Bringing Coastal Climate Realities to the Heart of Dhaka

May 31, 2026

Woman in a red patterned dress stands in a bright art gallery, admiring colorful framed paintings on the wall. — A visitor enjoying the exhibition

Photographs of flooded homes, cracked earth, saline fields, and women carrying water jars drew visitors into the realities of Bangladesh’s coastal communities at Drik Gallery in Dhaka. But alongside the hardships, the images also told stories of resilience — of communities adapting, rebuilding, and finding new ways to survive in the face of climate change.

The three-day photography exhibition, titled "Voice of Coastal Climate Resilience," started on May 21, 2026, and was organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Bangladesh under its Gender-responsive Coastal Adaptation (GCA) Project.

Supported by the Green Climate Fund and the Government of Bangladesh, the GCA Project aims to enhance climate resilience in Bangladesh's coastal areas by promoting nature-based solutions, improving livelihoods, and ensuring that women, who are often disproportionately affected by climate impacts, play a central role in adaptation efforts and decision-making.

Man in a brown shirt speaks into a microphone on a stage with a blue cracked-earth backdrop. — AB Rashid speaking about his photographs in during the exhibition

The exhibition featured nearly 85 photographs by documentary photographer AB Rashid, a native of the southwest coastal region. Growing up in one of the country’s most climate-vulnerable areas, Rashid has directly witnessed the devastating impacts of cyclones, salinity intrusion, and displacement, bringing an authentic, deeply personal perspective to his work.

Through his lens, life across the climate-vulnerable districts of Khulna and Satkhira unfolds in striking detail. The photographs documented rising salinity, flooding, drought, and water scarcity, while also highlighting women-led adaptation efforts. Images showed women growing vegetables on saline land, communities managing rainwater harvesting systems, and families rebuilding after climate-related disasters.

“The photographs are intended to help people better understand the realities faced by coastal communities and the ways they continue to adapt to climate change,” Rashid said.

“In these photographs, we see not only the challenges of climate change, but also the extraordinary strength and leadership of coastal communities, especially women,” said Shaikh Faridul Islam, State Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, during the inauguration of the exhibition.

A woman in coastal area in Bangladesh fetching water while her child follows her — A photo in the exhibition showing how women in coastal areas fetch water along with their children

“We wanted to highlight the challenges faced by coastal communities, particularly women. If this exhibition can sensitise anyone from the civil society members, teachers, students, politicians, policymakers, or journalists, it can be considered a success,” said Sarder M Asaduzzaman, Assistant Resident Representative and Head, Resilience and Inclusive Growth in UNDP.

The exhibition formed part of the broader Gender-responsive Coastal Adaptation initiative, which works to strengthen climate resilience while ensuring women remain at the centre of locally led adaptation efforts in coastal Bangladesh.

For many visitors, the exhibition offered a more personal understanding of climate change. “We often hear about climate change through reports and numbers,” one visitor shared during the exhibition. “But these photographs make you feel the lives behind those statistics. You realise these are real people fighting every day just to live with dignity.”

Photo of crabs clustered on a colorful cloth at a market stall; blurred figure in background. — A photo from exhibition showing how women are farming crab as their livelihood option

Several photographs highlighted the disproportionate burdens faced by women in climate-vulnerable areas, where many spend hours, each day collecting safe drinking water as salinity contaminates traditional water sources.

Rather than portraying coastal communities solely as victims, the exhibition presented them as people responding to climate pressures with resilience, innovation, and collective action.

As climate risks intensify in Bangladesh’s coastal regions, UNDP’s Gender-responsive Coastal Adaptation Project highlights the power of locally led, inclusive solutions, where communities, especially women, are not just adapting, but shaping a more resilient future.