It is encouraging to note that while addressing the inaugural ceremony of a two-day international conference on climate change adaptation in Dhaka on Wednesday, former United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon addressed Bangladesh as the best teachers in climate change adaptation in the world.
Bangladesh is recognized internationally for its cutting-edge achievements in addressing climate change. Despite the considerable progress that Bangladesh has made over the last decade, the country face continuous challenges associated with climate change. There is a growing realisation that the adverse impacts of climate change will affect everyone sooner than we had estimated, and hence investment in adaptation must be prioritised urgently around the globe.
Bangladesh needs a global
commitment to face the local problems
posed by climate change and in this regard,
incorporating ‘glocal’ (global plus local)
interventions is very much required
Bangladesh has done almost nothing to cause global warming unlike first world countries like the USA, Australia and Canada who bear a great deal of responsibility for carbon emission already in the atmosphere, nevertheless, the country has to pay a much stepper price because of its geographical location. Here the curse of climate change hits in the forms of rising sea level, natural disasters, economic breakdown, prolonged monsoon, frequent changes in weather pattern and temperature and so on. Reportedly, Bangladesh’s average annual temperature is predicted to increase by 1.0°C to 2.5°C and such a rise in temperature will cost Bangladesh 6.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product and lower the living standards of more than one-third of its population by 2050. Experts assert that without incorporating Paris Agreement, it will not be possible to restrict rise in world temperature.
Bangladesh will need billions of dollars over the next decades to deal with the upcoming severities of climate change. As developed countries are accountable for the consequences of climate change, they should provide necessary financial, technical and intellectual support to the developing countries to tackle climate change. Bangladesh needs a global commitment to face the local problems posed by climate change and in this regard, incorporating ‘glocal’ (global plus local) interventions is very much required. It is up to the authorities concerned including the policymakers to do the needful for increasing budget allocation to tackle the impacts of climate change.