangladesh.
Every aspect of the trip allowed students to have an authentic, hands-on learning experience that will help them apply their knowledge in a.
UPCOMING RESEARCH
Climate Change: What do Bangladeshi Women Want and Need to Adapt and Mitigate?
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
The farm diversity was calculated using the Shannon Index and found that the farm from low drought area shows greater diversity than high drought prone areas (Table 1). Few foods were considered for this calculation, including vegetables, fruits, legumes, fish and meat. It was found that the household from areas with low drought consumed a diverse diet than areas with high drought (Table 2).
The market from high drought areas showed less diversity than low drought areas. Most of the varieties come from distant sources on the market in areas of high drought. Based on the above circumstances, it can conclude that there are significant effects of drought on farm agro-biodiversity, agricultural diversity, diet diversity and market diversity.
Drought has impacts on farm and ranch agrobiodiversity, dietary diversity and market diversity. Drought-prone areas are more concerned than low-prone areas due to many factors such as low soil moisture, water scarcity, low rainfall, high temperature and cultivation practices. More research is required on the impacts of drought on soil fertility, physical and biological properties in the Barind Tract.
Loss and Damage Caused by Climate Change
Failure to assess loss and damage due to climate change is one of the key barriers to seeking compensation. Therefore, the second goal of this research is to link all these disasters to climate change. In addition, reducing loss and damage related to climate change requires many of the actions previously mentioned as addressing loss and damage through disaster risk reduction.
Nijhum Dwip Island falls under Haitya Upazila (sub-unit of civil district) and Noakhali civil district. This island began to form in the 1950s, and in the 1970s and 1980s the higher parts of the island silted up to about the mean high tide mark (MHW). The Forest Department of the Government of Bangladesh has established mangrove forests in Nijhum Dwip and declared it a national park covering a total area of 16,352 ha.
During this discussion, Jamila Begum, a resident of the island said: “I lost my 3-year-old son in the cyclone Aila and I also have to repair my house almost every year as the island has no dam and it is damaged every year in high water." In addition to the experience of Jamila, Abdul Majid (her neighbor) added: “This year I invested 20,000 taka in fish farming, but I failed to save my fish from the high water. The above two comments from the focus group discussions are tangible evidence of the loss and damage experienced by the local residents of Nijhum dwip which can be distinguished under economic and non-economic loss and damage. The challenging part of this research is to associate the natural disasters with climate change and further to identify a robust methodology to assess the losses and damages.
Climate change and migration: ethnographic experience in southwestern Bangladesh Basundhara Tripathy Furlong, assistant professor and research project manager.
Climate change and Migration: Ethnographic Experience in Southwest Bangladesh Basundhara Tripathy Furlong, Assistant Professor cum Research Project Manager
Understanding the cultural benefits of ecosystem services provided by urban green space is important for achieving a socio-ecologically sustainable city. Many residents of Dhaka are unaware of the intangible benefits they receive from green space. An important aspect of sustainability in urban areas is the presence of green space that benefits the quality of city life through a decrease in pollution, an increase in biodiversity and recreational activities (Faehnle, Bäcklund, Tyrväinen, Niemelä,.
So it is necessary to identify important topic regarding CES on urban green space of Dhaka through a semi-structured questionnaire interview. This topic includes recreation in green space through leisure activities (eg nature watching) and practical works (eg gardening). Fortunately, many of the residents find green space to overcome this dissatisfaction for a short time.
Mostly middle-aged and elderly residents prefer to walk and exercise in green spaces, while young people like to play sports there. Green space for sports (Mohammadpur), social gathering (Ramna), nature observation (Chandrima Udyan) Organizing or participating in special events in the Park. Respondents mentioned that crowding, lack of free time, insufficient infrastructure and lack of security are the main limitations for the use of green space.
One interviewee reflected: "Although I prefer to visit green space to overcome loneliness, crowded environments distract me from the green space of Dhaka."
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STUDIES MINOR
Sustainable Development Studies: Taking Care of Our Planet
Organic Farming, Introduction to Community Development and Social Theory and Social Research Methods, Seminar on People's Development. Climate change: cause, effect, future projections, mitigation, international negotiations and threats to developing countries; adaptive responses and plans. Community development: history, tradition, ownership, social structures, campus sustainability, leadership development, mechanisms of socioeconomic development.
3rd ANNUAL CSD SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE OVERVIEW
Integrating Sustainability Research into Policy and Practice: Collaborations for Change
Saleemul Huq, Director of the International Center for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), chaired a session where some of the country's leading development experts discussed key issues related to the importance of project planning and implementation in addressing sustainability challenges.
Climate Change and Migration
Atiur Rahman conducted a comprehensive session on the new green economy that must be established if the Paris goals are to be achieved. A total of 50 high-quality lectures were given, and the poster competition also allowed students from various universities to present their research work to a national and international audience. However, there is great potential for decentralized renewable energy sources for both adaptation and development purposes.
Together with the solar energy plant, the wind power plants will have huge potential to increase the local economy. Needs an improved crisis communication system by ensuring full community engagement with government communications via social media so that communities are fully informed of the potential implications of specific weather events and their impact in advance of a future crisis. And good local adaptation strategies both on water and land such as desalination and the construction of new houses with a higher height should receive more attention.
Urban Sustainability
Green Economy
Natural Resource Management
Youth Leadership and Sustainability Workshop
Sustainability in Project Design and Implementation
GREENING ULAB
Higher Education & Sustainability: Realigning Action & Values
A system that non-consensually restricts the freedoms of the individuals who participate in it violates a fundamental, inalienable human right, the right to liberty, essentially making the system immoral. In 2018, the Ministers of Education of the Bologna Process (a council committed to reassessing and redirecting university social action) established the Paris Communiqué, which linked university social responsibility directly to sustainability, calling for academic institutions to ensure “ a sustainable future for our planet through higher education.” In order to continue their stated commitment to social improvement, universities must realize that it is imperative to take a stance on sustainability, and to some extent they have – in the form of written documents such as those mentioned above. They espouse the theories of ethics and human rights and represent the microcosm of the ideal society - a community of people with different interests, not only coexisting peacefully, but supporting each other in their quest for the advancement of their fields and ultimately all humanity.
Such an organization - an emblem of the goodness in people - should not fail to fulfill promises of future sustainability. These plans were intended to encourage "integrated research, education and operations in a comprehensive strategy" so that the concept and practices of sustainability in different sections of the university and surrounding community - research, education, campus life, professionals and society - would be positive. reinforce each other. While focusing on single parts makes each piece easier to study and often reveals important information, it has often led to ignorance of the complex ways in which these pieces interact and influence each other, leaving an incomplete view of the system at hand.
Sustainability scholars have noticed this trend and addressed it by focusing on the interplay between the components of the bigger picture. The project involves stakeholders at all levels of the school and takes a comprehensive approach that addresses not only operational but also academic and cultural sustainability. The greening of ULAB represents hope for the future of the university, the future of higher education academics and the whole of humanity.
This is the first step to get other universities in South Asia and other parts of the world involved in fulfilling their social responsibility and taking a lead on sustainability.
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC OUTREACH
4 th Climate Change Symposium: Effects of Climate Change on the World’s Oceans (ECCWO)
Bangkok Annual Business and Social Science Conference 2018
The Impact of Climate Change on the Global Economy
IMBER Human Dimension Working Group Annual Meeting 2018
South Asia Ventures 2018 - Innovative Leadership Development
Water Initiative South Asia (WISA) Workshop
New Publication Round-Up for 2018
Journal Articles
