This publication is based on the results of the conference and has been prepared from notes taken by the faculty members from the Center for Sustainable Development (CSD), ULAB and the respective rapporteurs. The 3rd Annual CSD Conference placed a strong emphasis on public policy impact, identifying cutting-edge research with clear and pressing implications for the current national and international policy debate, as well as for achieving several of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
Climate Change and Migration
In the case of Bangladesh, the existing power stations cannot withstand extreme weather conditions as they are easily damaged and inevitably short-circuit when a storm hits. For example, the case of crisis communication failures in the Philippines, where government language in crisis communication was overly conservative and technical and therefore not communicated to the public, leading to insufficient involvement in relief operations.
Urban Sustainability
Ø Appropriate management of the transport sector should be the priority area of action for sustainable development in Dhaka city. Ø Socio-demographic groups' perception of cultural ecosystem services provided by the green spaces in Dhaka city should be prioritized while making policies.
Green Economy
The following topics emerged during the discussion of the green economy session that require more attention for sustainable development. The universities can be the meeting point for improving coordination between the young potential entrepreneurs with the market - mentioned by the former governor of the Bank of Bangladesh, Dr.
Natural Resource Management
Some of the challenges that hinder the renewable energy sector are that many of us are not aware of the potential of green businesses and the potential returns in the long term. It will help reduce the transportation of heavy fossil fuels and may also increase the country's GDP growth.
Youth Leadership and Sustainability
Sustainability in Project Design and Implementation
Session Summaries
Speakers
Key Points
City-Nature Dynamics: Alternative Pathways to Urbanization in Bangladesh - Jennifer Lee, PhD candidate in the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich; PhD Researcher at Future Cities Urban-Rural Systems Laboratory, Singapore-ETH Centre. New entrepreneurs must keep product quality as a priority; they must believe in the product they are producing. The financial sector played a major role in the growth of the RMG sector as it catapulted garment factories for export.
The southwest coast in Bangladesh is one of the most productive agro-ecological areas due to brackish water exposure. The seventh group worked on Sustainable Development Goal 15 - "Protection of Biodiversity and Natural Resources". The last group was given Sustainable Development Goal 13 which is "Climate Action". Project managers and partner organizations, mainly those on the front line, should be engaged in the implementation process and should also look at new critical issues such as climate change.
Christian Aid works in the most vulnerable areas using holistic approaches to disaster risk management, climate change, resilient livelihoods, emergency preparedness and response, inclusive market development, gender equality and social equity. Shushilon faced obstacles in the form of climate change issues and lower-than-expected yields.
Synopsis
A significant amount of mineral nutrients remains unused in residual materials, known as waste, and in metabolic residues, i.e. urine and faces, causing significant damage to our ecosystem services, such as water and soil quality degradation affecting environmental health, when released into the environment, eventually discharged into the river through sewage systems. Abdullah Al Mohsin Chowdhury, Secretary, Department of Environment, Ministry of Forests, Environment and Climate Change. In her closing remarks, Cartalyn Roberts emphasized the fact that current and future generations of Bangladeshis are better prepared to face the risks of climate change and reverse the effects of environmental degradation.
She quoted UNEP Director Achim Steiner as praising Bangladesh for its progress in combating climate change. Carolyn concluded her speech by noting that "Change is hard"; Solutions to any environmental or climate change problem are usually "better" or "worse" than absolutes, but decisions must nevertheless be made in light of these uncertainties; She reminded the audience to understand that those who cause the problem are also trying to provide a solution, but some stakeholders manipulate the facts for their own personal or professional gain. Sultan Ahmed discussed various projects being implemented by the Government of Bangladesh to help address climate change and environmental issues.
Abstracts
Parallel Session: Climate Change and Migration (Day 1)
Rethinking Crisis Communication at a time of Climate Change: Lessons from the Philippines
Abstract
- Factors Influencing Rural Household’s Migration decisions in the context of climate change: An analysis of the evidence from southeast coastal Bangladesh
- Immobility and environmental change: gender dimensions of poverty in coastal Bangladesh
- Understanding Resilience and Growth: a synopsis of Kutubdia Island, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
- Climate Change, Resilience and Population Dynamics in South Asia: Why Some People Move and Others Stay?
