1 00:00:01,700 --> 00:00:04,000 JOHN YANG: Few places in the world are suffering more from the effects 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,666 of climate change than Bangladesh. Most of the country which is slightly smaller than Iowa, 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,233 is a flat plane no higher than about 50 feet above sea level. That makes it vulnerable to the sort of 4 00:00:15,433 --> 00:00:19,400 severe flooding that's now affecting more than 2 million people after weeks of monsoon rains. 5 00:00:21,166 --> 00:00:24,133 And now there's another effect. Women are changing the way they think about 6 00:00:24,133 --> 00:00:29,133 having children. Sally Dijkerman is a senior researcher for Ipas, which is a reproductive 7 00:00:31,033 --> 00:00:34,266 justice organization. Sally explain to us how these effects of climate change 8 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,300 are affecting women's health and Bangladesh and especially women's reproductive health. 9 00:00:41,333 --> 00:00:43,500 SALLY DIJKERMAN, Senior Researcher, Ipas: Yeah, thank you for that question. So what 10 00:00:43,500 --> 00:00:46,100 we found in our research along the Bay of Bengal and these communities that have been 11 00:00:46,100 --> 00:00:51,066 really hit hard by cyclones, is that the climate crisis is impacting everyone but certain groups, 12 00:00:53,300 --> 00:00:57,933 especially women and girls, are feeling those impacts disproportionately and that includes 13 00:01:00,300 --> 00:01:04,100 direct impacts on their and reproductive health outcomes for instance experiencing miscarriage, 14 00:01:06,166 --> 00:01:10,800 pregnancy complications and premature labor during these intense storms and flooding. 15 00:01:12,700 --> 00:01:15,233 A lot of women have to go to the cyclone centers where they shelter during the 16 00:01:15,233 --> 00:01:20,233 storms. And there's not nurses and doctors, medical supplies or even sanitation materials 17 00:01:22,100 --> 00:01:26,500 for those women who do go into labor, which is quite common. And so they have 18 00:01:26,500 --> 00:01:31,500 to give birth in these unsanitary conditions without a healthcare professional present. 19 00:01:33,333 --> 00:01:35,900 JOHN YANG: And how is this affecting their decisions to have children? 20 00:01:35,900 --> 00:01:40,900 SALLY DIJKERMAN: Yeah, so women are facing, you know, the difficulty of having to evacuate and 21 00:01:43,233 --> 00:01:48,233 putting their families before their own health and well-being. So for instance, 22 00:01:48,233 --> 00:01:53,200 women traditionally are the caregivers in this context. So they have to make sure that their 23 00:01:55,300 --> 00:01:58,500 children and elderly people and people with disabilities in their community evacuate first, 24 00:02:00,533 --> 00:02:04,433 which means sometimes they are the last ones to be thinking about their own safety. 25 00:02:06,533 --> 00:02:10,700 And so what they see is that other pregnant women are going or are experiencing prematurity, 26 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:18,200 pregnancy complications, stillbirth and miscarriage during these cyclones. And 27 00:02:20,133 --> 00:02:24,100 it's scary for them. And so they think, well, you know, I'm not ready to have a 28 00:02:26,133 --> 00:02:28,866 child when there's so much instability and these extreme weather events happening. 29 00:02:28,866 --> 00:02:33,233 But then there's also the other side of that, where one woman even talked in our research 30 00:02:33,233 --> 00:02:38,233 even talked about how she wanted to have more children to protect against potential 31 00:02:40,233 --> 00:02:43,500 childlessness. In the case of her child being killed during one of these storms, 32 00:02:45,033 --> 00:02:47,433 because children are also very vulnerable during evacuation. 33 00:02:47,433 --> 00:02:51,266 JOHN YANG: Has there been a marked difference in child mortality? 34 00:02:51,266 --> 00:02:55,033 SALLY DIJKERMAN: So child mortality linked directly to these storms is something 35 00:02:55,033 --> 00:02:59,833 that's still being researched. You know, the point here really is that women and girls, 36 00:02:59,833 --> 00:03:04,800 including youth, are feeling those impacts disproportionately to other people in 37 00:03:06,766 --> 00:03:10,033 the community. And so it really is causing them to reconsider when they have children, 38 00:03:11,266 --> 00:03:12,966 and how many they how many children they have. 39 00:03:12,966 --> 00:03:15,200 JOHN YANG: What other effects are there of these, 40 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,566 these effects of climate change how they're affecting life in Bangladesh? 