PM says climate change threatens 160m Bangladeshis

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday urged the developed countries and world leaders to come forward with support for climate change adaptation and wider 'capacity building'.

“We need support for climate change adaptation and wider 'capacity building' and also for technology development and transfer in areas like agriculture, public health and disaster management,” she said.

The prime minister was delivering her statement at the High-Level Leaders’ Dialogue on Climate Change: Implementation of the Paris Agreement Towards COP24 and Beyond held at the UN Headquarters.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was present at the programme.

Sheikh Hasina hoped that member states will utilise the opportunity in COP24 to have a more focused discussion on climate finance to put the world on track to meet pre-2020 ambition and long-term goals of the Paris Agreement.

Mentioning that Bangladesh is one of the most climate vulnerable countries, she said, “Climate change threatens our life and livelihood of our 160 million people.”

In Bangladesh, she said, they have mainstreamed climate actions and disaster risk reduction in the national plan. “We've investment of over 1 per cent of our GDP to address the climate change impacts. Moreover, US$ 450 million has been allocated from our own resources for adaptation and mitigation purposes,” she said.

The prime minister said Bangladesh has also transformed its agriculture making it more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Hasina recalled that she announced in New York five years back that as a responsible member of the international community, Bangladesh would never exceed the average per capita emission of the developing world.

“Our commitment to low-carbon, climate-resilient development is firm. We plan to move to 'Carbon budgeting' and resilient industrialisation. We wish to 'de-carbonise' our 'manufacturing pathways',” she said.

Hasina said Bangladesh has installed around six million solar home systems and provided two million improved cook stoves among the poorest.

She also said Bangladesh is developing stress-tolerant crop varieties to cope with climate change impacts.

“In spite of our limitations, we allocated US$385 million to our own funds for adaptation and mitigation.”

Source: unb