Theme of 2021 | Climate Change and SRHR
The theme for this year’s SRHR Knowledge Fair is ‘Climate Change and SRHR’, the need for addressing the impacts of climate change on the SRHR of people in Bangladesh who are victims of climate change, especially adolescent girls and women. Bangladesh being the 7th most vulnerable country affected by climate change 1, the people not only struggle to survive and sustain, but also deal with the negative impacts on their sexual and reproductive health consequences of climate change. This theme is important at this moment so that SRHR could be sufficiently focused on the upcoming National Plan for Disaster Management.
Contextualization
Bangladesh is intrinsically vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to its unique geographical location as a low-lying river delta2 . Changing precipitation patterns, such as drought and shorter but more intense rainfall, can have negative direct and indirect impacts on health and can contribute to desertification and flooding, food insecurity, internal and external migration, and increased conflict.
Marginal populations, poor and socially disadvantaged individuals, women, adolescents, children and people with disabilities are often most affected . Knowing that natural disasters 3 can exacerbate pressures for child marriage, response efforts should specifically include provisions to protect and provide opportunities for vulnerable adolescent girls. This includes primarily safe sanitation, clean water, hygiene, and health services, and at the same time secondarily accessible education and income generation opportunities4.
Over the years, researchers are establishing the significant connection between climate change and demeaning SRHR. According to the researchers, in Bangladesh while discriminatory gender roles, power relationships and social norms systematically create gender inequality, climate change and its consequences further intensifies women’s and girls’ social vulnerability causing more child marriage, violence. That is why it is time that we focus on the impact of climate change in the practice of SRHR.
The theme has a broad perspective, however for the 2021 SRHR Knowledge Fair, it will focus on the following thematic topics for discussion –
1. Climate change induced gender-based violence
2. Child marriage and climate change
Alignment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Share-Net Bangladesh aligns its SRHR focused activities to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The thematic topics mentioned above reflect SDG 3, SDG 5 and SDG 13.
SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts