‘Meet Shantaw Nur, A climate Reality Leader!’
Written by: Ibs Siddiquee Uvin

A young climate fighter is spotted in Bangladesh just when the whole world was at a standstill due to the global epidemic of COVID-19. Today I am coming out with such a promising young man who went out of his house to address the climate crisis without caring about his life with “Youth Power” just to demand ‘Climate Justice’ for the coastal people at a time when COVID-19 was at its peak and locked down. I am talking about Shantaw Nur, A climate Reality Leader who had a tough childhood but aspired positivity and grew into an inspiring individual. Though his full name is Md. Jabed Nur Shantaw but everyone knows him by the name ‘A climate reality leader Shantaw Nur’.

Although he is a student in a quiet profession, he has been involved in various social activities including sports since his education. Inspired by Mashrafe, Shakib and Muminul, he wanted to build a career in cricket in school life, but he had to quit cricket due to family pressure. Then in his spare time, he loves to do photography and started a new chapter of photography. Shantaw Nur graduated from Cox’s Bazar Government Boys’ High School in 2016 with a successful education from secondary school to higher secondary education. He gained a good reputation in Cox’s Bazar through various social activities including photo-journalism for various media. In November 2017, Shantaw Nur got the opportunity to work as a photographer in a Rohingya refugee camp through an international organization where he framed various activities of the daily lives of Rohingya refugee children. He is recognized as an international photographer from Washington DC as the pictures of Rohingya children are slowly being published in various media in Europe and Russia.

The late Jafar Alam and Mamtaz Shafina Azim, residents of Tekpara area of ​​Cox’s Bazar city, have two sons and the youngest in the family is Shantaw Nur. His elder brother Zahed Nur Zitu is a law student. Although Zitu-Shantaw’s father left the world in 2001 but the pace of their lives did not stop. On the contrary, in the absence of his father, the mother herself is still working hard to make them highly educated and established. The child of such a mother is Shantaw Nur, who is now dreaming of a sustainable solution to the effects of climate change and a livable world.

Shantaw Nur said, “It is not the case that I am alone is fighting for the climate Justice, many youths are now good awareness of the issue and come out to the field to face this crisis. From the front or back, in saving the world from the catastrophe in the environment, though I alone got the opportunity to lead this kind of important mission, everyone is working here giving their efforts. We want to ensure a cool-green, safe-living world. The climate crisis is now at an extreme stage so everyone should get out of the world of books and deal with this crisis at the field level as soon as possible. I am going to take an initiative to protect the environment and biodiversity of Bangladesh and ensure sustainable solutions. So I think the opportunity for me to participate in policymaking program is the most urgent at present. Because I believe that, this initiative will play an important role in tackling the climate crisis.”

Shantaw Nur is founder of an organisation called ‘Climate Justice Bangladesh’ and currently working as the district coordinator of “Youthnet for Climate Justice”, Cox’s Bazar unit. It is known that in 2020, the country’s first “Climate Blockade” program was observed in Cox’s Bazar district under the leadership of Shantaw to demand ‘Climate Justice’ across the country, including the coastal region, which is the first challenge for Cox’s Bazar youth in tackling the effects of climate change before Covid-19 and this young climate fighter participated at the ‘Asia Climate Leadership Camp 2020’, organized by
bdnewseurope/18 th December /Z I