Report on a Mission of Displacement Solutions to Bangladesh to Examine Climate-Induced

REPORT ON A MISSION OF DISPLACEMENT SOLUTIONS TO BANGLADESH TO EXAMINE CLIMATE-INDUCED DISPLACEMENT AND PROVIDE TRAINING ON HOUSING, LAND AND PROPERTY RIGHTS FOR CLIMATE DISPLACED COMMUNITIES

9-13 JANUARY 2011

Purpose of the Mission

Bangladesh is one of the countries that stands to lose most from the effects of climate change. Bangladesh’s vulnerability to climate change is made up of a combination of geographic and social factors – not only is the low-lying landscape regularly ravaged by cyclones, floods and droughts, but the high population density, low development and widespread poverty make the effects of the natural disasters all the more widespread.

One of the primary ways in which Bangladesh’s vulnerability to climate change will manifest is through climate displacement. Ultimately, it is forecast that anywhere 20-35 million people will be forced to leave housing, land and property behind as a consequence of climate change in Bangladesh. But this is not just a problem for the future - the Association for Climate Refugees (ACR), a close partner of Displacement Solutions, estimates that there are already 6.5 million climate displaced persons in Bangladesh. These vast figures underscore the need for urgent action now to find concrete solutions for both the climate displaced persons in Bangladesh today, and for plans to be developed to best guide the inevitable future displacement, so that these people enjoy the full spectrum of human rights to which they are fully entitled under international law.

Towards this end, as part of Displacement Solution’s Climate Change and Displacement Initiative, Displacement Solutions (DS) sent a 5-person team to Bangladesh from 9-13 January 2011 in partnership with the Association for Climate Refugees (ACR) and Young Power in Social Action (YPSA). The mission team was comprised of Scott Leckie (DS

1 Director), Simon Studer (DS Board Member), Zeke Simperingham (DS), Jordan Bakker (DS) and Kadir van Lohuizen (Photographer, NOOR Images). The mission was made possible thanks to a generous grant of the Department of International Solidarity of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland.

The purpose of this mission was to engage in strategic planning to address the climate displacement crisis in Bangladesh, as well as to carry out intensive housing, land and property (HLP) training with 35 Bangladeshi climate displacement activists and to visit climate-affected areas. Over the course of the mission, extensive discussions were held about the Bangladesh HLP Initiative, a comprehensive joint 5-year plan between ACR and DS to find concrete rights-based solutions for the 6.5 million climate displaced persons in Bangladesh today. This plan will be finalized in early 2011.

The mission was comprised of three central parts. Firstly, a Strategy Session was held to develop longer-term plans for the joint efforts of DS and ACR. Secondly, an intensive field mission was carried out to the Dacope sub-district in Khulna district, perhaps the single area of the world generating more climate displacement than anywhere else. Finally, a day-long, 20 module training session on Climate Displacement and Housing, Land and Property Rights was held in Jessore.

Strategy Meeting with the Association for Climate Refugees – 10 January 2011

On the first substantive day of the mission, a full day Strategic Meeting was held with a view to developing long-term strategic co-operation and specific action plans to tackle the issue of climate displacement in Bangladesh. This full-day meeting began with the brief introduction of each of the 25 people present. Following this, the session resulted in a number of interesting discussions between participants and greatly reinforced the already strong relationship between ACR and DS.

Session 1 – Mohammed Abu Musa

The first session of this meeting was led by Mohammed Abu Musa, the Founder and Executive Director of ACR, and covered the scope of the displacement situation in Bangladesh, as well as the work and plans of his organization. He began by expressing his gratitude to the DS team for coming to Bangladesh in partnership with ACR, and shared his hope for ACR and DS to work together closely to find solutions for the many climate displaced persons of Bangladesh.

Abu Musa began by stating that ACR calculates that there are 6.5 million climate displaced persons in 24 out of the 64 districts that make up Bangladesh. The climate displacement in 12 of these districts is due to river flooding, whilst the displacement in the other 12 districts is on the coast, largely in the southwest of Bangladesh. He emphasized that these two kinds of displacement often involve different considerations and require different solutions.

In terms of the governmental response to this displacement crisis, Abu Musa explained that the complete focus has thus far been on engineering and aid packages, rather than focusing on finding durable solutions for all of those displaced. Speaking on behalf of ACR, he emphasized that the engineering approach, in the absence of other measures, could not sufficiently address the issue at hand, and, in the past, such efforts had actually caused more problems than they solved.1 Furthermore, he stressed that, although

1 This was the case in the 1960s, when polders were built to protect against erosion. These polders eventually caused the surrounding land to subside and reduced the rate of new land formation.

