Bangladesh will seek equal funding for adaptation and mitigation to address the risks of climate change. Moreover, the government will call on developed countries to move forward with the transfer of green technology.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s role in the upcoming COP26 as Climate Vulnerable Forum’s (CVF) chair would be crucial.
It may be recalled that Bangladesh, as the president of the CVF, has been playing a vital role. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave for the Uk today to join the COP26 where she will address the high level meeting of COP26 on November 1 in Glasgow.
Besides, Bangladesh will also demand that the rich countries pledge to give funds to the affected countries to help them address the negative impacts of climate change. The government will raise other demands, including limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees, increasing adaptation activities, and setting up of a secretariat for prevention of losses and damage, according to Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
The Climate Conference-COP26 will commence from today (Sunday) in Glasgow in Scotland, and it will end on November 12. The conference held once a year is the largest climate conference since the Paris Agreement in 2015. Last year, the conference was held virtually due to Covid-19 pandemic. About 25,000 people from around 200 countries, including heads of state and government from 120 countries, will attend the event, including world leaders, arbitrators and journalists. Thousands of activists and many businessmen will also attend the meeting.
After the end of the conference, it is hoped, a unanimous declaration will be made containing all the specific commitments. All countries must sign that declaration.
The burning of fossil fuels such as coal or oil over a long period has caused global warming to increase due to the amount of harmful gases released into the atmosphere. As a result, the weather is becoming more and more extreme. Temperatures are rising, forest fires are raging, floods and cyclones are on the rise.
According to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, 45 representatives of the Ministry, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and businessmen will take part in the conference from Bangladesh.
Foreign Minister Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen on Saturday said in a statement that Bangladesh delegation led by the Prime Minister is expected to play a crucial role in the COP-26 summit as the current president of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), an organization of 48 countries at risk due to climate change. A joint CVF-Commonwealth meeting will be held the same day in the morning. The Prime Minister will be the chief guest there.
Rich nations have pledged $ 100 billion a year by 2020 to make it easier to deal with the negative effects of climate change. But the United Nations recently said that they had not kept their promise.
It will also discuss at the conference to provide $500 million pledged by developed countries, which will be the biggest demand from Bangladesh this time.
Now, the National Determined Contribution (NDC) is updated after 10 years. Bangladesh wants it to be updated every five years. Bangladesh will also make strong demands for the implementation of this demand.
Global warming has risen from 1 degree to 1.2 degrees Celsius. According to a United Nations recent report, the rate at which pollution is increasing due to greenhouse gas emissions which could increase global temperatures by 2.7 degrees Celsius this century. It was agreed at the Paris Climate Conference that the temperature should be kept within 1.5 degrees Celsius.
It is expected that the developed countries will take big initiatives to reduce carbon emissions to zero (net zero) by 2050. This is the first goal of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change official said, currently more money is being spent on mitigation to reduce carbon emissions. The amount of funds given to the affected countries to adapt to climate change is much less. Proportionately, this funding is in the 70:30 ratio. Bangladesh will demand for this money to be paid in the ratio of 50:50 along with simplifying the process to get the funds.
Currently, the affected countries are not getting the required funds due to the complicated process. So far, Bangladesh has received only $ 101 million, which is very scanty as the number seven affected country in the world.
Another big demand of the affected country like Bangladesh is to take effective decisions on the loss and damage due to climate change. Not only the infrastructures of the countries affected by climate change are being damaged, it is also having a tremendous impact on human livelihoods. For example, fishermen cannot go fishing in the sea due to negative impact of climate. As a result, they have to spend lazy time. Similarly, farmers are not able to cultivate crops due to salinity in the coastal belt. They are migrating and looking for work elsewhere. This is affecting their physical and mental health.
Another issue that Bangladesh will demand the migration of those affected by climate change. Developed countries need to take responsibility for rehabilitating people displaced by rising sea level, salinity, river erosion, floodings and droughts as a result of climate change.
The migration issue was raised on the agenda of the Cancun Climate Conference. But later the issue disappeared from the climate negotiation process under pressure from developed countries.
People are constantly being displaced due to climate change in the affected countries. They have lost their homes and moved to a nearby town or city.
Countries that are polluting more will have to pay effective NDCs (National Determined Contribution), which Bangladesh will want to ensure in Glasgow. However, Bangladesh will say, their pollution is less than that of many other countries. Bangladesh also wants to reduce it. To this end, it will need the cooperation of developed countries. Bangladesh wants the latest green technology from them to stop coal- based energy, because it is very expensive. For this reason, there will be requests that developed countries provide green technology to Bangladesh by nominal money.
According to a report by the United Nations on October 26, floods and storms in 2020 affected about 50 million people in Asia and killed more than 5,000.