Climate Adaptation for a Sustainable Economy: Lessons from Bangladesh, an Emerging Tiger of Asia

Book excerpt: When thinking of the leaders of Asia who brought landmark prosperity to their respective nations from the second half of the 20th century, two leaders immediately come to mind: late Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and Dr. Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia. Bangladesh's own Sheikh Mujibur Rahman did not have time to turn Bangladesh into a prosperous nation, but he was the architect of the Bangladesh nation, which sacrificed three million men and women, and two hundred thousand women lost dignity in a liberation war in 1971. These leaders had one thing in common, they had visions about prosperity and freedom. Singapore and Malaysia realized late Prime Minister Lee and Prime Minister Mahthir's visions in their life time. Mahathir is still living. Mujib too had a vision for the prosperity of his people. His vision was, in his words, "I want to make Bangladesh the Switzerland of Asia". In other words, Sheikh Mujib wanted to make Bangladesh a Golden Bengal, a member of the OECD nations. Since the dark days of 1975 when he was killed by assassins' bullets, the nation has been looking for opportunity to realize Mujib's visions. Finally, the opportunity came to his daughter Sheikh Hasina in 1996 and with a break of next five years at last she got momentum in 2009 for taking Bangladesh to prosperity. The incumbent government since 2009 has been doing extraordinarily well to maintain and fulfill all the requirements of a "middle income" status which was awarded in March 2018. Sheikh Hasina has recently said, "Bangladesh will achieve the goals to become a middle income nation by 2021, three years ahead of the deadline set by the World Bank. She has been working tirelessly for transforming Bangladesh into a "developed" nation by 2041. Indeed, she is a visionary too for realizing the visions of Mujib by making Bangladesh the Switzerland of Asia. Her vision 2021 is coming to an end in two years' time and it is clear now world-wide on the nation's development agenda in place to 2041, coinciding with UN agenda 2030 (Sustainable Development Goals).