Experts and local leaders call for urgent, gender-responsive climate adaptation in Bangladesh’s drought-hit Barind region, warning that worsening water scarcity and inequality threaten Indigenous women farmers and long-term food security.
The Barind region, one of South Asia’s most drought-affected agro-ecological zones, faces mounting climate pressures that are severely undermining livelihoods, particularly for Indigenous communities heavily reliant on agriculture. Experts warn that the region’s worsening water scarcity and prolonged dry spells demand rapid, gender-responsive adaptation efforts to safeguard food security and community resilience.
These concerns were underscored at an advocacy meeting in Rajshahi on Thursday, where specialists and local leaders called for integrated climate strategies aligned with global frameworks such as the SDGs and gender commitments under the UNFCCC.
The event, Climate Change: Adaptation Initiatives, was organised by the Association for Community Development (ACD) under its Cultivating Change project, supported by Oxfam in Bangladesh. It was held at Hotel Warisan and chaired by Prof Dipakendra Nath Das, former head of the Rajshahi Education Board.
Indigenous women on the frontlines
The discussion emphasised that climate impacts in the Barind region are deeply gendered. Approximately 12,000 Indigenous women agricultural workers in Tanore and Godagari are directly involved in crop production, yet they face persistent wage discrimination and have limited access to training, irrigation facilities and modern agricultural technologies.
These women perform essential tasks including paddy and vegetable cultivation, seedling transplantation, weeding and harvesting. Despite this, participants noted that their contributions remain undervalued and existing climate adaptation programmes often fail to address structural inequalities.
“We must recognise that Indigenous women farmers carry disproportionate climate burdens while receiving the least institutional support,” one expert said during the session, stressing the need for targeted capacity building and fair wage assurance.
Climate pressures intensifying
Researchers and officials discussed the region’s declining groundwater levels, increasing evapotranspiration and shrinking crop yields, factors that place the Barind at the centre of Bangladesh’s broader climate vulnerability.
Professor Jalal Uddin Sardar of the University of Rajshahi and senior representatives from the Department of Environment and the Department of Youth Development highlighted that without swift adaptation measures rural livelihoods risk becoming unsustainable.
Indigenous farmer Olivia Biswas illustrated the changing reality: “Earlier we cultivated only one type of crop. Now we have diversified. Even during droughts some crops survive and our livelihoods continue.”
Pathways forward
Speakers called for the expansion of drought-tolerant crop varieties, community-based water conservation systems and increased investment in women-focused agricultural training. They also underscored the importance of integrating Indigenous ecological knowledge into adaptation planning, an approach increasingly recommended in global climate policy discussions.
Experts urged policymakers, development partners and donors to adopt a holistic climate strategy that centres gender justice, Indigenous rights and long-term resilience to confront the accelerating climate crisis in the Barind region.