41 00:03:19,566 --> 00:03:23,500 SALLY DIJKERMAN: So in in Bangladesh, and in all nine countries where we've done this research, 42 00:03:23,500 --> 00:03:27,533 we're finding direct links between the conditions caused by the climate crisis 43 00:03:27,533 --> 00:03:32,533 and increases in child marriage. So when the climate change undermines the economic sectors 44 00:03:34,633 --> 00:03:39,533 like agriculture, there's increased economic instability and crisis in these families. 45 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,000 And so women told me that child marriage marrying off one's daughters is being used 46 00:03:46,900 --> 00:03:50,233 as a coping mechanism, both to receive additional money from dowry payments, 47 00:03:50,233 --> 00:03:53,800 and also to have less one less mouths to feed. 48 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:58,766 JOHN YANG: And is there also a connection or an effect with violence against women? 49 00:04:00,633 --> 00:04:02,800 SALLY DIJKERMAN: Yeah, so violence is increasing for two reasons. First, 50 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:07,600 this economic instability causes so much stress in the family, and that leads to more intimate 51 00:04:09,900 --> 00:04:13,033 partner violence. But also women and especially young girls talked about how in cyclone centers 52 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,866 in Bangladesh, where they're sheltering from storms, there is really poor security, 53 00:04:20,666 --> 00:04:24,533 poor lighting, and lack of separate spaces and toilets for men and women. 54 00:04:24,533 --> 00:04:29,533 And so these toilets, and these spaces are a hotbed for sexual harassment and violence. 55 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:35,066 And so young girls told us that they hold their urine for hours on end because they're afraid of 56 00:04:37,300 --> 00:04:41,266 using the bathroom at the recycling centers. And that leads to a lot of problems and pain. 57 00:04:42,766 --> 00:04:44,133 JOHN YANG: Are Bangladeshi women responding in some way or the 58 00:04:44,133 --> 00:04:48,766 organizing, making demands or calling for changes? 59 00:04:48,766 --> 00:04:53,033 SALLY DIJKERMAN: Yeah, so in our research, women talked about a few things that they want, 60 00:04:53,033 --> 00:04:57,900 and there are getting involved in helping their communities adapt to the climate crisis, 61 00:04:57,900 --> 00:05:02,900 and helping them for instance, be part of these disaster risk management committees so they can 62 00:05:04,966 --> 00:05:08,600 feel prepared and ready to evacuate in a safe and timely manner. But women are asking for 63 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,400 decent work opportunities, access to sexual and reproductive health services in these 64 00:05:16,500 --> 00:05:19,733 cyclone centers and outside of them. And these are just two things that women are demanding. 65 00:05:22,066 --> 00:05:26,700 JOHN YANG: As the globe warms as the temperatures around the world are rising. Do you think these 66 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:33,400 this situation we're going to see replicated in more and more places around the world? 67 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:37,733 SALLY DIJKERMAN: Yes, absolutely. I mean, extreme heat is extremely 68 00:05:37,733 --> 00:05:42,733 dangerous. Exposure to extreme heat is very dangerous for pregnant women. And 69 00:05:44,700 --> 00:05:47,200 that is something that we're seeing across the globe, whether you're in Bangladesh, 70 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:52,200 Mozambique, Indonesia, or in Texas. This exposure to extreme heat for 71 00:05:54,366 --> 00:05:57,266 pregnant women has been linked to miscarriage stillbirth low birth weight and prematurity. 72 00:05:58,700 --> 00:06:01,100 JOHN YANG: Sally Dijkerman of Ipas Thank you very much. 73 00:06:01,100 --> 00:06:02,033 SALLY DIJKERMAN: Thank you.