Factors Influencing Migration Decisions of Rural Households in the Context of Climate Change: An Analysis of Evidence from Climate Change in Southeast Coastal Bangladesh: An Analysis of Evidence from Southeast Coastal Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been recognized as one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the impacts of climate change. The focus on immobility is a consequence of the paradigm shift towards seeing migration as adaptation.
Bangladesh is considered to be one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the manifestations of climate change, especially off-shore islands like Kutubdia that are subject to recurring natural disasters. Our results suggest that in addition to a number of actually experienced environmental and climate challenges, including rapid and slow-onset climate change impacts such as hurricanes, floods, sea level rise, which are perceived by our respondents to be one of the most important factors affecting their communities and livelihoods . These results show the complexity of the phenomenon of population dynamics in the context of climate change impacts and show the challenges for future research.
Parallel Session: Urban Sustainability (Day 1)
Urbanization and Agricultural Land Conversion in Southeast Asia
Case Studies in Industrial areas in the Extended Metropolitan Regions of Jakarta, Indonesia
- City-Nature Dynamics: Alternative Urbanization Pathways in Bangladesh
- Bengal Delta: Critical, lived ecologies
- The Concentration Dilemma: Urban-Rural Transition in Metropolitan Area of Chengdu Since Early 2000s
- Urban-Rural Systems in Monsoon Asia
The research examines the legacy of the urban-rural binary in conceptualizing urbanization in Bangladesh and alternative approaches to considering urban-nature hybridity. Moreover, the study aims to contribute to urban-rural systems theories of Monsoon Asia by bringing to the fore such lived ecologies in an understudied condition, peri-urban Kolkata in the Bengal Delta. The concentration dilemma: Urban-rural transition in the Chengdu metropolitan area since the early 2000s Chengdu since the early 2000s.
Program Director, Future Cities Laboratory, Singapore-ETH Center; Principal researcher of urban-rural systems. This research focuses on the hybrid urban-rural regions emerging around many cities and towns in monsoon Asia. Monsoon Asia supports nearly 50 percent of the world's population, and much of this lives in urban and rural regions.
Parallel Session: Green Economy (Day 1)
Market assessment of alternative cooking options for Rohingya cam settings in Cox’s Bazar
Bio-fertilizer, the building blocks of a sustainable business model
Using our exclusive cashless microfinance payment system, this program allows the villager to make payments through alternative means such as bioslurry and dung. This solves the immediate problem of sustainable cooking fuel while not imposing a financial burden on the villagers. But on a large scale, it is not possible to sell raw materials to the local market due to market saturation.
Separating the liquid from the solids is not enough to provide an economically stable business model. At KSF, we have explored ways to use these products to target specific markets and rethink traditional farming for a changing world.
The Fruits of Our Labour: Producing Export Compliant Mangoes in Bangladesh
Parallel Session: Natural Resource Management (Day 1)
- Survey on edible insects among some ethnic groups of Bangladesh
- Sustainable Agro-water management practices in south-west coastal Bangladesh
- Fish for Future – Playing by the Rules: Changing Fishery Practices in the World’s Largest Mangrove Forest
- Identifying marine protected areas to sustain fisheries and protect threatened marine biodiversity
For sustaining agriculture, the geophysical properties and socio-economic status have prompted farmers to adopt various agro-water management practices (AWMPs) in the study area. Four types of crop cultivation practices were found in the study area, three of which included improved mixed rice-shrimp-whitefish farming (i.e., AWMPs) and the rest traditional rice cultivation. Environmental, social and economic criteria of AWMPs were assessed and summarized into the highest score in Multi-Criteria Analyzes (MCA).
