The Center for People & Environ (CPE) is a research-based, non-profit organization headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh. CPE serves as a hub where scientists, researchers, professionals, academics, students, and communities work together on the environmental and development challenges facing Bangladesh and South Asia. Its approach is to connect science, people, and policy: rigorous research generates evidence, communities help shape and own the solutions, and the findings are carried into policy and practice at local, national, and regional levels.
CPE combines field research with its own facilities: a climate adaptation experiment and training park (CAMET Park), soil, water and environment, social research, and GIS & data science laboratories, and community-facing platforms such as People’s Media and Climate Theatre. This lets CPE work across the full chain from baseline and diagnostic studies to piloting, monitoring and evaluation, capacity building and policy advocacy, with particular attention to the people most exposed to climate and environmental risk: coastal, char, haor and urban-poor communities, women, persons with disabilities, children, and displaced populations.
VISION | A climate-resilient, just and sustainable Bangladesh and South Asia, where people and ecosystems thrive together, and decisions are guided by sound science. |
MISSION | To generate rigorous, interdisciplinary research and turn it into community-led solutions, stronger local capacity and evidence-based policy that reduce climate and environmental risks, conserve nature and advance inclusive, low-carbon development for the most vulnerable people. |
CPE’s objectives follow directly from its programmes and track record. Each objective below lists the main activities through which CPE delivers it, examples from recent work, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) it contributes to.
Objective | Key activities | Examples from CPE’s portfolio | SDGs |
1. Generate credible evidence for climate and development action | Baseline, midline and endline studies; impact and final evaluations; climate vulnerability and capacity analysis (CVCA); feasibility, scoping and market studies; results-based M&E. | Baseline for the BDRCS Coastal DRR Programme; endline evaluation of Panii Jibon-III (Helvetas); evaluation of PCRCB-II (CCDB); RISE baseline (LEDARS). | SDG 13, 17 |
2. Strengthen climate resilience and disaster risk management of vulnerable communities and cities | Community risk assessment and risk reduction action plans; city risk profiles; anticipatory action and early warning; local adaptation plans; climate risk insurance and risk-financing tools; heat adaptation. | PROAACT anticipatory action (LEDARS, ongoing); DRM plans for Dhaka, Rajshahi and Sylhet (German Red Cross); city risk profiles of Bagerhat and Satkhira (American Red Cross); coastal climate risk management instruments (Ocean Risk Innovation Challenge, Canada). | SDG 1, 11, 13 |
3. Promote climate-resilient livelihoods, agriculture and food security | Climate-smart villages and agriculture; saline-tolerant crops and forage; value chain and labour market assessments; decision support systems; post-harvest loss management; safe food supply (Deshojo Bazar, Subarna Krishi). | Saline-tolerant forage in the south-west coast (Krishi Gobeshona Foundation); Climate Smart Village development (Food for the Hungry); food security and crop production gap analysis (BRAC); climate-smart value chains for youth (iDE). | SDG 1, 2, 8 |
4. Conserve ecosystems and advance nature-based, low-carbon and circular solutions | Nature-based solutions; mangrove restoration and carbon credits; methane and carbon footprint analysis; biodiversity monitoring; integrated water resource management; plastic waste recycling and environmental management frameworks. | Mangrove restoration for carbon credits (DT Master Carbon); NbS for adaptation (Adaptation Research Alliance); methane source-point detection (Patrick J. McGovern Foundation); eDNA biodiversity (University of Zurich); plastic value chain and EIA (BRAC). | SDG 6, 7, 12, 14, 15 |
5. Advance inclusion, gender equality and climate justice | Disability-inclusive and gender-responsive DRR and climate strategies; SRHR in a changing climate; climate displacement and social cohesion; child labour and climate migration; locally led adaptation; trade and climate justice. | SRHR of women with disabilities (B-SCAN); gender-inclusive shelter access (MJF); DIDRR situation analysis in Khulna (CBM); Rohingya–host community social cohesion (SHED, CARE). | SDG 5, 10, 16 |
6. Build capacity and integrate science into policy | Training modules and courses; policy briefs and reviews; national policy dialogues; South Asian conferences; the International Journal of Climate Science and Policy; community communication through People’s Media and Climate Theatre. | Climate risk insurance training module (Oxfam); policy brief on cyclone anticipatory-action triggers (United Purpose); youth capacity building on methane (Social Change Nest, UK); CATA-Earth planetary health education (EU). | SDG 4, 13, 16, 17 |
7. Use data science, GIS and technology for better decisions | Remote sensing and GIS mapping; big data management; drone surveys; climate and weather modelling; digital decision-support tools. | Urban ecosystem services mapping in Rajshahi (ICLEI South Asia); agricultural resilience decision support system (Bangladesh Academy of Sciences); risk mapping for DRM plans. | SDG 9, 11, 13 |
CPE’s objectives support the 2030 Agenda and SDGs, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Principles for Locally Led Adaptation, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and Bangladesh’s National Adaptation Plan (2023–2050), Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 and Standing Orders on Disaster.
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