Bangladesh will take steps to get quickly an effective loss and damage fund operationalised in COP-28, Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Environment and Climate Change and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry Saber Hossain Chowdhury  said on Thursday.

 “For this, the capacity building activities of the concerned officials of Bangladesh will be undertaken soon,” he was speaking at a workshop on the '28th UN Climate Conference (COP28): Expectations and Achievements and Future Action Plans' held at the auditorium of the Department of Environment (DoE) in Dhaka this afternoon.

He said a total of 19 countries have pledged a total of $ 792 million to the fund so far and this fund will increase in the future.

The new fund will initially be administered by the World Bank for four years, he added.

Chaired by Environment, Forest and Climate Change Secretary Dr Farhina Ahmed, the workshop was addressed, among others, by Professor Emeritus of BRAC University Dr Ainun Nishat, Additional Secretary (Admin) of the ministry Iqbal Abdullah Harun, Additional Secretary (Climate Change) Sanjay Kumar Bhowmik and DoE Director General Dr Abdul Hamid.

The panel discussion session was moderated by Dr Fazle Rabbi Sadeque Ahmed, Deputy Managing Director of Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation.

Three thematic presentations were made by the Ministry's Deputy Secretary (Climate Change) Dharitri Kumar Sarker, DoE Director (Air Quality) Md Ziaul Haque and Director (Climate Change and International Conventions) Mirza Shawkat Ali.

Dr. Farhina Ahmed said that Bangladesh delegation at COP-28 played an important role in different ways.
She said that some important decisions were taken at COP28 to combat climate change. During the opening plenary on the first day of the Dubai Climate Change Conference, a decision was taken to operationalize the new 'Loss and Damage Fund' previously established at COP27.

The Secretary said that COP28 adopted the 'UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience' which aims to reduce the increasing adverse impacts, risks and vulnerabilities associated with climate change, as well as enhance adaptation activities and support.