Environmental activists have called upon political parties to incorporate clear, time bound and legally enforceable commitments to protect coastal ecosystems and safeguard the livelihoods of coastal communities in their election manifestos, warning that unregulated environmental degradation and climate induced disasters are pushing the country's south western coastal belt into a multidimensional humanitarian and ecological crisis.
The call was made at a general meeting of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) held at the WVA Auditorium in the capital on Sunday, where speakers said climate change driven disasters, river erosion, salinity intrusion and ecosystem destruction are forcing large scale displacement from coastal areas, resulting in a steady decline in population and growing socio economic vulnerability.
BAPA President Professor Nur Mohammad Talukder chaired the meeting, while Nikhil Chandra Bhadra, coordinator of the Sundarbans and Coastal Protection Movement, placed a formal proposal. Among those who addressed the gathering were BAPA Vice President and Bangladesh Environmental Network founder Dr Nazrul Islam, BEN Global Coordinator Dr Md Khalequzzaman, BAPA Vice Presidents Mahidul Haque Khan and Professor M Shahidul Islam, General Secretary Md Alamgir Kabir and Joint Secretary Professor Ahmed Kamruzzaman Majumder.
Ahead of the 13th national parliamentary election, the meeting adopted an 11- point demand urging all political parties to reflect these issues in their respective manifestos as a matter of constitutional responsibility and public accountability. The demands include declaring coastal areas as climate vulnerable special zones, allocating dedicated funds in the national budget for coastal protection, ensuring long-term solutions to salinity control and access to safe drinking water, and converting every coastal household into a shelter capable structure to reduce disaster related losses.
Other demands include ensuring representation of affected communities in coastal decision making processes, taking effective steps to protect the Sundarbans as a global heritage site, freeing rivers and water bodies from encroachment and pollution to restore natural flow, creating green belts through large scale afforestation, constructing durable embankments and repairing existing ones, promoting sustainable agriculture and alternative livelihoods, and establishing a statutory Coastal Development Board.
In the proposal, speakers noted that although Bangladesh is responsible for only 0.4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, it remains one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world, with coastal regions bearing the brunt of the impacts. Over the past two decades, the frequency of disasters in coastal areas has increased tenfold due to climate change, severely affecting lives, livelihoods, property, food security, water supply and housing.
The meeting highlighted an acute drinking water crisis across coastal zones, exacerbated by salinity intrusion and unplanned shrimp farming, particularly in the Sundarbans region. According to the proposal, "73 percent of families in the Sundarbans coastal belt are deprived of safe drinking water or forced to rely on unsafe sources."
Speakers also pointed to the absence of sustainable embankments, which allows even regular tidal surges to flood vast coastal areas each year, causing recurring damage to crops, homes and infrastructure. Encroachment, pollution and siltation of rivers and water bodies were cited as key drivers of environmental collapse, contributing to forced migration and population decline in the south western coast. Environmentalists stressed that without strong political commitment, policy coherence and a coordinated national action plan, the coastal crisis will continue to deepen, posing serious threats to human security, environmental justice and the country's long- term ecological sustainability.
