What’s on young people’s minds in Bangladesh? How to get a job, how to find a scholarship…the climate crisis?
There’s a lot on the minds of young people in Bangladesh. For International Youth Day, we speak to one young person whose mind is on the climate. Imran Hossain’s father was killed by the climate crisis when he was just seven years old. It was during Cyclone Aila, and his father was swept away by a completely unexpected tidal surge. Bangladesh is already one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, and global warming is making those disasters more severe and more frequent. A decade and a half on from Cyclone Aila, Imran now represents Bangladesh at global climate meetings, using his father’s story to call for climate action.
How do you view the climate crisis now, compared to when you were growing up?
Imran: Even a few years ago I didn’t understand the impact that global warming was having on Bangladesh. When we had to migrate to a new area after a deadly storm, I didn’t know this was climate migration. I saw floods destroying crops, swelling rivers destroying houses and killing livestock, and I could see patterns – but I had no idea it was global warming. Elders would tell me these sufferings were atonement for our sins. We also have a lot of folklore that follows similar lines. I was never satisfied with these answers, though.
I started joining youth networks working for climate justice, and volunteering for climate-related activities. One particular event changed my perspective – the National Youth Conference. Asif (Saleh) from BRAC was a speaker there, and he spoke about ‘Amra Notun (We are the new) Network’, a network for young people where we all could make a difference. That conference ignited something in me.