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The Research Day Blog Publication Award Winner...

Winner of 2024 Research Day Blog Publication Award: Mahfida Tahniat!

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We are happy to announce the winner of the 2024 Research Day Blog Publication Award… Mahfida Tahniat!

Mahfida is a PhD student in EDST— her Research Day Post below discusses “floating schools” in Bangladesh, highlighting their role in providing education to communities impacted by climate change.

Mahfida currently has an interactive photo and video exhibit, Beyond the Frame: Floating Schools in Bangladesh, happening at the Ponderosa Commons and Neville Scarfe buildings (July 15 – September 15). More information about this exhibit is shared below.

Floating Schools in Bangladesh: A Journey Towards Empowerment?

by Mahfida Tahniat

In remote areas of Bangladesh, children go to school on boat, called “floating school” which literally floats on water and comes to pick up its students for a regular school day. However, the idea of this floating school is neither a new one nor is it any fancy expensive water ride for the privileged children. Rather, this boat school is free and provides the much-needed education for the most marginalized community living in a country that has been struggling against the climate catastrophe.

Students return home after the end of the classes for the day. The floating boat school moves from one area to another and goes to the children for giving education as the children don’t go to the traditional school because of lack of communication during flooding, Billdohor, Natore.

While the most marginalised people living in villages have contributed little to climate change, not only do they find their villages eroding and becoming smaller and smaller islands, they also suffer the consequences of the increasingly violent storms and deadly cyclones that scientists have attributed to global warming. In fact, the concept of the floating school came as an initiative to climate change adaptation so that both children and adults can get access to the resources to educate themselves.

For a country like Bangladesh, climate justice is no longer a theoretical concept; rather it has become a biting reality and an existential issue since 56% Bangladeshis live in “high climate exposure areas”. Despite producing only 0.56% of global emissions, Bangladesh ranks 7th on the list of countries most vulnerable to climate devastation.

Because of the sea-level rise in Bangladesh, climate crisis contributes to over 10 million Bangladeshis already being displaced as “climate refugees”, unable to farm or survive on their flooded land. The consequences complicate the situation further since “climate change in Bangladesh has started what may become the largest mass migration in human history”. To make the matter worse, it has been estimated that by 2050, one in every seven people in Bangladesh will be displaced by climate change.

My research responds to address these challenges and analyses the floating school’s impact on sustainable community development within climate justice framework while introducing education as a potential remedy against being displaced in the global climate migration context.

A teacher conducts class for grade one students on a boat school at Chatmohor, Pabna.

The impact of climate change on education cannot be taken lightly. Because of climate change’s rising tendency of severe floods and regular cyclones, the educational programs in Bangladesh become frequently disrupted. Education is free in Bangladesh, but children cannot reach school buildings regularly and access their educational needs for various reasons connected to climate change.

Three students smile standing in front of the Boroda Nagar Uttor Para Boat School, Chatmohor, Pabna.

An estimated 3 million children needed education in emergencies assistance in Bangladesh in 2017 and in some areas, schools were used as temporary flood shelters, which had an impact on the learning ability of the students. There were instances of destroyed school infrastructure, damaged roads, disrupted transport facilities as well as higher risk of water-borne infections, malaria, and dengue fever. During the months-long school closure, poor parents can hardly afford to take care of their children, which has further serious consequences.  The long-term consequences are factors in being a climate refugee, including school dropouts, child labour, early marriage leading to an increase in maternal mortality rate.

Against such a backdrop, the floating school might be seen as a creative solution since this boat school brings learning, books and solar-powered electricity to the community (where darkness prevails from a very literal sense to a metaphorical one) and provide education. The Floating School project was initiated by a local NGO in Bangladesh, Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha (SSS) in 2002, and later in 2011, it was adopted by Building Resources Across Communities (BRAC), the largest NGO in the world.

“For Bangladesh, boats are the future,” said Mohammad Rezwan, an architect who is also the founder of SSS. The floating school provides free all-year-round primary education for children up to grade 5, along with library services. Using solar panels as the main source of energy, and through technology-enabled, creative and customized solutions, this school also provides adult education that focuses on sustainable agriculture, healthcare and climate change adaptation. By providing the environmental education, the project has even helped to develop floating crop beds to ensure year-round food supply and income for families in flood-prone areas.

