Cherishing ‘climate volunteers’

Not many nations reinvent themselves twice within one month. Yet in August, Bangladesh did just that.

First, a student-led uprising forced an autocratic ruler to flee, restoring democracy in the South Asian country and renewing people’s faith in civic equality. Then days later, a country with the world’s largest delta saw its worst flooding in more than three decades, lasting into early September. Perhaps in part because of the democratic renewal, citizens by the tens of thousands gave time and money to more than 5.5 million people affected by the heavy rains.

The spontaneous generosity ranged from girls breaking open their piggy banks, to famed actors taking supplies to inundated villages, to a concert with some 30 bands raising money. The university students who led the uprising quickly pivoted to aid work and donation collection.

“The flooding has given us an opportunity to rediscover a missing characteristic of the nation – the united strength,” wrote journalist Shiabur Rahman in The Financial Express.

“The empathy the nation has shown for the flood victims is unprecedented,” he stated. “Volunteers – both trained and untrained – coming from different strata of society rushed to the affected areas to join the relief activities risking their lives, alongside the government efforts.”

Mr. Rahman makes a crucial connection between the two big events in August: “If we enjoy more freedom and get united, combating disasters will be easier for us.”

Bangladesh is already known as a social innovator with its use of microloans for poor people to start a business. And with other wise reforms, its poverty rate has plummeted in recent years. Yet as the low-lying country experiences increased flooding from extreme weather, it is also setting a model for citizen participation in disaster response. The mass action in August and into September by its “climate volunteers” has not gone unnoticed in other countries working to increase volunteerism to deal with wildfires, storms, and drought.

“Very few pay attention to the skills of volunteers and citizens who often lead response as disasters unfold,” Janne Parviainen, a researcher at the Stockholm Environment Institute, wrote for Euractiv media network last year. He adds that a bottom-up approach to climate adaptation “should be cherished.” In Bangladesh, for sure, people now cherish their climate volunteers, perhaps as much as they cherish their democracy.