Harjeet Singh

Let me make it simple for you.

Imagine you are stepping out of home, wearing a T-shirt, carrying a water bottle for the heat.

but you're also carrying an umbrella for the unexpected rain and a jacket for the evening chill.

It may look a bit silly, but then you are ready for every situation.

That's personal adaptation.

Countries, of course, require much more than a backpack.

Let me share a mantra with you, which is the crux of my 25 years of experience working with communities, governments, and also at the global policy-making level.

The mantra is that there can be no adaptation without development.

Let's unpack.

Take two coastal nations.

One, the Netherlands, where centuries of investment and smart planning have created a landscape that can coexist with the sea.

the other, Bangladesh, where millions of people live on the front lines of climate change, where floods, droughts, cyclones and the rising seas are devastating their homes, farms and livelihoods.

This isn't just about geography.

It's about access to resources.

The Netherlands, for instance, amassed massive wealth largely through its colonial rule.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, has been a victim of such historical injustices.

Economist Utsa Patnaik's research published by Columbia University Press reveals how the British took approximately $45 trillion from the Indian subcontinent between 1765 to 1938.

Now imagine the scale of the wealth that was taken from the subcontinent, which pushed the region into deep poverty, limiting the capacity of nations like Bangladesh to invest into resilient infrastructure and institutions that are required now to deal with the climate impacts.

Like Bangladesh, we also see countries like Mozambique, which are facing devastating climate impacts,

they are forced to take more and more loans, and the result is they are stuck and trapped in a vicious cycle of debt and poverty.