What is interesting about this project is this holistic approach through educational sustainability which has become a test case for community-based adaptation to climate change in Bangladesh. On the one hand, these boats are built, using the local materials and the traditional knowledge of the community and on the other, with the promotion of literacy and trainings, especially among girls and women, the increasing chances for girls’ education and women’s empowerment, can have positive impact in the community development. However:

  • to what extent do parents and community members feel empowered to actively support and contribute to their children’s education and the overall development of the community?
  • how does the floating school program contribute to the economic empowerment of individuals and communities through enhanced livelihood opportunities, entrepreneurship training, and income generation activities?
  • how does it address intersecting forms of oppression and marginalization based on factors such as gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, or socioeconomic status?
  • to what extent does the floating school contribute to building resilience and adaptive capacity among communities, both in terms of education and livelihoods?
  • can education via floating school play an important role in preventing climate refugee impacts?

Only the latest data coming from an in-depth research study can answer these questions—Till then, the journey of the floating school continues in the riverbank communities in Bangladesh!

All Photo Credits: Abir Abdullah/ Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha/ https://shidhulai.org/

BEYOND THE FRAME: FLOATING SCHOOLS IN BANGLADESH

This photo exhibition, Beyond the Frame, is about the floating schools program in Bangladesh which might be seen as a powerful way to address educational needs in the current Climate and Nature Emergency (CNE) context. Even though education is free in Bangladesh, there are significant implications for the delivery of education due to the increasing number of regular cyclones and floods, which the scientists directly attribute to the ongoing climate change.

Against such a backdrop, many children, particularly the marginalised ones, attend schools in boats, called “Floating School” (that literally floats on water), a project initiated by a local NGO, Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha. In 2002, Mohammad Rezwan founded the floating schools program through which both children and adults can get access to the resources to educate and empower themselves. It also provides critically needed adult education on community development through healthcare and sustainable agriculture as well as environmental education and women’s empowerment among the most marginalised communities in Bangladesh.

GLOBAL CLIMATE JUSTICE: BANGLADESH IN FOCUS

The journey of the floating school continues

Climate justice is inherently laden with conceptions of injustice and inequality, as it disproportionately impacts the most vulnerable, living in countries in the global South. For a country like Bangladesh, climate justice is no longer a theoretical concept; rather it has become a biting reality and an existential issue since 56% Bangladeshis live in high climate exposure areas. Bangladesh ranks 7th in the most climate vulnerable countries despite producing only 0.56% of the global emissions. Much of the country remains below 10 meters above sea level and during heavy monsoon rains, 70% of the country ends up under water. For Bangladesh, climate change has started the largest mass migration in human history, and over 10 million Bangladeshis have already become displaced as “climate refugees.” Scientists further predict that Bangladesh will lose 17% of its land by 2050 due to flooding caused by climate change.

Climate Complicity: Responsibility & Relationality

Beyond the Frame is a critical and creative intervention to provide an opportunity for all to engage with the complexities of the Climate and Nature Emergency (CNE) and look beyond the conventional frame of the mainstream approaches of the climate conversation, while contextualizing the CNE from the global South lenses. In the context of climate justice, it is important to acknowledge the disproportionate contribution made by the Western nations like Canada, in causing the climate catastrophe, because of which countries like Bangladesh, are now experiencing the effects of climate reality with far more intensity.

This photo exhibition invites everyone to explore their connection to these climate crises, and specifically recognise their complicity in them; it also emphasizes our shared responsibility and relationality in improving the quality of life for all living beings on the planet Earth!

Please Feel Free to Fill out the Following Survey: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bqlCRyEtAvSOpYa?Q_CHL=qr 

Feedback for the author? Please email: mahfida@student.ubc.ca

Click here to learn more about this exhibit

Click below to open full size photos:

 

 

 

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“All Flourishing is Mutual”: Reciprocity, Education, and Braiding Sweetgrass

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This presentation was originally given at the 2021 EDST Research Day.

EDST students and faculty are invited to share their own reflections, presentations, or memories from Research Day 2023.

EDST Research Day 2023

(See below for further details)

Amidst the pandemic in 2021, EDST students, faculty, and staff gathered on Zoom one Saturday in April.

The conference opened with introductory remarks from Dr. Margaret Kovach who powerfully discussed the university’s relationship with Indigenous ways of knowing and research methodologies.

The day began with an acknowledgement that UBC resides on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people. I extend this land acknowledgement and acknowledge that I live and work upon the unceded lands of the Chinook people, who (for over 120 years) have been seeking formal federal recognition. The process has involved decades of litigation, petitions, congressional legislation and appeals to presidents — yet the tribe is still unrecognized. I share this history to mark my place as a settler on this land, and to bring attention to the ongoing struggles of Indigenous peoples, recognizing that land acknowledgements do not exist in the past tense, but are part of an ongoing process of decolonization.

