What does climate change mean to Jaya Ahsan?
Jaya Ahsan’s journey to coastal Khulna becomes a lesson in resilience as she meets communities whose daily struggle for water reveals the true cost of climate change
When Jaya Ahsan set her foot in Dacope last week, while she was visiting as an actor and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, she soon realised she was also there as a student. Nothing she had read about climate change prepared her for the voices she heard along Bangladesh's coast.
Women told her how they walked for hours each day to collect a single pitcher of clean water. Mothers spoke of travelling miles while pregnant, only to return home to find animals dead from thirst. Their stories of pain and courage stayed with her like echoes.
As Jaya moved through the villages, she saw how people fought salinity, saved rainwater, and grew whatever crops the soil still allowed. Yet they greeted her with warmth, unity, and deep respect for every drop of water and every human bond. In their struggle, she discovered a powerful lesson: resilience is lived, not spoken.
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Jaya Ahsan, actor and Goodwill Ambassador of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangladesh re-considered her concept when she came across the voices of people living along the coastal belt of Bangladesh. Their stories of survival, struggle, and strength reshaped her understanding of what climate change and resilience truly means.
During her recent visit to Dacope in Khulna, supported by the Local Government Initiative on Climate Change (LoGIC) - an initiative of Government of Bangladesh (GoB), UNDP and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), and funded by embassy of Sweden and Denmark.
"These people don't talk about sustainability, they live it. We have so much to learn from them, and it's time the world listens."
Jaya listened to women who walk for hours every day for a single pitcher of clean water.
"In cities, we often waste water and do not realise the value of it. But here, every drop is precious." she reflected. She feels like that is the difference between survival and taken for granted.
"Listening to the stories of pregnant women and newly mothers I realised that another name for water is life" she said. She heard about a pregnant woman who had travelled miles for water, only to return and find her domestic animal dead from dehydration.
"The women were crying," Jaya shared softly. " I have never seen such pain and strength intertwined" she said and that moment stayed with her.Salinity intrusion is an issue in Dacope making water and soil adverse for agriculture.
Yet, the people continue to endure. And during the appropriate occasion they shared the struggle with her explaining how they have to find out vegetables that are climate resilient and sometimes have to migrate to other cities just for cultivation.
"I prefer to identify as a farmer myself. But I do not have to fight with the climate to grow food in my land. But people living on the coast have to. They have learned how to fight with the environment and win," Jaya said.
The residents cultivate whatever land remains arable, preserve rainwater, and innovate new ways to survive in an unforgiving climate. Their determination, she said, is a lesson in adaptation itself.
Beyond the hardship, what moved her most was the humanity and humility of coastal life. "The way people here value relationships, resources, and each other is extraordinary," Jaya said.
"The inter-religion bond is strong—— as if the shared struggle has erased all divisions." That sense of togetherness, she believes, is what keeps the communities grounded even as the tides rise higher every year.
For Jaya, climate change is no longer an abstract global crisis; it is a story written on the faces of those who live it daily. As the world gathers for COP30, she reminds us that this is not just another conference, but a turning point for humanity.
She calls for urgent steps to ensure access to clean and safe water, expand education for children in climate-vulnerable areas, and increase the number of cyclone shelters to protect communities from recurring disasters.
Most importantly, she urges world leaders to act boldly, to cut emissions faster, protect forests, and invest in adaptation for those most at risk. The world cannot afford delay. COP30 must be the moment when promises turn into action.
"These people don't talk about sustainability, they live it," she concluded. "We have so much to learn from them, and it's time the world listens."
This article has been previously published on UNDP Bangladesh's website
