Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said that some 6500 people become homeless every year due to climate change in Bangladesh.
“Around 6500 people have been displaced every year due to climate change and they are facing difficulties in working and most of them lose their jobs. As a result, they flocked to the cities,’ he said while talking to reporters after participating in two events at the COP27 conference.
The Bangladesh government has taken steps to build houses for them in a bid to rehabilitate them every year, he added. “Global warming has been noticed due to climate change and we are not responsible for that. Due to global warming, vast tracts of land have been eroded and many amounts of money were spent due to the erosion,” said Momen.
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Earlier, in the day, the minister participated in two events titled 'Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change: Building a Positive Narrative on Migration' and 'Climate Action and Global Shield Against Climate Risks' at the conference.
He also said that 20% of Bangladesh will be flooded in the future and 2/3 crore people will be homeless and they will spread to the adjacent countries. “It will be a global security risk,” he said. Momen also stresses the need for collective action for this.
Talking about the Global Shield against Climate Risks event, the minister said “A Global Shield has been inaugurated and they (developing countries) will provide some money to us but it will not be enough.”
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Expressing hope over the financial assistance from the other countries, Momen said already Germany is ready to provide Tk 20 billion, US Tk 12 million and France Tk 8 million and the UK will also provide assistance.
Replying to a question about how much money is needed to tackle climate change, the minister said “We have an assessment but its global issue. I think we need $100 billion alone.”
He also placed five-point demands to protect Bangladesh from climate change. The demands include the developed countries which are emitting more carbon need to increase their rate of carbon emitting reduction, to pay the $100 billion now as per previous agreement, demanding compensation for loss and damage, need for green energy and for this funds and technology is needed and the developed countries should provide the money for this technology so that we can produce electricity from 40% renewable energy.