Following Dr.Kovach’s opening session, I presented the below presentation in a session entitled “Place based education and engaging with our environment.” The presentation draws heavily upon Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book “Braiding Sweetgrass.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. I came to read Robin’s book on the recommendation of a friend, and immediately fell in love with the way she speaks and views the world.

As a settler scholar engaging with Indigenous knowledges, I recognize (as the great, late Michael Marker has stated) that the academy has acted as a space of colonial erasure of Indigenous worldviews. In my engagement with these ideas, I aim to enact the sense of reciprocity and respect that Kimmerer describes, while supporting the many movements towards decolonizing university spaces.

The photos

The slides in this presentation are black and white film photographs that I took in 2020 amidst the pandemic. The photos began as a series of shots of spider webs on my front porch, but grew into a collection of snapshots capturing a number of “more than human” others.

I share these images to highlight that interaction with the physical world is a social relationship, and that these interactions bind us into the reciprocal relationships that Kimmerer describes. The photos are by no means perfect or professional, but they help me share how I view the world in an added layer that I can’t seem to capture in words alone. The process of taking the photos amidst the scariest parts of the pandemic also allowed me to retreat to the “safety” of my local ecology, building new relations with the land and its history.

With some of the slides you will hear some audio recordings of birds in my yard. In her book Kimmerer writes, “Listening in wild places, we are audience to conversations in a language not our own.” I often find myself wondering what birds are saying to one another, between the caaws and screeches and songs sent out, wondering if they can all understand one another and I’m the only one out of the loop. Within the back and forth I hear patterns and rhythms, as if the birds are composing a collective song. I take inspiration from this song into my presentation, which somewhat takes a form of call and response between Kimmerer’s words and my own.

“All Flourishing is Mutual”: Reciprocity, Education, and Braiding Sweetgrass

To watch video in full screen, click here

The above presentation was created using “Canva” (a free design tool).

Attending Research Day 2023?

Write something for the blog!


EDST students, faculty, and staff are warmly invited to share reflections, photos, and other memories from the conference. Reflections may take on the form of short narratives (such as this one on CSSE 2021 from EDST’s Yotam Ronen), summations of panel sessions, or other takeaways from the conference day.

Presenting a paper, poster, performance, roundtable, or other type of presentation?

Consider making your presentation into a blog post like this one! Posts typically are 500-1,000 words long and may include links, images, links, audio, video, and other forms of multimedia.

Have a question about submissions? Interested in creating presentations with Canva? Photos to share from Research Day?

Send an email to me (Jessica Lussier) at edstblog.editor@ubc.ca. 

You can check out the blog’s full call for papers here.

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Part 3: A Climate of Change?

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By Alison Taylor

April 22, 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, although it was eclipsed by pandemic news. When the environment has been in the media of late, it seems that stories have been lauding improvements in air quality in India and New York and water quality in Venice; the takeaway message is that the pandemic has allowed for “nature’s reset.” However, Inger Andersen, the head of the UN Environment Programme argues that COVID-19 is far from a silver lining for the environment. For one thing, the pandemic will result in an increase in medical and hazardous waste. Further, “fossil fuel use would have to decline by about 10 percent around the world, and would need to be sustained for a year to show up clearly in carbon dioxide levels.”[1] An Economist writer correctly says, “Covid-19 and climate change are both global problems, and proper responses to both require levels of co-operation that the countries of the world find hard.”[2] In particular, when countries like the US and China are unwilling to step away from carbon-intensive development,[3] it’s even more challenging.
So, what is to be done? Without a doubt, this is a topic, I need to learn more about, perhaps from EDST colleagues working in this area. COVID-19 has dramatically shown how interconnected our world is. At the same time, we see some countries acting in self-serving ways. This is a good time to provide critical analysis of the failings of economic globalization for many workers as well as for the environment. Action on the climate emergency can be spurred by increasing realization that, as a world, as well as in communities, “we’re in this together.”
COVID-19 has shown that changes in behaviour can be mandated and governments can play key roles in efforts to create sustainable changes in behaviour. When economic stimulus packages targeting infrastructure spending are designed, green packages of renewable energy investments, smart buildings, green transport, and so on, must be part of them. At a global level, help from rich countries to developing countries to adapt to inevitable climate change is also crucial. The slogan “together we can,” which has become so prominent during the COVID crisis, must be adapted to tackle the future of our planet for ourselves and our children.
[1] See story by UN News at: https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1061082
[2] See article in The Economist, “An Earth Day in the life of a plague”: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/04/25/covid-19-and-the-climate
[3] See BBC story by Roger Harrabin, “Coronavirus recovery plan ‘must tackle climate change’: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52418624
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