2 essential in the short-term, the distribution of aid packages cannot be a sustainable long-term solution. He explained that the majority of the displaced persons currently receiving aid are unemployed and completely reliant upon these packages for their survival.

Having outlined this alarming situation, Abu Musa went on to describe the work of ACR. As an alliance of 200 grassroots community organizations, ACR has a presence in 21 of the 24 affected districts. It plans to have connections with organizations in all 64 districts, as every district in Bangladesh will likely receive climate displaced persons for relocation.

Abu Musa indicated that ACR’s plans will focus initially on assisting 10,000 of the poorest and most needy of the 6.5 climate displaced persons in Bangladesh to set a solid precedent as to how solutions can be found for these people, which can then be followed by ACR and others to assist the remaining displaced persons. ACR will help this group through two plans; the Emergency Relocation Plan and the Regular HLP Program Intervention Plan. The former will allow people to temporarily occupy dry land and have access to food supplies for 90 days whilst their own lands are inundated. They believe they already have sufficient resources to make this Plan a reality.

The Regular HLP Program Intervention Plan involves action in each of the areas of housing, land and property. In the area of housing and property, ACR will develop climate resilient technology, provide cash support for those whom lose their homes, and design plans for relocation. In the area of land, they will investigate alternative land dispute resolution, land reclamation and river maintenance. Incorporating both the Emergency Relocation Plan and the Regular HLP Program Intervention plan, ACR has costed the resettlement of one family of 5-6 people at US$1150. Consequently, to adequately resettle the existing climate displaced population in the country will require an expenditure of some 1.15 billion US dollars. The total national budget for Bangladesh in fiscal year 2010/2011 is approximately US$ 19 billion; more than enough to resource durable solutions to the countries climate displaced population.

Abu Musa than wrapped up the session by expressing his hope that DS would assist ACR’s plans in whatever way they could, and re-stated his desire that the two organizations maintain a strong working partnership into the future, united by the shared view to resolve climate displacement in Bangladesh.

Session 2 – Scott Leckie

Scott Leckie, the director of DS, opened the second session by expressing, on behalf of the DS-team, his appreciation of ACR for helping to organize the Bangladesh mission, and of Banchte Shekha, the organization that provided accommodation and food for the DS-team in Jessore for the duration of the mission.

Leckie utilized this session to suggest ways in which DS could assist ACR in their work and make suggestions to them about their strategy. First, he explained that DS could assist ACR in several ways, and that many of these would be at the international level. In particular, he mentioned DS’ willingness to attempt to find donors willing to fund the work of ACR, to raise global awareness of the issue of climate displacement in Bangladesh, and to advocate for, and generate themselves, rights-based solutions to this problem.

Leckie went on to make several suggestions to ACR about their strategy. Firstly, he emphasized the importance of finding rights-based solutions for those displaced, and commended ACR on using HLP rights to guide their Regular HLP Program Intervention

3 Plan. He then urged ACR to influence the membership of the Climate Change Adaptation Committee and of the Green Climate Fund, both originating from the recently concluding UNFCCC meeting held in Cancun, Mexico, which resulted in the Cancun Adaptation Framework. Additionally, he recommended that ACR come up with what could be called a “magic number” that shows how much it would cost to solve the issue of climate displacement in Bangladesh, so as to assist in procuring funding and to guide ACR in their own planning. Also, he suggested that ACR lobby for a tri-partite national fund for climate displaced persons, governed by a partnership of government, business and civil society actors. Lastly, Leckie announced DS’ eagerness to work in partnership with ACR in addressing the climate displacement crisis in Bangladesh.

Session 3 and Session 4 – Scott Leckie and Mohammed Abu Musa

In the third session, Scott Leckie requested that the members of ACR brainstorm amongst themselves about what they believed to be the ideal way for DS to assist them in their own operations. This was done so as to better understand the needs and desires of ACR. Participants were broken up into smaller groups and carried our discussions in Bangla.

