As global attention turns to COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, Bangladeshi news organization The Climate Watch is preparing to bring South Asia’s climate struggles, demands and stories to the international stage.
Officially launched on Nov 3, 2024, The Climate Watch will deploy eight journalists from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to cover the UN climate summit scheduled for Nov 9‑20, comprising five full‑time journalists and three regional contributors, marking its largest international reporting operation.
Founded in 2022 by award‑winning Bangladeshi environmental journalist Shamsuddin Illius, the outlet now connects about 100 climate and environmental journalists across the region.
Executive Editor Md Ibrahim Khalilullah said, “We are striving to become a voice for South Asia in global climate negotiations. Our countries are among the most vulnerable to climate change, and it is essential that we tell our own stories rather than rely solely on others to tell them for us.”
At COP31, the team will examine climate finance, adaptation, loss and damage, energy transition, biodiversity, displacement and climate justice, linking diplomatic negotiations to everyday experiences of vulnerable communities.
The Climate Watch is collaborating with Shakti Foundation, Young Power in Social Action and Change Initiative to strengthen its coverage, and its investigations have documented deforestation around Chittagong’s National Special Economic Zone, influencing public‑interest litigation.
Its reporting has been cited by The Guardian, The Diplomat, Mongabay, The New Humanitarian and Fiji Sun, and referenced in academic work at Columbia University’s Climate School and the National University of Singapore.
Through its Birds in Climate Crisis initiative, the outlet is producing 100 short documentaries on threatened birds, habitat loss and changing ecosystems, and it contributed to the “Dark Side of the Boom” investigation on digital infrastructure’s environmental impact, which earned a 2026 Covering Climate Now Journalism Award, a SOPA environmental reporting award and a special citation for the Osborn Elliott Prize.
Having covered COP28‑COP30 and Bonn’s SB64 negotiations, The Climate Watch is also preparing to report on biodiversity negotiations at COP17 in Armenia, while continuing journalist training and pre‑COP fellowships with the Center for Participatory Research and Development.
The deployment underscores Bangladesh’s ambition to shift South Asia’s position in the global climate conversation from a region whose suffering is often reported by others to one increasingly telling its own stories.
Why it matters
South Asian perspectives at COP31 can shape climate finance and adaptation policies that directly affect vulnerable communities in Bangladesh.