Urbanization and climate change are two mega-trends in Bangladesh. According to the UN climate central, Bangladesh will experience severe impact of climate change by 2050 and more than 19 coastal districts of Bangladesh will go under water and the coastal displacement and migrate to urban area will increase in future.Also, by 2030- Dhaka will be the 4th largest urban population in the world. Cities constantly experience changes, but contemporary urban change processes are unparalleled. Cities struggle with a variety of interrelated challenges, including pollution, poverty and inequality, ageing infrastructure and climate change. Thus, as result of rapid urbanization and climate variables today almost 4 million low income people live in Dhaka slum areas.They are involved in informal sectors due to lack of education and other necessary skills. These people are also deprived from government supports and services. They do not have education, health, social safety-net, housing rights in urban area which make them more vulnerable to informal urban life. Most of them have migrated from southern coast, northern and north-east wetland (Haor) areas due to river collapse, floods, salinity, cyclones, water surges, drought etc. These people even face water logging, flooding, and heat wave, non-communicable diseases after migrating to cities dueto worse housing conditions and poor utilities and sewerage conditions. Urbanization in its current form causes significant changes in land use, energy demand, biodiversity and lifestyles and raises questions about the contribution of cities to global environmental change. The three main transformation areas are identified in Bangladesh like housing, transports and food to reduce the emission and make cities more livable and healthier. A fundamental change is needed to achieve the goals of development in Bangladesh.
Nonetheless, BARCIK organizes community level meetings, discussions on the right based issues to increase the knowledge of urban slum people and raise their voice in urban life. The staff also facilitate the community to build community level organizations and network with like-minded organizations, CBOs, NGOs. BARCIK organizes sharing meeting with the government service delivery agencies to ensure services for urban poor. The organization facilitates the urban low income people to conduct policy advocacy works with the policy makers, City Corporation, government high officials to make urban poor friendly policy and to make city climate friendly and livable for all people.
The urban problems like poverty, health, education, transport, urbanization, climate crisis etc. are interrelated and BARCIK has been taken one of the entry points to ensure climatic justice of the urban poor along with like-minded organizations in Dhaka urban slum areas. BARCIK sharesright based information such as government supports and services to the urban slum people through community level meetings, discussions, sharing meeting, resource sharing. Additionally, BARCIK is also facilitating the urban low income people and youths so that they could increase their confidence, capacity and strength to address their concerns and problems by themselves.