As aforementioned, Bangladesh suffers gravely from climate vulnerability, and this was not an exception in 2007, when several natural disasters ravaged the country. It was this key moment where Sheikh Hasina realised the essentiality of transforming herself and Bangladesh into climate leaders, and focused on her efforts on a more distinct environmental policy. 

Bangladesh’s Heightened Susceptibility

Bangladesh faces immense challenges due to climate change. It has a population of over 150 million people, commonly living in overpopulated areas. It is a country that is prone to suffer tremendously from climate change. In an average year, 40% of Bangladesh’s total land area is flooded and river erosion washes away approximately 1% of arable and cultivable land. Additionally, climate displacement is a threatening reality for Bangladesh, with an urgent need for housing, land, and property right solutions. 

According to a journal article titled Bangladesh in 2007: Democracy Interrupted, Political and Environmental Challenges Ahead, there exists a mounting importance of implementing policy changes due to ‘relentless population pressures, deforestation, and long time lag inherent in even successful programs to control global warming.’ Moreover, Hagerty states that Bangladeshi scientists estimate that by 2030, up to 20% of the country’s land may be lost to flooding, a phenomenon that will result in 20 million climate refugees. 

The socio-economic composition of Bangladesh is also vulnerable. After securing its independence from Pakistan in 1971, the new state that was created was extremely poor, enduring devastating famines and widespread poverty, a reality that Bangladesh continues to cope with to this day.

Impact of the Natural Disasters

Amidst these circumstances of environmental vulnerability and socio-economic challenges, the natural disasters of 2007 marked a defining moment for Sheikh Hasina.  These include the devastating floods of June and July as well as Cyclone Sidr in November. 

The effects of climate change became indisputable in Bangladesh in 2007, and were factors that played a paramount role in intensifying the efforts to tackle climate change and focus on disaster impacts in the country. There were two consecutive floods in June and August that caused approximately USD $1.1 billion in economic damage. These floods were followed by Cyclone Sidr in November, which led to an estimated damage of USD $1.7 billion. 

Aside from the economic consequences, these natural disasters had vast repercussions on infrastructure, the population, and the socio-economic status of the Bangladeshi population. Cyclone Sidr was a category 4 super-cyclone, which meant it reached peak winds of up to 250 km/h. The cyclone affected approximately thirty of the sixty-four districts of Bangladesh, with a total of 8.9 million people impacted by the storm. Approximately 3,500 people lost their lives and 1,001 were reported missing.

In terms of livestock, 2.2 million acres of crops were damaged, particularly rice fields, as it was Aman season. Hence, the timing of the cyclone was detrimental as the area affected boasted of a unique harvest. Additionally, 1.5 million households were damaged, which left millions without shelter. The damage was particularly concerning due to the low quality infrastructure in Bangladesh. Half of thatched roof homes, which housed the extremely poor, were destroyed. A high proportion of wood-framed houses were also severely damaged or destroyed.

Initial estimates showed that approximately 86,000 families needed nongovernmental organisation support to fully rebuild homes and almost twice as many needed rehabilitation aid. These environmental disasters also devastated the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forests in the world. The resulting flooding and food shortages exacerbated the devastation further.

While the number of deaths were significantly reduced compared to Cyclone Gorky (1991) due to improved disaster management strategies, relief rehabilitation and more effective evacuation, the natural disasters still caused substantial damage. The exposure to the floodings early in the year, and the subsequent Cyclone Sidr highlighted the inequalities present in Bangladesh as well as the failures of the current disaster relief system. 

According to M. Nadiruzzaman and D. Wrathall in Participatory Exclusion- Cyclone Sidr and its Aftermath, the damage was disastrous due to weak infrastructure, but it was worsened by other exogenous factors. The population suffered from material losses and the unequal allocation of resources due to the nepotism, extortion, corruption, and abuse of political power, factors deeply rooted within the political and socio-economic system of Bangladesh.

Local elites had control over crucial development aides, harming the structurally disadvantaged, and leading to disparities in climate resilience across social and economic groups. Additionally, the amount of shelters for those displaced was inadequate to cover those living in coastal districts. Hence, the destruction and related socio-economic losses were due to both harsh storm conditions as well as the shortcomings of the embankment and relief systems.

The natural disasters resulted in the Caretaker Government (pre-Sheikh Hasina) establishing a recovery and action plan to minimise the effects of future weather events. The government of Bangladesh, along with numerous international experts, analysed the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr and undertook a damage and loss assessment to fully comprehend the damage caused by the meteorological event. In this regard, they estimated the total damage to equal around BDT ৳115.6 billion (around USD $1.7 billion) under the Joint Damage, Loss, and Needs Assessment (JDNLA) . 

Defining Moment for Sheikh Hasina

These natural disasters occurred in 2007, when the caretaker government (CTG) of Bangladesh was in power. The CTG in Bangladesh was a system whereby a neutral, nonpartisan, and non-elected government governed for an interim period during the transition from one elected government to another, managing the government and parliamentary elections. During this time, prospective political parties began presenting their candidacies and building up support for the elections. These were scheduled for early 2007, but were postponed by the military-backed CTG due to boycotting, political polarisation, and a state of emergency.

Over this period, the Awami League (AL) formed a coalition with fourteen other parties – referred to as the ‘Grand Alliance’ – to pursue electoral victory. Elections were held finally in December of 2008.

The AL’s political agenda was proposed through Vision 2021, a campaign aimed at transforming Bangladesh into a middle-income country by 2021 and achieving sustainable development across various economic sectors. In her pursuit for political leverage, Sheikh Hasina capitalised on these natural disasters to argue and recognize the need for an approach of sustainable development that would seek to build back a better Bangladesh. 

The political agenda of the AL had various points that suggested socio-economic forwardness, including poverty reduction and strong governance. However, most prominently, it focused on sustainable development. It included becoming more environmentally sustainable through the protection and improvement in the management of natural resources, a significant reduction in pollution, more efficient urban planning, and an effective natural disaster management system.

These were points that resonated with the Bangladeshi population, particularly following the disasters from the year prior. It was through the political manifesto of Vision 2021 that Hasina successfully leveraged the devastating effects of the natural disasters to propose the reorientation of the socio-economic future of Bangladesh and emphasise the need for an improved and effective system of environmental adaptation. 

Beginning with the natural disasters of 2007, one can observe a more regulated environmental national policy in Bangladesh. During Sheikh Hasina’s first term (1996-2024), the national policy on sustainability was centred on disaster response and relief.  From 2003, when  the Bangladesh Nationalist Party was governing, there was a paradigm shift, with an emphasis on a comprehensive disaster risk reduction system. While this approach was more holistic, financial instruments were not used appropriately to implement this new strategy. It was only from 2008 onwards when the paradigm shifted to one focused on climate change adaptation. 

The change is attributed to global policy frameworks, political instability, the CTG (prepared the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) and formulated the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF) and most notably, extreme weather events, like Cyclone Sidr. This change brought about a more dedicated effort on addressing climate change across various sectors, taking into account all dimensions of climate impacts, and acknowledging both short and long-term risks. The natural disasters of 2007 highlighted the need for more comprehensive policies, which prompted the implementation of major policy documents including the BCCSAP (2009), the revised NAPA (2009), and the National Plan for Disaster Management (2010), all instituted by Sheik Hasina shortly after achieving electoral victory.

In a speech given at Lund University in 2009, Sheikh Hasina emphasised that the major concerns of the government were ´food security, strengthening democracy, countering terrorism, [and] adapting to climate change…´. Through this, Sheikh Hasina highlighted the newly-emerged importance of tackling climate change in Bangladesh, an issue that was undoubtedly put in front-stage due to the 2007 climate crisis.

IExRAIA Summer Research Program:

This article is an excerpt from a report about Sheikh Hasina produced as part of an RAIA research program on climate leaders. For a full picture of Hasina’s climate leadership, read the full report. This project was fully financed by IE University’s IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs.

Authors: Mariana Gamez and Aimee Wolff

Editor: Ruby Hawari

Project Lead: Francia Morales

Disclaimer:

The RAIA Team would like to inform the reader that this report was researched and written between May and July 2024, preceding the zenith of Bangladesh’s student protests and ultimate exile of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. This report is additionally not written as an assessment of Hasina’s democratic legitimacy, and makes an objective assessment of the climate change-related policies that she promoted during her time as prime minister of Bangladesh.

For this reason, therefore, the research heretofore does not include information or analysis regarding the student protests, the eventual transition of power to the current interim government, nor of any ongoing political events within the country. As a consequence, the evaluated impacts of the policies may not reflect their future, now possibly impacted by the current developments in Bangladesh.