2nd Coastal Children’s Climate Change Conference

On 9 November in Khulna, the central city of the South West Coastal region of Bangladesh, we held our 2nd Coastal Children’s Climate Conference. It was so good to see children and people joining us from all sections of the society. Zoom was there to help to make the conference a hybrid one. We’re glad that those who couldn’t come physically were able to join us virtually. Together, we gathered to learn, share, network, and to find new ways to protect our children and to promote children participation and leadership in climate and disaster management. Living in the coastal areas is so di-cult that we learnt from the children leader’s speeches coming from the front coastal areas, we also learnt how others are viewing resiliency against climate change from academicians, representatives of government departments, researchers and political leaders. The South West coastal areas of Bangladesh are suffering the most, like so many places in the sea level countries of the world, and are facing so many mega cyclones and related consequences like tidal surge and water logging by high saline sea water. Honorable Mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleque, the main speaker of the opening morning, emphasized, “Collective eorts and effective coordination must be established to reduce climate change impact in the lives of the children in the coastal areas”. As a keynoter, the famous child rights and climate activist Nayeem Wahra said, “School need to be transformed as climate friendly safe center during emergency in the coastal areas to ensure continuation of education of the children”. Many of the sessions at the conference spoke about cooperation, effective planning and proper actions in the face of our changing climate, as well as developing children’s leadership for the future. Dr. Rezaur Rahman, another keynoter and prominent professor of Institute of water and food management, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, emphasized that, “We should also focus on our achievements and success against climate change impact and not only weaknesses and vulnerabilities. “The conference also showcased that the children could be great speakers and motivators on climate change issues. With the vibrant children and youth leaders joining seasoned professionals and policy makers working together can solve all problems of our society. We are excited as the gathering crossing 200 reach towards 300, Thanks to all our sponsors and to those of you who contributed to the conference. In the closing evening the main speaker, Director, Department of environment, Khulna of the Government of Bangladesh emphasized “The government’s climate related work should be more focused on children and women”. End of the conference one participants from the children said: “Having the chance to be with and learn from so many professionals in this field is incredible. The conference helped me reflect on my ability, understanding the bigger scenario of climate advocacy, identify areas where I can improve.” We are looking forward to our conference in 2023, which will be hybrid again, in the meantime, send us ideas that we can incorporate into our next year event.