Bangladesh has urged global leaders to share the burden of rehabilitation of the climate migrants, noting that each year thousands of people are being uprooted from their sweet homes and traditional jobs due to global warming, riverbank erosion and erratic climate changes.
As the CVF (Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) President, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen urges the international community to proactively address the unique challenges of the CVF countries.
“They indeed need further support in building capacity for trade-facilitation reforms. Otherwise, they would have to sacrifice development and quality of life for their citizens,” said Dr Momen while delivering his remarks at a webinar on “Climate Change Priorities in Trade and Investment” on Monday evening.
World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, WIPO Director-General Daren Tang, Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD Isabelle Durant and Deputy to the Director-General of UNIDO Hiroshi Kuniyoshi also joined it.
The Foreign Minister flagged six points and first, he said, all must be strict in implementing the Paris Agreement.
Secondly, Dr Momen said, transfer of clean, green, and advanced technology to developing countries at affordable costs, including for meeting energy requirements is crucial.
Sharing his third point, the Foreign Minister said, developed countries must keep their commitments to mobilise 100 billion dollars annually for climate finance with a 50:50 balance between adaptation & mitigation finance.
Fourth, he said, climate-vulnerable countries’ development needs, including climate smart agriculture, sustainable industrialisation, and enhanced contribution to the global value chain, must be addressed by decisive actions.
Fifth, the Foreign Minister said collaborative steps must be taken for ensuring sustainable marine fishing which is important for preserving marine ecosystems and combating climate change.
“It also remains crucial that developed countries and global financial institutions extend developing economies access to low-interest financing for climate friendly and climate proof trade and investment,” Dr Momen said as he flagged the sixth point.
Dr Momen thanked Bangladesh’ Permanent Mission in Geneva for organising this event. “Indeed, we’re speaking at a time when the correlation between human activities and climate change is more scientifically proven.”
He said climate change is the single most harmful contributor to humanity and the planet and this has severely impacted human lives and livelihoods. “The increased number of climate disasters and their impacts have brought vulnerable countries to a tipping point of irreversible damage.”
As identified by the United Nations, Dr Momen said, climate-related disasters increased by 83 per cent in the first two decades of the 21st century compared to the last two decades of the 20th century.
“These have affected our agriculture, food, energy security, economic growth, and sustainable development. Needless to say, the implications are more disastrous for the most vulnerable countries,” he said.
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Bangladesh contributes less than 0.47 per cent to global carbon emissions and its per capita carbon-di-oxide emission is 0.5 metric tons, which is about 30 times less than that in the high emitting countries.
“However, we’re the seventh most climate-vulnerable nation. The whole coastal area of Bangladesh, which includes the gateways of our international trade, is under serious threat. Frequent disasters often severely disrupt our domestic supply chain,” he said, adding that, “We’ve lost our land and capital due to sea-level rise. Our infrastructure and transport routes are regularly hit hard by the climate effects that affect transportation of goods and services.”
Despite constraints, Dr Momen said, under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has emerged as a global leader in climate change adaptation.
Bangladesh is the first LDC to set up a self-financed 450 million dollars “Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund” back in 2009 that supports nearly 800 adaptation and resilience projects in the vulnerable areas of the country.
“Bangladesh has one of the world’s most extensive domestic solar energy programmes. Last year, we submitted our updated NDC to the UNFCCC, enhancing both unconditional and conditional contributions with ambitious quantifiable mitigation targets,” he said.