Finding Climate Solutions Through Community Knowledge
Lena Stier, a YSE 1st year graduate student from the United States, and Lamia Mohsin, a YSE Urban Climate Leadership Fellow from Bangladesh, discuss equitable strategies for climate adaptation across the Global South
For practitioners in urban sustainability, some of the most valuable insights come from those working closest to the challenges, and from conversations that connect experiences across regions. Our Urban Climate Leadership Certificate (UCL) Program has fostered a global community of working professionals who connect with Yale School of the Environment (YSE) students through near-peer exchanges grounded in shared interests, challenges, and a commitment to advancing more vibrant, healthy, and equitable cities.
Earlier this spring, Lena Stier, a YSE master’s student, spoke with Lamia Mohsin, a project analyst (Monitoring, Evaluation and Communication) with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Bangladesh and a Three Cairns Scholar in the UCL program. Mohsin’s work focuses on climate adaptation, locally led solutions, and the challenges facing rapidly growing urban and peri-urban areas in Bangladesh.
Drawing on her experience working with communities facing climate impacts firsthand, Mohsin shared how local knowledge can inform more effective adaptation strategies, why resilience efforts must reflect realities on the ground, and what lessons climate-vulnerable regions can offer cities around the world. Their conversation also explored her path into climate work and how learning from practitioners across different contexts has shaped her approach to urban sustainability.
Q: Looking back, what experiences or people influenced your path toward climate work?
Lamia Mohsin: When I was doing my bachelor’s degree, I was trying to find my footing and understand what interested me most. One of the most important questions you should ask yourself before choosing a career or job is: What am I good at? It has to be a combination of your skills and your interests.
I realized that writing was something I enjoyed and something people around me—my peers, teachers, and mentors—often told me I was good at. I started thinking about how I could use that skill.
At the time, there was a major environmental debate in Bangladesh about a coal-fired thermal power plant being built near the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest area in the country. Environmentalists were raising concerns, while others were explaining why they supported the project. I researched both sides of the debate and wrote an article about it. I sent it to Commonwealth’s youth newsletter, and they published it.
That was my first bit of advocacy on an environmental issue.
I also think my connection to the environment came from my childhood. I grew up in a space where plants, greenery, and vegetation were a very important part of our household. I inherited that from my mother. The passions we develop in life are often shaped by the people around us.
Q: How has your work with communities shaped your understanding of climate adaptation?
Lamia Mohsin: A major part of my work with the Global Center on Adaptation was focused on building a hub for locally led adaptation.
Bangladesh has been a pioneer in many climate adaptation practices because people here have been dealing with climate impacts for decades. Through working with communities, we tried to understand locally-rooted knowledge, perspectives, and the simple actions they take to adapt to climate change.
Listening to communities and doing field visits helped us realize that people are often already adapting in ways that are meaningful and effective. People who may have little or no formal technical training are doing things that help them address climate impacts while maintaining climate-resilient livelihoods.
Interacting with local communities makes you see the world through a different lens. The world is not limited to conversations that experts have in an air-conditioned room. You have to understand reality on the ground.
Sometimes solutions from technical experts fail because they do not take into account the local context—the urban-rural context, the people who are actually experiencing the impacts, and the challenges they face.
A lot of my learning has come from understanding that we often overlook the experiences and voices of the people who are most vulnerable.
Q: Is there a particular experience with a community that has stayed with you?
Lamia Mohsin: When I was applying for my master’s programs, I wrote about an experience I had visiting a very remote part of Bangladesh. I met a woman whose house had been completely destroyed by a cyclone a few months earlier.
What stayed with me was that she was still speaking with so much enthusiasm and hope. She said these disasters and calamities are part of their lives, but she still wanted a better future for her children. She wanted them to be educated and understand how these challenges could be addressed when they grew up.
It was a very simple experience, but it had a big impact on me. I think my understanding of climate issues has been shaped by these interactions and by communicating with people who experience these challenges directly.
Q: Where do you see the most potential for the future of climate adaptation and resilience in urban areas?
Lamia Mohsin: Most of my work so far has focused on Bangladesh, where I was born and grew up. But I do not want my knowledge or work to be limited only to Bangladesh. At some point in my career, I would like to explore international roles and work on issues faced by other countries.
Urban challenges are a global issue, but they become more complex in places where there is a combination of population pressure, rapid urbanization, and climate vulnerability.
In many South Asian and Southeast Asian contexts, it can be difficult to balance policymaking with implementation on the ground. I have witnessed these challenges firsthand because I live in a country where overcrowded spaces and implementation challenges are common.
I think rapidly growing cities across South Asia like Dhaka in Bangladesh or like Mumbai in India, can provide important examples of how to address these complex challenges. The experiences from these places can become lessons for other countries facing similar situations.
Q: How has the Urban Climate Leadership Program influenced your perspective?
Lamia Mohsin: One thing I found challenging at the beginning was the length of the program. It is around nine months, and most participants, including me, work full-time. Maintaining that level of commitment with weekly assignments, lectures, and activities requires consistency.
But one thing that helped was understanding that this was not about enforcing discipline. It was about people participating because of their curiosity and their interest in understanding urban challenges better.
I have found the enthusiasm of other participants inspiring. Everyone comes from different countries and different backgrounds, and being able to learn from their experiences has been valuable.
Professionally, the modules, readings, and lectures have introduced me to ideas that I had not learned before. Since many of these concepts are new to me, I find them especially interesting.
Q: What connections have you found through the program?
Lamia Mohsin: Because the participants come from so many different countries, there are many opportunities to learn from each other. Someone might be working in a context similar to mine in Latin America, while I know very little about their experiences and they know very little about mine. The discussions allow us to ask questions and engage with each other rather than just listen to lectures.
I feel that this program came at the right time. I could have missed the application, but I saw it, looked into it, and applied. It has given me a new perspective.