Fields, Factories, and Floating Schools: Climate Resilience in Bangladesh

As one of the most climate change-vulnerable countries, adaptation and mitigation have become an essential component to Bangladesh's development. This project, with reporting by Fred de Sam Lazaro, of the Under-Told Stories Project, explores Bangladesh's fight for climate resilience through three concrete and interconnected stories highlighting the country’s environmental and economic challenges.

We visit Mohamed Rezwan, a visionary engineer behind a network of floating schools that has expanded beyond education to encompass agriculture, health care, and job training—a lifeline to flood-prone communities. His adaptive solution addresses multiple facets of life interrupted by intense flooding brought on by storms and glacial melt.

Along with erratic weather, rising sea levels are increasing salinity and devastating crops. We visit BRAC's effort to intervene with a seed bank initiative which equips farmers with durable seed varieties and consultation on how to adapt.

We also head to Dhaka to examine the garment industry, a vital economic pillar employing over 4 million people, mostly young women. Amid growing global demand for sustainability and firsthand exposure to the impacts of climate change, several factories in Bangladesh have adopted a green agenda, striving to reduce their environmental footprint while striving to stay competitive.