Obituary: Saleemul Huq, climate voice of the Global South

It was in 2013 that I first met Saleemul Huq, climate scientist, activist and advisor to least developed countries. I still remember our meeting. For it was unique.

I had wanted to interview him on the sidelines of the 19th Conference of Parties (COP19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change being held in the Polish capital, Warsaw.

A series of back-and-forth mails later — WhatsApp was yet to become what it is today — we agreed to meet for 10 minutes and discuss the possible outcomes of the global climate summit.

I still remember walking from one end of the Poland National Stadium to the other to meet Huq. The 10-minute interview continued for half an hour before the good professor rushed for another meeting — one of the innumerable ones that had turned out to be a daily routine for him in the last few decades.

The 30-minute interview remains a cherished experience for me. It was extremely pointed, with deep analysis and categorical comments and sans an iota of excitement.

It began an association between the two of us. One that continued over the last decade and included several official interviews and more unofficial interactions — with the Sundarbans being a common topic of interest — till Huq suddenly breathed his last on October 28, 2023.

“He became unwell immediately after his birthday on October 2 with lung infection and fever. He was hospitalised and came back. Huq was scheduled to travel to Bangkok for treatment within a day. But unfortunately, the worst happened on the night of October 28,” said an associate.   

Huq was 71. His funeral prayers were read on the afternoon of October 29 at the Gulshan Society Jame Mosque in Dhaka, after which he was laid to rest.

He is survived by his wife, son and daughter and, more importantly hundreds of climate disciples who were mentored by him. “Saleemul Huq sir is no more, we lost our guardian,” wrote Noor Elahi, a close associate in International Centre for Climate Change & Development (ICCCAD), of which he was the founding director.

Huq, born in 1952 in erstwhile East Pakistan, was a British citizen. He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2022 and also received the National Environment Award from the Government of Bangladesh in 2020 for his contribution in combating climate change.

He was a professor at Independent University, Bangladesh and part of the Advisory Committee of the COP28 President.

“We thank him for his guidance and counsel throughout the year. The world has lost a visionary whose climate action legacy will guide and inspire generations to come,” the COP28 official X handle posted.

He was also a contributor to several Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other premier UN reports. He also found a place among the journal Nature’s Top 10 Global Scientists list 2022.

Huq was also instrumental in setting up the Climate Hub in UN climate conferences — a non-state platform where all stakeholders cross paths and share information and inputs.

“I am perhaps one of the few persons who has been part of all the COPs since it began,” said Saleemul Saab, as I used to call him, about a month back when I last interviewed him on COP28’s prospects and IPCC reports that flagged off concerns and underlined the importance of strengthening adaptation and funding for loss and damage.

There is no doubt that Huq’s advice to civil society and least developed countries, and also his ever-smiling face, will be sorely missed during COP28, which starts on November 30.

“The latest IPCC report clearly shows that the disasters around the world, always on rise, are attributable to climate change, and there should be actions on the ground rather than only talks. Industrialised countries should walk the talk and support climate action in least developed and developing countries. I am hopeful that COP28 will deliver, including in key areas of adaptation and loss and damage which are so much important for South Asian countries including areas like the Sundarbans,” said Huq in the recent interview.

The scientist was a pioneer in pushing locally led adaptation globally, and was also a strong advocate of youth being given more space and importance in global negotiations. “Our generation created the mess and their generation is suffering. Hence, they must have a say,” he was adamant.

He was keen that politicians should act on climate change. “Now it is pretty evident to all, even an average politician, that climate change has started having an impact everywhere. We see it daily on our television screens — cyclones in India and Bangladesh, cyclones and floods in Pakistan and Nigeria and hurricanes in Florida. We do not need an IPCC report to tell us that we are in real trouble. It has become an existential issue. We now need to set high priority on actions, real actions on the ground,” he said in an interview.

“All countries need to find out how fast they can reduce dependence on fossil fuels and move to renewables. The quicker a government can do this, the more swiftly it can go to the renewable energy pathway,” he observed on the renewable energy push.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen posted: “We send deepest condolences to the family of Prof Saleemul Huq, one of the world’s greatest climate adaptation science experts. We at UNEP were enriched by his engagement in UNEP-hosted World Adaptation Science Program. May he rest in peace.”

“Saleem was a champion and leading voice in favour of adaptation for decades. In fact, he started talking about it even before the COP process was initiated in the early 90s. He was doing a lot of important things simultaneously — undertaking research, advising least developed countries including Bangladesh, training negotiators … His sudden demise is a great loss to the global climate movement,” said Harjeet Singh, a global climate expert attached to Climate Action Network International, told this reporter on October 29.

“He was into loss and damage since 2012-13 and had become one of its strongest advocates since then. I still remember how we fought shoulder-to-shoulder for days in the Sharm El Sheikh COP last year, demanding a loss and damage fund facility,” Singh remembered.

Sanjay Vashist, director of Climate Action Network South Asia of which Saleemul Huq was also a key member, also remembered how he had always been a mentor and source of strength in the last two decades.

“At one point of time, he was the lone voice in favour of adaptation when everybody was speaking for mitigation,” according to Vashist. He also recognised Huq’s leadership role in civil society’s movement for a loss and damage fund facility.

The UN loss and damage fund facility may be named after Huq.   

“I am so happy. I feel we could finally achieve something. Now, the challenge is to ensure that the fund does not remain empty and the deserving population gets support,” he told this reporter immediately after the COP27 agreement, which formalised the loss and damage fund facility, was inked.

Maybe Huq’s wishes will come true in Dubai.  

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