Potency of micro-credit in climate change mitigation
Ms. Munima Sultana (Bangladesh)
October 13, 2006 is a historical day for Bangladesh. On this day, the entire nation
earned international recognition, which broke all of its previous records. Since Professor
Muhammad Yunus and his "Grameen Bank" were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, it
has given the nation a different identity and led the world to acknowledge the country
officially as the pioneer of micro-credit. But credit for this status also goes to hundredsof thousands of poor women, who wholeheartedly worked to make Professor Yunus'sinnovative economic concept a success. The Nobel Laureate uses a simple key,credit-minute sums, as a means to alleviate poverty and achieved success focusing on
illiterate women. The women borrowers of Grameen Bank, now popular as a bank forthe poor, developed the culture of repayment on time and brought fame to Bangladesh.
Now, micro-credit has proven its value in many countries worldwide as a weapon
against poverty and hunger. It is widely being utilized for the provision of shelter andlivelihood. Micro-credit is also combined with health-care, education, nutrition, family
welfare services and community development in a comprehensive anti-poverty initiative.
Poverty too has close relations with both disasters and climate change. It is estimatedthat 70 per cent of people worldwide living below the poverty line are women. Being apoverty-stricken country, more than half of the 140 million population in Bangladesh isbelow the poverty level, the majority of whom are women. Poor women in our country
are highly dependent on local natural resources, which are threatened due to climatechange effects including frequent floods, cyclones, droughts, deforestation, soil andriverbank erosion as well as the drying up of wetlands.
No doubt, Bangladesh's geographic location makes it a disaster-prone country. Global
warming has threatened its existence due to a surge in sea levels and atmosphericchanges. These effects result in deprivation of traditional means of livelihood and pusha great number of poor women into marginal environments. The use of agro-chemicals
and industrial waste, commercial shrimp cultivation, inappropriate land use, andpoorly planned infrastructure, such as embankments and dams, also leave them in amore hazardous situation.
Studies have found that women's coping strategies have played effective roles indisaster mitigation and community rehabilitation. During the 1991 cyclone, which was
the worst in the history of Bangladesh, women proved their capacity by categorizing
their work. It found that women perceive and assess risks differently than men. They
adopt methodologies in building construction, keeping in mind environmental andnon-durable aspects of materials. In addition, women's traditional knowledge of healthand home remedies help the community to recover from disasters.
But natural disasters affect women in multiple ways. Women's economic insecurity
increases and their workload expands due to deteriorating working conditions, family
and community work increases, and care-giving responsibilities intensify. They needaccess to resources and services for mitigation to move towards long-term recovery. But
the use of micro-credit in disaster risk management is still somewhat experimental. In
general, it is not yet fully utilized as a tool for reducing disaster impacts despite proof
that investing in disaster risk reduction reduces the vulnerability of people to hazards
and helps break the vicious cycle of poverty.
After winning the world prestigious award, Professor Yunus now feels the challenge
to alleviate poverty from the nation and from the world. The Bank claims that 58 percent of its borrowers' families have crossed the poverty line and the remaining families
are moving steadily upwards. So, many believe that introducing micro-credit into
disaster management and climate change from a gender perspective would also ensure
the commitment to alleviate poverty in a sustainable way.

Left: A group of Grameen Bank’s women borrowers are seen assessing their achievements.
Right: Women recover from post-disaster consequences. Saving lives of livestock is one
example of rehabilitation work.