Young people should have a role in decision-making

Bangladesh does not need to be told what climate change looks like. We live with it. Floods swallow farmland, cyclones tear through coastal homes, salinity threatens drinking water, rivers erode entire villages, and heat stress weakens people and livelihoods.

Families are displaced and often forced to rebuild with little or nothing.

These are not future risks. They are present realities, shaping health, food and water security, and the futures of millions of young people.

Bangladesh has done much of the planning. The National Adaptation Plan and NDC 3.0 offer a serious policy foundation. But plans do not protect a family when an embankment breaks. Adaptation is measured not by documents endorsed, but by lives made safer.

Young people must also have a meaningful role in decisions. Young people, women, persons with disabilities and other communities facing greater barriers should shape adaptation planning, implementation, monitoring and decision making. Inclusion is not a courtesy. It is what makes adaptation work.

COP31 should build on the 59 Belém Adaptation Indicators adopted at COP30. Progress towards the Global Goal on Adaptation should be assessed through improvements in people’s resilience and quality of life, with support for developing countries to use the indicators in ways that reflect their national circumstances.

The message from Bangladesh’s youth is simple: move from plans to people, from consultation to leadership, and from short term projects to long term resilience.

The climate is not waiting for negotiators.