Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday urged the international partners to support Bangladesh in implementation of its multi-billion dollar national plan on adaptation to climate change. The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) for 2023-2050 will require a total of US$ 230 billion for its execution, the premier said while addressing the inaugural ceremony of a Global Hub on Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) at Foreign Service Academy through a virtual platform from her official residence Ganabhaban.
Bangladesh will need 230 billion US Dollar for implementing its NAP from both domestic and international resources and the country continues to seek a 50-50 distribution between adaptation and mitigation from international climate financing. It needs to be mentioned that NAP proposes initiatives to make Bangladesh more resilient to impacts from a changing climate such as rising sea levels, increasing water salinity, severe flooding and river erosion.
Bangladesh now spends 6-7 per cent of the GDP for climate adaptation. Bangladesh has so far implemented 800 projects for both climate adaptation and mitigation under a Climate Change Trust Fund set up with its own resources in 2009.
We need to devise immediate
measurers to protect people
from environmental
risks and stop unwanted
migration due to climate change
Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world. Human settlements have been affected in Bangladesh due to extreme climate events over past years. One of the most adverse and prolonged impact of climate change in Bangladesh has been observed in the form of climate migration. It is startling to note that global climate change may displace an estimated 20 million people of Bangladesh as 17 percent of coastal areas of the country may be submerged due to a gradual rise in seawater. Hence, we should realise the need for formulating coherent and research-backed policy, legal and institutional framework to address climate migration.
We need to devise immediate measurers to protect people from environmental risks and stop unwanted migration due to climate change. The world is now going through a situation where the most vulnerable countries, which deserve the highest level of priority, are failing to access support that is being realised. Major emitters show extreme reluctance on mitigation, which may wreck the international climate regime and put the climate vulnerable countries like Bangladesh at peril.
As developed countries are accountable for the severe consequences of climate change, they must provide with necessary financial, technological and intellectual support to the developing countries following the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change. Moreover, developing countries like Bangladesh need a global commitment to face climate challenges.
