Multistakeholder collaboration for urban climate change resilience in Bangladesh
International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED) publish a policy brief about Asian Cities Climate Resilience (November 2015).
The findings presented in the document are drawn from research published in the Asian Cities Climate Resilience working paper series. The policy brief focus on: “Multistakeholder collaboration for urban climate change resilience in Bangladesh”.
The authors, Sarder Shafiqul Alam, A T M Jahangir Alam and Sowmen Rahman(http://www.icccad.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/10748IIED.pdf) are convince thatimproved multistakeholder collaboration in the water and sanitation sector can contribute towards building greater urban climate resilience in Dhaka City. “However, the challenge is to ensure all stakeholders come forward to improve the present situation of service provision and find effective means of collaboration. At present, informal settlements in Dhaka lack basic services and infrastructure, and are becoming home to more and more rural migrants.” mention the briefing. It reveals that NGOs and government agencies don’t consider climate change resilience when they do implementation of their initiatives to addressing the water and sanitation deficit. “Current processes of stakeholder collaboration are still limited”. The briefing provides an overview of existing initiatives and collaborations in improving water and sanitation infrastructure, and recommends approaches to improving multistakeholder collaboration in addressing the water and sanitation needs and resilience of low-income settlements in Dhaka. In their large documentation for their research, authors mention Uganda experience with Interview: from project-based to institutionalized multi-stakeholder learning in the water sanitation and hygiene sector: experience from Uganda (http://journal.km4dev.org/index.php/km4dj/article/viewFile/168/263 )
In Dhaka the two main climate change impacts are heavy rainfall, leading to flooding and drainage congestion, and heat stress resulting from rising temperatures.
The city have over 5 million slum dwellers living without effective waste disposal systems, protective infrastructure or quality services. These barriers increase the vulnerability of residents to climate change impacts, on top of having to live and work in very dense settlements often located in hazardprone, exposed areas.3,5,6 The residents of informal settlements receive an inadequate supply of piped water due to problems in the existing infrastructure, such as leakages in the pipes, and there is no coverage in the settlements. Etc.
To address this situation four Policy pointers have to be consider, in the opinion of the authors:
-The Bangladesh national government can play a coordinating role across agencies and actors in building urban climate change resilience in Dhaka.
-A collaborative approach across stakeholders working in the water and sanitation sector, from government agencies, NGOs and the private sector to local communities, can reduce overlapping and duplication of activities and more effectively address climate change resilience.
– A national urban policy and strategic action plan is required to guide stakeholders in taking the appropriate measures in developing urban water and sanitation infrastructure and services.
– Addressing infrastructure deficits while building climate change resilience should adopt an integrated approach, including needs assessments of local settlements, land tenure situations and likely climate change impacts, to better tailor approaches.
You can download this policy brief here