Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin has said that Bangladesh is one of the 30 prioritised countries announced by the United Nations Secretary-General. The United Nations will continue supporting Bangladesh on priority basis to address the adverse impacts of climate change and natural disasters, he added.
Talking to a visiting UN official during a meeting at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Tuesday, the minister said that the Bangladesh government is committed to protecting the lives and livelihood of its people from climate change impacts.
In reply, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction in United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Mami Mizutori assured Bangladesh of providing more support to deal with the adverse impacts of climate change.
The UN Assistant Secretary-General said that the UN will provide support to Bangladesh for preparing, monitoring, communicating and introducing early warning systems for various disasters after identifying the need and promoting green technology.
Mentioning that Bangladesh has made a remarkable progress in various social indicators, she said that the world has a lot to learn from Bangladesh.
Shahab Uddin said that Delta Plan 2100, National Adaptation Plan and Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan are being implemented to this end. He also said that biodiversity protection and climate adaptation and mitigation activities require a huge funding.
The minister further said that Bangladesh can be successful in fulfilling various international commitments, including SDGs, if it gets the necessary assistance from international community and the UN.
Secretary of the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry Dr Farhina Ahmed, Additional Secretary (Administration) of the ministry Iqbal Abdullah Harun, Additional Secretary (Environment) Sanjay Kumar Bhowmik, Additional Secretary (Development) Dr Fahmida Khanam, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis and Chief of UNDRR Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Marco Toscano-Rivalta, among others, were present.