Center for Participatory Research and Development- CPRD, in association with Climate Justice Alliance- Bangladesh (CJA-B) and CANSA-BD, successfully organized a three-day residential strategy workshop titled “Strategy Workshop on Climate Change Policy Narrative: A Deep Dive into Climate Science and Politics to Shape CSO Positions towards COP30”, held from 30 July to 1 August 2025 at BRAC CDM, Rajendrapur, Gazipur. The workshop brought together a vibrant mix of civil society stakeholders including representatives from women-led and youth-led organizations, youth climate activists, human rights advocates, and media professionals, aiming to deepen their understanding of climate science and the political landscape, foster informed dialogue, and strengthen collective position of the CSOs on key agenda of COP30 to take place in Belem, Brazil this year.
The workshop offered a broad spectrum of thematic sessions, beginning with the science and impacts of climate change, in the light of the Sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC (AR6), followed by in-depth discussions on the human dimensions of climate change, including gendered impacts, health, and involuntary migration, and the specific vulnerabilities of indigenous communities. Sessions also explored locally-led adaptation (LLA) practices, climate justice and humanitarian action, the national climate finance framework, and litigation framework for climate justice. These sessions were facilitated by distinguished experts and practitioners including Dr. Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, Shahnawaz Whara, Dr. Suborna Barua, M. Hafijul Islam Khan, Shekhar Chakraborty, Mohammad Shahjahan, Mohammad Mahmodul Hasan, Md Shamsuddoha, and others, who provided policy-related insights on the subject matters and evidence-based and practical reflections from the ground.
In the concluding sessions, the workshop offered an analytical overview of the key agenda of COP 30, facilitating a participatory process to shape strategic positions of the CSO on those issues. Stakeholders engaged in group discussions to identify collective demands on the respective major thematic areas such as mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, climate finance, just transition, and cross-cutting issues like gender and human rights, and other issues, such as biodiversity. Employing a learning-sharing approach, the workshop helped foster deeper knowledge, while also reinforcing solidarity among CSO actors, laying a strong foundation for coordinated and informed civil society advocacy in the lead-up to COP30.
