Md. Tahmid Zami

With heat-related deaths mounting, the tarmac on roads melting and desperate people gathering in mosques to pray for an end to the deadly heatwave ravaging Bangladesh, the call went out from cyberspace: plant more trees. 

The worst heatwave in seven decades is particularly unbearable in the capital Dhaka with temperatures reaching as high as 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit) in a crowded city that has been steadily stripped of the trees, lakes and ponds that once offered its residents relief and shelter. 

Religious scholars in Bangladesh say the country should harness the generosity of Muslims around the world and use their charitable giving to help the country adapt to climate change.

They said global faith-based finance could be a crucial way to support poor countries whose needs for funds to adapt to climate change are 10 to 18-times greater than they currently receive.

At home on a flood-prone island in northern Bangladesh, Mosammat Shahina and her family take refuge from frequent inundations on a boat, causing upheaval that adds to her domestic workload.

"I have to try my best to get food for the family as we float on water, and attend to my children who get sick during these disasters," the 32-year-old told Context by phone.

Transgender people in Bangladesh say social media platforms must do more to tackle hate speech, warning that an increase in transphobia online could threaten their safety in real life - and set back rights progress.

In the early days of blogs and platforms such as Facebook, trans Bangladeshis embraced the online space to connect with each other, said Shaikh Md. Mominul Islam, an activist who identifies as non-binary - neither a man or a woman.

As the fashion world races to cut its carbon emissions, garment makers are calling for a global fund to share the cost of the green transition between big brands and manufacturers in the Global South.

The investment needed for the industry to meet its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 is estimated at $1 trillion. So far, most of the bill is being paid by manufacturers in leading garment-making countries such as Bangladesh, India and Cambodia.

Two years after he delivered a speech to the United Nations climate conference standing knee-deep in seawater to highlight the threat to the nation of Tuvalu, minister Simon Kofe said they were on their way to becoming a digital nation.

The Pacific island nation, halfway between Australia and Hawaii, had completed a detailed 3D scan of its 124 islands and islets, which will be the basis for creating a digital clone of itself, he said in a message in December.

Fashion suppliers are starting to take climate risks into account when deciding where to locate factories or how to keep workers safe in them, but a lack of good data is holding back early efforts to mitigate threats, industry officials warned.

"Climate change poses the risk of supply chain disruption so we must take such risks into account to do business in the long run," said Mohammad Monower Hossain, head of sustainability for Team Group, a leading apparel supplier in Bangladesh. 

Farzana Akter Isha, 24, works as a production supervisor at SOLshare, a renewable energy technology company that provides home-based solar power solutions to poor, rural families. 

When she started her career in 2014 straight after leaving school, Bangladesh's solar sector was facing hiccups with sluggish demand - and Isha saw many of her colleagues switch to other jobs. 

Five-year old Jerin loves tending to the young chili pepper and aubergine plants in her school's garden.

The 30 children in her class, aged from three to five, at a government school in the central Bangladesh village of Brahmangaon in Gazipur district are learning to grow plants and observe insects in an education programme to familiarise pupils with nature and climate change issues through music and play.

With all eyes on climate talks in Dubai, the world of fashion is working out how it can fulfil an ambitious pledge to slash the emissions it makes clothing the world with speed and style.

And the outlook isn't rosy.

Big brands have promised big cuts to their carbon footprint - but it is manufacturing that causes most of the environmental damage and somebody has to foot the bill for the radical change.