The suggestions that arose from this session were varied and encouraged further discussion amongst the whole group. The ideas raised in the third session were then addressed in greater detail during the fourth session, which focused on the joint five- year action plan between DS and ACR, and was directed by both Leckie and Abu Musa. In response to the suggestion of information sharing, Leckie explained that the DS website is already and will continue to be a clearinghouse of information relating to climate displacement in Bangladesh and the work of ACR, particularly until ACR’s own website becomes active. He expressed DS’ commitment to try to assist further in this area if ACR needed such help. The suggestion that DS could facilitate connections between ACR and other international organizations was incorporated into the joint 5 year plan.

This session closed with Leckie and Abu Musa committing to finalize this 5 year plan, the Bangladesh HLP Initiative, in early 2011.

Session 5 – Scott Leckie, Ezekiel Simperingham and Mohammed Abu Musa

The last session of the day related to the utility of the name “Association for Climate Refugees”. Abu Musa started this session by explaining the terminology ACR has been using to outline the most needy of those affected by climate change. He said that the use of the term “refugee” was to convey the urgency and seriousness of the plight of these people.

In response, Leckie and Simperingham outlined the various issues surrounding the existence of the word “refugee” in ACR’s name. Simperingham noted that, in terms of international law, the use of this word in the case of climate displacement in Bangladesh is incorrect, implying that these people qualify for protection is non-existent. Furthermore, he explained that internationally recognized refugees are stigmatized in a negative light, and thus, the use of this word in ACR’s name might work against them. Leckie emphasized the difficulty associated with changing an organizations name, and the potentially progressive political message their current name might have.

Abu Musa closed this session by committing to have a meeting with the board members of ACR to further discuss the utility of their name and consider the points made by both Leckie and Simperingham.

Field Visit – 11 January 2011

4 ACR and its partner organizations arranged an intensive 17-hour field visit for the DS- team which allowed the mission team to see first-hand the scale of climate displacement in this one region of the country. Over the course of this day, the team travelled from Jessore district to numerous locations throughout Khulna district, sometimes travelling by van, other times walking, but most of the time in various small boats that traversed large sections of the delta region. Visiting scores of displaced communities and interviewing a large number of CDPs, the mission was overwhelmed both by the horrendous physical conditions in which these communities were forced by circumstance to live, as well as the remarkable resilience and dignity displayed by the communities we visited. More than 60,000 people are displaced in the Dacope sub- district, and the urgency of finding durable solutions for these people was clear. Beyond the simple, makeshift shelters atop the 3m wide levee where most of the displaced now, live, the almost total reliance on food aid, the 90% unemployment rate and the almost total absence of health care options, the 4C temperatures the mission team encountered during the field visit was a stark reminder of just how much suffering the displaced of Dacope have endured since their displacement more than a year ago.

DS and ACR will continue to prioritise the search for durable land solutions for these communities and aim to identify sufficient alternative land to ensure that these CDP’s have access to the housing, land and property required to secure their basic HLP rights.

In addition to visiting the CDPs, the DS mission also met briefly at a local ACR office and met Mr. Deb Prashad, the Executive Director of LOKAZ, an ACR Partner Organization. Coincidentally, the DS mission also met with the local Member of Parliament for the area, Nani Gopal Mondal, MP of Dacope and Batiaghata, Khulna, on the road and discussed climate displacement in these areas and proposed possible solutions to which the MP seemed amenable. After meeting with the MP, the DS team caught a small boat to the Kamar Kahola (Union within Dacope sub-district of Khulna district) embankment, and there met with officials at the Kamar Kahola ACR office and met Community Leader, Mr. Sohrab Hossain. The team then walked 1km of the Kamar Kahola embankment interviewing people and examining the situation extensively. The team then caught another boat to Satarkhali embankment, passing by scores of inundated villages along the way. After several hours on the water, the DS team was met by ACR vans and proceeded to the Dacope ACR Headquarters in Chalna Bazar. The team arrived back in Jessore late in the evening.

HLP Training Session – 12 January 2011

On the 12 January 2011, Displacement Solutions carried out an intensive, day-long housing, land and property (HLP) rights training with 35 Bangladeshi climate displacement activists, at the Banchte Shekha Guesthouse in Jessore, Bangladesh. Prior to arriving in Bangladesh, ACR and YPSA obtained official approval from the government of Bangladesh for DS to carry out this training. The topics covered by the training included the relationship between human rights (particularly HLP rights), international law and climate displacement, as well as the plight of four other climate-vulnerable countries and their various approaches to both current and looming climate displacement. Lastly, the covered material was related and applied to the Bangladesh HLP Initiative, a comprehensive joint 5-year plan developed by DS and ACR.

