Experts propose 7-point plan to ensure climate security for disabled people at COP31

Experts have proposed a seven-point recommendation to ensure climate justice, protection and equal participation for people with disabilities in climate change-related disaster management ahead of the upcoming 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31).

The proposals include ensuring dedicated allocations for people with disabilities from international climate funds, making early warning systems and disaster shelters fully accessible, and securing their meaningful representation in climate policy-making processes.

The national policy proposal and strategic recommendations, titled "Advancing Climate Justice for Persons with Disabilities: Protecting Rights, Preventing Disability-Related Harm and Ensuring Inclusive Climate Resilience in Bangladesh", were unveiled at a press conference at the conference room of the Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies (IDMVS) at Dhaka University on Thursday.

The National Platform for Disability-Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation (DIDRR & CCA), Bangladesh, organised the event with technical assistance from the Centre for Disability in Development (CDD).

Speakers at the press conference said Bangladesh's geographical location exposes its coastal communities to multiple climate-related hazards, including cyclones, tidal surges, rising sea levels, salinity and extreme heatwaves.

People with disabilities face disproportionate risks from these disasters due to barriers to information, mobility, emergency response and essential services.

They said people with disabilities face two major forms of vulnerability. First, those already living with disabilities often suffer greater losses because early warning messages are not always accessible and many cyclone shelters lack appropriate facilities for them.

Second, physical injuries, psychological trauma and inadequate access to emergency healthcare and rehabilitation during disasters can leave people with new long-term physical impairments and disabilities.

Against this backdrop, the platform prepared the policy proposal ahead of COP31, scheduled to take place in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9 to 20 November 2026, calling for stronger international commitments to climate justice for people with disabilities.

The seven-point recommendation, addressed to the international climate community, the COP31 Presidency and policymakers, call for recognising the protection of people with disabilities as a major priority in global climate justice.

The proposals also seek dedicated allocations and accessible funding opportunities for people with disabilities under international climate finance mechanisms, including funds addressing climate change-related loss and damage.

The platform recommended making early warning systems, rescue operations and multipurpose disaster shelters fully accessible and inclusive to prevent avoidable losses during disasters.

It also called for ensuring emergency medical services, physical rehabilitation, assistive technologies and devices, and long-term social protection to prevent new disabilities and address the needs of those affected by disasters.

Highlighting the particular vulnerabilities of women with disabilities, the recommendations called for gender-sensitive and sustainable climate adaptation and livelihood programmes.

The platform also stressed the need to ensure meaningful representation of organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) in global and national climate policy-making processes, including negotiations at COP31.

To strengthen accountability, it recommended collecting climate risk-related data disaggregated by disability and developing specific indicators to monitor progress in protecting people with disabilities.

At the national level, the platform urged the Bangladesh government to ensure the effective inclusion of people with disabilities in implementing the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) 2023–2050 and the Standing Orders on Disaster (SOD) 2019.

It also called for disability-inclusive financing in the national climate budget and meaningful participation of people with disabilities in disaster management committees at every level, from grassroots communities to the national level.

Prof Mahbuba Nasreen, adviser to the national platform and professor at the Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies at Dhaka University, and Md Zahidul Islam, a representative of people with disabilities, presented the main policy proposals and recommendations.

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Subir Kumar Saha, coordinator of CDD, delivered the welcome address, while Roufa Khanam, deputy director of the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER) at BRAC University, shared the expectations of Bangladesh's participants ahead of COP31.

Malay Chaki and Raisa Imran Chowdhury conducted the question-and-answer session with journalists.

In his concluding remarks, IDMVS Director Mohammad Moniruzzaman Khan said sustainable disaster resilience could not be achieved without an inclusive approach.

CDD Assistant Director Anika Rahman Lipi moderated the programme.