STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Despite strong national policies and budget allocations on climate change and gender equality, Bangladesh is struggling to translate these measures into tangible benefits for climate-vulnerable women, said experts at a roundtable yesterday.

The event, titled “Gender-Responsive Climate Governance in Bangladesh: Strengthening Policy, Institutions and Sectoral Action”, was jointly organised by The Daily Star and UNDP Bangladesh at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka.

Speakers stressed that instead of routine “budget tagging” or broad gender allocations, the government needs outcome-based tracking and stronger inter-ministerial accountability to assess how climate finance is actually supporting marginalised women and sustainable development.

Dr Tania Haque, professor of Women and Gender Studies at Dhaka University, said Bangladesh does not face a policy gap but a major implementation challenge driven by reactive approaches.

She said existing policies often portray women mainly as victims of climate disasters, rather than recognising them as active agents of change.

She proposed establishing a “National Climate Ombudsman” to improve oversight and introducing a “Time Poverty Index” to measure women’s unpaid care work.

Prof Sharmind Neelormi of Economics at Jahangirnagar University said climate impacts such as coastal salinity are not caused solely by climate change, citing factors like the Farakka Barrage’s backwater effect and unplanned shrimp farming. She called for better climate attribution in budgeting.

She added that isolated five-year project cycles have failed to create lasting change, leaving structural vulnerabilities affecting women largely unchanged from 2000 to 2026.

She proposed integrating quantifiable KPIs in national budgeting and linking social safety nets, such as the “Family Card”, with climate hotspot data to help vulnerable households graduate from vulnerability.

Md Shamsoddoha, chief executive of Centre for Participatory Research and Development, said discussions on gendered impacts of climate change are often limited to regions like Satkhira and Khulna and to water scarcity issues.

He warned that women’s daily exposure to saline conditions during household work poses serious reproductive health risks.

SEE PAGE 11 COL 6