Benin
Benin
The deterioration of the Sahel crisis is impacting northern Benin, where UNHCR supports vulnerable communities facing poverty, insecurity, and limited access to basic services through protection and humanitarian assistance.
What does it mean to be a climate activist fighting pollution in the world’s largest refugee camp?
— UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) November 23, 2023
Find out from Anower, a Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh! #COP28 pic.twitter.com/ib7FkANrIK
Cate with Alaa Al-Hamadi, in her home in Zaatari refugee camp. Alaa is a Syrian refugee who Cate met when she visited Jordan for UNHCR in 2016.
Niger. Cate meets with Hadja Yanousso (white and light blue veil), Miriama Mohammed (red veil) and Fatiou Moro (blue veil) in Ouallam.
South Sudan. Cate meeting with refugee students at Gorom Refugee Camp.
United States. High Commissioner Filippo Grandi and Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett in Washington, D.C.
Benin
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Anower was just 12 years old when he arrived in Bangladesh alongside hundreds of thousands of other stateless Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in 2017. The sudden influx created the world’s largest refugee camp, as land was cleared to make way for over 700,000 people. Some 24 square kilometres of forest was turned into a crowded, hot, and barren moonscape in an area of Bangladesh that was already vulnerable to increasingly frequent and intense tropical storms and flooding.
The refugee camp was the polar opposite of the world Anower had known in rural Rakhine. “We lived next to a stream on the plains, surrounded by forest and rice paddies. The stream was clean, we would swim in it and play in the water. The temperature was cool, there were a lot of trees – mango and jackfruit – it was so good, so beautiful,” he said.
The fetid channel that ran by the shelter that he shared with his parents and eight siblings was a constant reminder of what he had lost.
Seizing the initiative
In 2020, Anower heard about an initiative, spearheaded by UNHCR and its partner organization the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), to establish Youth Environment Teams in each of the 33 congested camps in Cox’s Bazar. Each team, made up of five young women and five young men, was taught about pollution, climate change and how to analyze root causes and design projects to address them.
“Before, I enjoyed nature, but I had no idea about how to take care of the environment,” said Anower.
Roksana Asma, IUCN’s senior programme assistant, said Anower immediately stood out: “He was so enthusiastic. When we talked about something, he immediately got it, and he has that quality of being able to express it to other people, like a teacher.”
He has since proven to be an enthusiastic and eloquent advocate for climate justice, taking the lead role in a play performed in the camp to mark World Environment Day, and helping in the formation and training of other youth groups.
