Saleemul Huq

• Phd
• Fellow at International Institute for Environment and Development

Non-technical summary We identify a set of essential recent advances in climate change research with high policy relevance, across natural and social sciences: (1) looming inevitability and implications of overshooting the 1.5°C warming limit, (2) urgent need for a rapid and managed fossil fuel phase-out, (3) challenges for scaling carbon dioxide r...

Despite being an LDC and one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, Bangladesh has taken several exemplary initiatives to tackle climate change as well as enhancing its own resilience and thereby established itself as a global teacher of climate change adaptation. Using the lens of this dual identity, this paper aims to explore how dom...

An effective, fit-for-purpose loss and damage finance facility (L&D facility) is critical for climate justice. After three decades of negotiation, parties agreed to establish an L&D facility at COP27 in Egypt. 1,2 A transitional committee has been formed to advise on the institutional arrangements and multiple proposals for how such a facility shou...

Non-technical summary We summarize what we assess as the past year's most important findings within climate change research: limits to adaptation, vulnerability hotspots, new threats coming from the climate–health nexus, climate (im)mobility and security, sustainable practices for land use and finance, losses and damages, inclusive societal climate...

Climate change has and will continue to increase the intensity and frequency of extreme climate events. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change owing to its low elevation, dominance of floodplains, its high population density and its low economic, infrastructural and technological capacity. Despite the vulnerability, Ba...

Responding effectively to climate crisis requires strong science-policy links to be put in place. Past research on the research-policy interface indicates longstanding challenges that have become more acute in the case of climate science, since this requires multi-disciplinary approaches and faces distinctive political challenges in linking knowled...

The Asia-Pacific region has been experiencing rapid development in the past 30 years, and issues relating to sustainable development will become increasingly important in the coming decades. This comprehensive overview presents sustainable development from the perspectives of Asia and the Pacific, with contributions from more than 70 leading intern...

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to challenge and address the limitations of the traditional system of knowledge production that is embedded in disaster and climate change research studies, and research studies in general. It argues that knowledge production in research processes conforms to colonialist thinking or west-inspired approaches. Such...

This chapter exposes the case of two coastal villages in Bangladesh, where climate change is likely to increase river salinity leading to shortages of drinking water and irrigation system at the coastal belt. Approximately 20 million people live along the coastline and frequently rely primarily on rain-fed pond water and mix with river water, soil...

The impacts of human-induced climate change are manifested through losses and damages incurred due to the increasing frequency and intensity of climatic disasters all over the world. Low-income countries who have contributed the least in causing climate change, and have low financial capability, are the worst victims of this. However, since the inc...

Climate change negotiations have failed the world. Despite more than thirty years of high-level, global talks on climate change, we are still seeing carbon emissions rise dramatically. This edited volume, comprising leading and emerging scholars and climate activists from around the world, takes a critical look at what has gone wrong and what is to...

This session builds on the insights from the session Accelerating Adaptation in the Global South, with a strong policy focus. The panel discussion will focus around the various initiatives being developed to mainstream and expand the amount of action-orientated research being undertaken to rise to the global climate emergency. In particular, the se...

The strategy promotes “migrant friendly” towns and selective relocation abroad

This chapter establishes a foundation for understanding adaptation by reviewing core concepts related to adaptation, with a focus on mapping out broad categories of needs and options. Here we use adaptation needs to refer to circumstances requiring information, resources, and action to ensure safety of populations and security of assets in response...

"WASH and climate: Policy and financing (dis) connects in Bangladesh" - has been a partnership assignment between International center for climate change and development (ICCCAD) and WaterAid Bangladesh with the target of understanding the various working areas of climate change and the water sector. Working together, we started the research on u...

Novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causing COVID-19 disease has arisen to be a pandemic. Since there is a close association between other viral infection cases by epidemics and environmental factors, this study intends to unveil meteorological effects on the outbreak of COVID-19 across eight divisions of Bangladesh from March to April 2020. A compound...

Adapting to the impacts of climate change is one of the most urgent priorities of our time. Given that the impacts of climate change are experienced at local scales, it makes sense that adaptation should occur locally, and yet, despite this, locals often have little control over how adaptation is funded, designed and delivered in order to climate-p...

