Developing Environmental Management Guidelines and Community-based Solutions for the Rohingya Refugee Camp in Bangladesh
Friday, December 2, 2022 – Hallock Auditorium, AJLC
On December 2, 2022, Professor Md Rumi Shammin (Environmental Studies) delivered a talk titled “Resilience in the Face of Adversity,” as part of the LIASE Research-in-Progress series. Professor Shammin offered a compelling view of efforts to improve environmental management at the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. This succinct lunch-time talk included a history of forced migration of Rohingya people from Myanmar, and proposed multi-pronged solutions to the challenges of deforestation, human-wildlife conflict, clean water, and air pollution in the largest refugee settlement in the world. Professor Shammin proposed a new paradigm for refugee communities’ empowerment and active engagement in solutions to environmental, social, cultural, and economic challenges, marking a shift away from the model of refugees as passive recipients of foreign aid and humanitarian assistance. Around 30 students, faculty, and community members gathered in Hallock Auditorium (AJLC) for the talk and a lively Q&A session. Shammin acknowledged the support of LIASE in facilitating his on-going research in collaboration with a team of scholars in Bangladesh, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).