A walk through the Climate Technology Park

The park is not only a place to stroll through on a sunny day but a centre of knowledge, housing more than fifty different adaptation technologies utilized in Bangladesh. Visitors come to learn about how climate change is affecting the country across its five main climatic zones: coastal, dry, Charland, hilly, and haor, and how locals are handling their rapidly changing environments with low cost yet effective technologies.

On the morning of Friday, January 24, 2020, international participants of the Gobeshona 6 conference, along with conference organizers and volunteers, travelled to the park to learn about the park’s adaptation technologies. Greeted with multi-coloured flowers, participants received a warm welcome as they were ushered into the meeting room for a brief orientation of the park. After the introduction, CCDB staff led participants outside for the walking tour.

Participants saw The Climate Learning Centre under construction, which will be a LEED-certified building. The innovative and user-friendly technologies they saw ranged from a natural refrigerator built with bricks to floating gardens made to withstand floods. Other technologies included a solar irrigation system that harnesses the sun’s energy to water fields efficiently, a vertical agriculture structure that optimizes space and reused plastic bottles as planters, and bracelets for women that signal dangerous carbon monoxide levels in their homes. Participants’ raised questions on each of the technologies, their curiosity piqued.

After making the round in the park, participants were exposed to further technologies in the office. There were utensils made out of compostable materials, an insulator that finishes cooking dishes that are already halfway done, saving on firewood for fuel, and a straw that filters out particles from water, making it safe to drink.

The tour ended with some leisure time spent playing football, petting the resident puppies, and swinging. Over a traditional Bengali lunch, participants bonded over their experiences of the park and got to know one another. The trip to CCDB park was an informative, inspiring, and refreshing, and a glimpse into the reality of climate change adaptation in Bangladesh.

This article was published at Dhaka Tribune