There is a major divide between the work of normative theorists and concrete climate action (or inaction) politics and policies. In this volume, authors tackle the strained relationships between principles of justice and climate politics by responding to real-world climate politics and policies, offering proposals and analyses that take concerns of...

Sharing lessons is critical for ensuring that finite funding for climate change adaptation is deployed in ways that provide the most value and impact. Successes are celebrated, but failures are habitually obscured, leaving a major knowledge base untapped. This commentary calls for the urgent sharing of failures as a source of critical learning.

Padma Bridge is the most challenging construction project in the history of Bangladesh. With its progress and impending completion it will open up huge prospects for local economy. But there is a downside, it also poses an increasing threat to an imperilled ecosystem – Sundarbans – the world's largest mangrove forest stretching over 10,000 square k...

Non-technical summary Ecosystems across the globe are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, as are the communities that depend on them. However, ecosystems can also protect people from climate change impacts. As the evidence base strengthens, nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly prominent in climate change policy, especially in deve...

Recent evidence shows that climate change is leading to irreversible and existential impacts on vulnerable communities and countries across the globe. Among other effects, this has given rise to public debate and engagement around notions of climate crisis and emergency. The Loss and Damage (L&D) policy debate has emphasized these aspects over the...

This chapter provides a commentary of Article 8 of the Paris Agreement focusing on loss and damage associated with climate change impacts. This is a draft chapter. The final version will be available in "Commentary on the Paris Agreement" edited by Leonie Reins and Geert van Calster, forthcoming 2020, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. The material cann...

Ecosystem Services (ES) are climate sensitive, vary by seasons, and support the majority of people's livelihoods in Bangladesh. Our research aimed to identify short-term (seasonal) and long-term (2000-2018) qualitative and quantitative dependence of rural livelihoods on ES in the southern wetland areas of Bangladesh. Primary data were collected thr...

The majority of developing countries have indicated capacity building as a condition for implementing their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. This is in the context of shortfalls in past initiatives on capacity building under different bilateral and multilateral agencies including bodies of the United Nations Fra...

Ecosystems are not merely vulnerable to climate change but, if sustainably restored and protected, are a major source of human resilience. Not only is the evidence-base for the importance of these “Nature-based Solutions” (NbS) growing rapidly, but NbS are featuring with increasing prominence in global climate change policy. Here we report on the p...

This issue covers some of the most recent events on climate protests as well as other stories. From stories on how mushroom farming can bypass the climate change impacts to what legal instruments should be employed to fight inaction on climate change, provide a wide spectrum of perspectives and expert views.

The Paris Agreement and Katowice Climate Package articulate a clear mandate for all parties to undertake and document adaptation progress. Yet persistent challenges have prevented substantive developments in tracking adaptation and the assessment of adaptation actions and their outcomes. Here, we provide an overview of the challenges of adaptation...

The 2015 Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) introduces a ‘transparency framework’, to promote accountability in the implementation of the Agreement. A set of “modalities, procedures and guidelines”, agreed upon in 2018, sketch how to put the transparency framework into practical operation. These...

Violence in the Rakhine State of Myanmar has led to a humanitarian crisis as Rohingya people flee across the border to Bangladesh. With the rapid influx of nearly 700,000 arrivals, Bangladesh's city - Cox’s Bazar is under severe strain from a Rohingya population of nearly 1 million, one of the largest concentrations of refugees in the world. In add...

Bangladesh, due to its geographic location, is highly exposed to different climatic hazards and natural disasters. Environmental vulnerability coupled with poor infrastructural and socioeconomic factors in the coastal belt of the country, further reduces the capacity of local communities to tackle the impacts of climatic shocks and stresses. The so...

This paper aims to understand how environmental stressors influence people's livelihood options in the coastal belt of Bangladesh. We argue that environmental stressors such as cyclones, riverbank erosion, salinity intrusion, and floods have negative impacts on people's lives by reducing their livelihood options. Twelve in-depth interviews (Livelih...

The global adaptation goal is one of the key outcomes of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. This goal includes enhancement of adaptive capacity, strengthening of resilience, and reduction of vulnerability, while adaptation to climate change is defined as adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate stimuli or th...

This chapter presents a case study of setting up a national mechanism to address losses and damages in Bangladesh—a highly climate vulnerable country facing significant losses and damages, putting its domestic resources and expertise together to respond in a way that looks ahead and beyond the conventional responses to climate change . The efforts...