Throughout the training the participants were regularly broken into smaller groups to discuss what they had learned in Bangla to ensure that the training was as effective as possible. At one point, participants were encouraged to stand up one-by-one and say out loud; “I have housing, land and property rights. My community has housing, land and property rights”, and they responded with enthusiasm and passion. There was active participation by the participants throughout the training.

5 The 20 Module training session organised along the following lines:

Module 1: Introduction to Climate Change and Displacement (09:00-09:15)

Module 2: International Law and Climate Displacement (09:15-09:30)

Module 3: Human Rights and Climate Displaced Persons (CDPs) (09:30-09:45)

Module 4: The Human Rights Legal Framework (09:45-10:00)

Module 5: Housing, Land and Property (HLP) Rights and CDPs (10:00-10:30)

Tea (10:30-10:45)

Module 6: The HLP Rights Legal Framework (10:45-11:15)

Module 7: Domestic HLP Remedies (11:15-11:45)

Module 8: Internal Relocation (11:45-12:15)

Module 9: Resettlement and Migration (12:15-12:30)

Module 10: National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) and HLP Rights (12:30- 12:45)

Lunch (12:45-13:30)

Module 11: Climate Displacement in Tuvalu (13:30-13:45)

Module 12: Climate Displacement in Kiribati (13:45-14:00)

Module 13: Climate Displacement in Maldives (14:00-14:15)

Module 14: Climate Displacement in Papua New Guinea (14:15-14:45)

Module 15: Film – There Once Was An Island (2010) (14:45-15:00)

Tea (15:00-15:15)

Module 16: Climate Displacement in Bangladesh (15:15-15:30)

Module 17: Group Exercise – Discussing Solutions (15:30-16:00)

Module 18: Developing a Bangladesh HLP Initiative (16:00-17:00)

Module 19: Coordinating the Bangladesh HLP Initiative (17:00-17:30)

Module 20: Financing the Bangladesh HLP Initiative (17:30-18:00)

Displacement Solutions prepared a 150 page Powerpoint presentation which included each of the modules concerned. In addition, copies of the training materials were provided to each participant, as well as various publications on climate change and displacement from DS and UN Habitat.

Given the success of the training programme, DS was asked to present additional training on HLP Rights and Climate Displacement in Chittagong and elsewhere in the country.

Follow-up

6 Over the course of the mission, the Bangladesh HLP Initiative, a comprehensive joint 5- year plan between DS and ACR, was developed further, with a view to finding concrete and nuanced solutions for the climate displacement crisis in Bangladesh. The joint DS- ACR plan will be completed in early 2011.

Daily Programme for DS Mission to Bangladesh (9-13 Jan 2011)

Mission Team: Scott Leckie (Director), Jordan Bakker (DS), Zeke Simperingham (DS), Simon Studer (Board Member) and photographer Kadir van Lohuizen (NOOR Images)

Dat Events Responsibility e

09 TO DHAKA FROM BANGKOK (Dep: 10:55; Arr: 12:30) JAN – Airport Pick-Up by ACR/Muhammad - TG 321)

Sun Lunch at ACR Partner NGO Banchte Shekha

Dhaka Office, Uttara (Next to Airport)

15:30 – 16:30 Press Briefing Prodip

To Jessore from Dhaka by Air (45 minutes)

Dinner: ACR/Muhammad

Stay: Banchte Shekha Guesthouse at Jessore (Next to Airport) Raju

Address: Arabpur, Jessore

Phone: +88 01928-419260 Email: [email protected] Raju

10 Strategy Meetings with Association of Climate DS & ACR JAN – Refugees/Muhammad – All day

Mon Dinner: ACR/Muhammad

Stay: Banchte Shekha Guesthouse

11 HLP TRAINING – Venue (Banchte Shekha Training Center) DS JAN – Dinner: ACR/Muhammad

Tue Stay: ACR Guesthouse

12 FIELD VISITS/MEETINGS: Communities of Climate Displaced Persons in DS JAN Koyra Island (Khulna) and Politicians, others at Chuknagar (Khulna) – Dinner: ACR/Muhammad Wed ACR Stay: Banchte Shekha Guesthouse

7 13 Jessore to Dhaka by Air: Dep 08:00 ; Arr 08:45 ACR JAN – 09:30 – 10:30 Press Debriefing

Thu Airport Transfer – ACR/Muhammad

DHAKA TO BKK – Dep: 13:40; Arr: 17:10 – TG 322 –