Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Frameworks: Challenges and Opportunities for Youth-Led Community Mobilization

Bangladesh is one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world, with its coastal regions severely affected by climate-related extremes. This paper identifies existing provisions for youth involvement in disaster risk reduction (DRR) frameworks and examines the opportunities and practical challenges they face in community mobilization. In method, efforts were made to extract all youth-related narratives from relevant literature. A total of 100 youth volunteers were surveyed, and in-depth interviews were conducted with six experts from youth-led organizations and four youth volunteers. The findings reveal that policy gaps, coordination difficulties, limited resources and recognition, non-inclusiveness, patriarchal attitudes, and bureaucratic red tape are major challenges encountered by youth volunteers. Notably, Bangladeshi youth demonstrate strong volunteerism, effective use of information technology, potential for capacity building, engagement with grassroots communities, and the ability to strengthen Union Disaster Management Committees (UDMCs), all of which can contribute to a sustainable community-based DRR approach. As rights-holders, youth empowerment is critically important. Relevant stakeholders—especially state actors, global leaders, forums, and funding organizations—should give greater attention to maximizing the contributions of youth in this field.