Fish for the future - Playing by the rules: Changing fishing practices in the world's largest mangrove forest The largest mangrove forest. Fishing mesh sizes, seasonal and area closures, and species catch limits in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh are complex and fishermen are only vaguely aware of the laws and rules they must follow. In addition to their potential to protect at least 46 globally threatened and near-threatened marine megafauna and seabirds, these two new MPAs together with the SoNGMPA would protect approximately 7.8% of Bangladesh's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Parallel Session: Urban Sustainability (Day 2)
- Scenario Analysis of the Primary Socio-economic Issues of Dhaka’s Established Slums, Korail and Satto
- Urban Sustainability: Citizenry and nonmaterial culture
- Perception of public space in Urban Bangladesh
- Indicators of Sustainable Transportation: Role in planning, Current Status in Bangladesh and Suggestions to Improve
- Heterogenous Sociodemographic Groups Perceptions on Cultural Ecosystem Services provided by Urban Green Infrastructures
The material development of the city in the developing world appears to be outpacing non-material change, i.e. limited research on public space in the South Asian context has led to a lack of understanding of the impact of policy planning and design . The average roadside noise level in Dhaka city is approximately 78 dB(A), which far exceeds the acceptable limit of 60 dB(A) set by the Department of Environment (DOE), Bangladesh.
There is still an important gap in understanding the divergent social and demographic perception of CES by UGI for creating socially adjustable and sustainable urban development strategies. This paper aimed to analyze local people's perception of CES provided by UGI based on sociodemographic factors in North Dhaka city using questionnaire interviews (n = 401). The questions in the survey were about the existence and availability of UGI, types of activity, limitation of use and importance of CES from UGI as perceived by heterogeneous social groups.
Parallel Session: Climate Change-Migration, Adaptation and Resilience (Day 2)
- Influence of contextual and governance factors on vertical integration of urban adaptations in NDCs
- Climate change and risk preference: Linking migration and household behavior in coastal Bangladesh
- An investigation of the effects Urbanization on climate change: Evidence from Bangladesh
- Climate change and internal displacement in countries of Latin-America and the Caribbean
Climate Change and Risk Preference: Linking Migration and Household Behavior in Coastal Bangladesh. It is therefore very essential to study household behavior under the climate change-induced natural hazards in terms of income and migration. Apart from increasing unemployment rates, increasing the density of urban slum dwellers and weakening the overall state of sanitation, urbanization is considered to be one of the most important factors contributing to global climate change.
Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze the effects of urbanization on climate change in Bangladesh, a country that has been exposed to natural disasters in the past. This study aims to: 1) analyze the accuracy of the global internal displacement database and 2) describe the extent and duration of internal displacement due to climate change-related disasters in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries between 2013 and 2015. In LAC, half of internally displaced persons due to disasters related to climate change.
Parallel Session: Poster Presentation (Day 2)
- Morpho-physiological changes in Mango and Neem seedlings, in response to saline incursion
- Litchi sting bug (Tessaratomasp.): A new emerging litchi pest in Bangladesh
- Effects of toxic heavy metals in Bangladesh industrial effluents on seedling mortality and growth of Radish
- Organic versus non-organic Farming: Poverty Reduction Scenario Analysis in areas close to Dhaka
- The Waterscape of Three Major Cities in Bangladesh: Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet
- Flood Vulnerability Mapping and Associated Applications in Resource Management and Disaster Risk Reduction: a case study on Sunamganj District in
- Nutrient loading in the river systems around major cities in Bangladesh: A quantitative estimate with consequences and potential recycling options
- Insect Infested Agarwood: A newly prized product of agarwood market in Bangladesh
Among the three locations, 100% infected inflorescence was observed in Baluchor areas of Sylhet, with only 6% in Khadimnagar and South Surma. In order to understand the reproductive biology of this insect, in addition to field research, the Department of Entomology, Sylhet Agricultural University conducted laboratory breeding experiments on Tessaratomasp. The research concluded that climate change has caused the lychee beetle to become an emerging pest in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh.
This huge loss can be attributed to the unplanned way of farming in the region. Nutrient Loading in the River Systems Around Major Cities in Bangladesh: A Quantitative Assessment with Consequences and Potential Reuse Opportunities Quantitative Assessment with Consequences and Potential Reuse Opportunities. In the current study, we estimated the nutrient load from municipal organic waste and human excreta.
Media Coverage
