While delivering the keynote speech virtually at a high-level event titled “Resilience and Recovery: Highlighting Solutions for the G20 on Climate and Sustainability”, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday very rightly sought strong back-up from the international community and G20 to increase the adaptation finance for the climate vulnerable countries. Addressing climate change as an existential threat for vulnerable countries, the Prime Minister urged the global community to shoulder the responsibility for climate migrants as they would be displaced for no fault of their own.
One of the most adverse and prolonged impacts of climate change has been noticed in the form of climate-migration. There is strong evidence that deteriorating environments caused by climate change are driving millions of people to resort to mass migration in their search for a better life, both within countries and across borders. It is envisaged that climate change may displace, as a ballpark figure, some 143 million people by 2050. Therefore, G20 should come forward with stronger commitment to mobilise global support to address the issue of global climate migration.
International community should realise the need for
formulating coherent and research-backed policy to
address the adverse impacts of climate change.
The world is now going through a situation where the most vulnerable countries, deserving the highest level of priority, are failing to access whatever support being realised. The sad aspect is that major emitters show extreme reluctance on mitigation, which may wreck the international climate regime and put the climate-vulnerable countries like Bangladesh at peril.
Most of the climate-vulnerable countries including Bangladesh have done almost nothing to cause global warming unlike Canada, Australia, China and America as they bear a great deal of responsibility for the emissions already in the atmosphere. These major powers need to take a fresh, hard look at the fact that they and other members of the Group of 20 account for some 80 percent of global emissions of heat-trapping gases.
As developed countries are accountable for the severe consequences of climate change, they must as an obligatory provide 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 facing climate challenges.
Considering the situation, international community should realise the need for formulating a coherent and research-backed policy to address the adverse impacts of climate change. Also, at the national level, our government should do whatever necessary for increasing the budget allocation to tackle the impacts of climate change.