The debate on “Loss and Damage” (L&D) has gained traction over the last few years. Supported by growing scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change amplifying frequency, intensity and duration of climate-related hazards as well as observed increases in climate-related impacts and risks in many regions, the “Warsaw International Mechanism fo...

Bangladesh is a country that is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and a broad range of practices have emerged to adapt to these impacts. The book presents a range of sectors that are affected by the impacts of climate change, such as agriculture, water and health, as well as covering thematic areas relating to responses to climate...

Due to its geophysical and socioeconomic characteristics, Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable to the harmful impacts of climate change. The contributors to this volume generally agree that climate projects should prioritize reducing exposure to loss and damage for the most at-risk populations, infrastructure, and assets. These include women, migr...

Over the past decade, Bangladesh has made an immense amount of progress when it comes to economic growth and development. The country is on course for graduating from its least developed country (LDC) status and becoming a middle income country in the near future. It has already met the three necessary criteria for this and can expect to make this...

Ecosystems are not merely vulnerable to climate change but, if sustainably restored and protected, are a major source of human resilience. Not only is the science evidence-base for this perspective growing rapidly, but ecosystems are featuring with increasing prominence in global climate change policy. Of 167 climate pledges submitted by the signat...

After years of arguments by developing countries for recognition of loss and damage (beyond their ability to adapt to climate impacts), a full article of the 2015 Paris Agreement was devoted to the issue. International mechanisms to address loss and damage are receiving increased attention, particularly given the intensification of climate impacts...

Faced with rising and irreversible impacts from climate change, a growing number of public and private stakeholders across vulnerable sectors are engaging with adaptation efforts. However, our knowledge is limited regarding the type of information being demanded to track adaptation progress at the national level. To address this gap, we conducted a...

Africa is projected to experience diverse and severe impacts of climate change. The need to adapt is increasingly recognized, from the community level to regional and national governments to the donor community, yet adaptation faces many constraints, particularly in low income settings. This study documents and examines the challenges facing adapta...

Community-based adaptation (CBA) is an approach to strengthening the adaptive capacity of local communities vulnerable to climate change. The CBA approach increasingly features in discussions among policy makers, planners, advocates, and researchers, and has been endorsed and adopted by numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations. Howe...

The concept of non-economic losses (NELs) has recently emerged in the context of negotiations on loss and damage under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). NELs are losses of values that are not commonly traded in markets but bear high relevance for those affected. Examples include loss of life, biodiversity and cultu...

The devotion of a full article in the Paris Agreement to loss and damage was a major breakthrough for the world’s most vulnerable nations seeing to gain support for climate impacts beyond what can be adapted to. But how will loss and damage be paid for, and who will pay it? Will ethics be part of this decision? Here we ask what are the possible mea...

The paper aims to analyze the extent of Ecosystem Service (ESS) based Adaptation (EbA) to climate change in the policy-making process of Bangladesh. The paper is based on a three stage hybrid policy-making cycle: (i) agenda setting; (ii) policy formulation; and (iii) policy implementation stage, where the contributions of EbA can horizontally (on t...

Strategies for climate change adaptation are contingent on normative analyses of ideal development outcomes and possible futures. Competing visions for the future thus result in adaptation programmes that benefit some while disadvantaging others. In coastal Bangladesh, shrimp aquaculture provides an example of one such adaptation strategy with cont...

A global North–South divide in research, and its negative consequences, has been highlighted in various scientific disciplines. Northern domination of science relevant to climate change policy and practice, and limited research led by Southern researchers in Southern countries, may hinder further development and implementation of global climate cha...

Climate change Loss and Damage has emerged as a key challenge of the 21st century. This Policy Brief first frames the challenge and then introduces the Resilience Academy, highlighting 5 key insights that both feed the debate and inform action. Finally, it provides 5 recommendations to the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism (...

The issue of loss and damage has historically been politically contentious, with developed countries being afraid of being held responsible, and developing countries demanding some form of compensation for being disproportionately impacted by climate change-induced loss and damage. After much debate between developed and developing countries, the P...

Climate finance is at the core of the UNFCCC efforts to help the world adequately adapt to climate change, and is absolutely critical to developing countries’ abilities to prepare and protect themselves from climate change impacts. Transparency in the reporting of climate finance is crucial for building and maintaining trust among nations if the in...

We need to get creative about climate action: so my proposal is to put the implementers in the middle of global talks and the negotiators on the periphery

Human displacement due to environmental hazards is a continuous process in different parts of the world. In that context, this paper aims to explore the effectiveness of micro-planning as a solution for a host and a migrant using a case study in the Bhola slum area of Dhaka. The study presented six focus group discussions and included thirty-eight...

In an era when climate records are continually being broken, climate change adaptation is becoming relevant for communities around the globe, particularly the most vulnerable and poor communities. Governments around the world collectively agreed in Paris in 2015 to combat the threats and challenges posed by climate change, yet the matter of how to...

In an Editorial now published in “Global Environmental Change”, 18 climate policy researchers argue that analyses of equity and justice are absolutely essential for our ability to understand climate politics and contribute to concrete efforts to achieve adequate, fair and enduring climate action for present and future generations. Climate change ac...

Submission by Brown University’s Climate and Development Lab on behalf of AdaptationWatch to the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice on the development of modalities for the accounting of financial resources provided and mobilized through public interventions in accordance with Article 9, paragraph 7, of the Paris Agreeme...

The Ganges–Brahmaputra delta enables Bangladesh to sustain a dense population, but it also exposes people to natural hazards. This article presents findings from the Gibika project, which researches livelihood resilience in seven study sites across Bangladesh. This study aims to understand how people in the study sites build resilience against envi...

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will define the priorities of the UN’s development agenda beyond 2015. But the reality of climate change impacts will render these aspirational goals almost impossibly challenging for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) unless the current level of ambition in development and climate action is urgently incre...

Climate change Loss and Damage has emerged as a key challenge of the 21st century. This Policy Brief first frames the challenge and then introduces the Resilience Academy, highlighting 5 key insights that both feed the debate and inform action. Finally, it provides 5 recommendations to the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism (...

Policymakers have committed to tackling loss and damage as a result of climate change across three high-profile international processes. Framing post-2015 development as a means to address loss and damage can synergize these agendas.

Evidence indicates ongoing tensions over effective climate change adaptation measurement. Focusing on community-based adaptation (CBA), we stress that some of these tensions stem from a lack of transparency around the knowledge and learning needs of different stakeholders engaged in CBA investments. Drawing on a participatory assessment of stakehol...

Many consider Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) to be a ‘vital approach to the threat climate change poses to the poor.’ However, no concise yet comprehensive overview of CBA exists. This briefing paper seeks to fill that gap by providing an overview of CBA, its core principles and challenges.

Bangladesh, which is particularly exposed to the consequences of climate change and suffered two devastating cyclones in recent years, has taken a leading role … in advocating new international commitments to support countries that bear the heaviest burden of loss and damage.

Knowledge could represent both a powerful determinant and indicator of adaptive capacity.

The resilience concept requires greater attention to human livelihoods if it is to address the limits to adaptation strategies and the development needs of the planet’s poorest and most vulnerable people. Although the concept of resilience is increasingly informing research and policy, its transfer from ecological theory to social systems leads to...

This paper chronicles the history of the rise of loss and damage in negotiations under the United Nations Framework on Climate Change and the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in bringing about this paradigm shift. Over the past two decades, the global climate change regime has shifted from a focus primarily on mitigation, to bo...

Since the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), the framing of adaptation has moved further from a focus on biophysical vulnerability to the wider social and economic drivers of vulnerability and people’s ability to respond (robust evidence, high agreement). These drivers include the gender, age, health, social status, and ethnicity of individuals and gr...

The resilience concept requires greater attention to human livelihoods if it is to address the limits to adaptation strategies and the development needs of the planet’s poorest and most vulnerable people. Although the concept of resilience is increasingly informing research and policy, its transfer from ecological theory to social systems leads to...

The coastal zone of Bangladesh, covering 32% of the land area and home to 30% of the population, is one of the regions that is most vulnerable to climate change and sea-level rise. The fertile land of the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta provides a productive base for agriculture, and the coast offers a diversity of natural resources, such as marine fisher...

While most adaptation actions occur at the local level, there is an absence of commitment at the international level to channel adaptation finance to local communities. Without such a commitment, there is a risk that climate finance will continue to support top-down, centralized activities that may struggle to address the needs of vulnerable commun...