Bangladesh needs to continue balancing adaptation strategies while pursuing aggressive negotiations for increased funds to address climate change (CC) issues, leading experts involved in environmental research told Bangladesh Post.
The experts, while expressing their views, said that the policy makers dealing with the CC issues need to strengthen coordination among the government departments concerned to implement the National Adaptation Plan (NAP). The adaptation ambitions would not be fully achieved unless effective coordination strategies are in place.
Eminent climate change specialist Professor Ainun Nishat said, “In preparedness to implement the NAP Bangladesh is still behind. The problem lies with following the ‘prescribed’ policy documents given by our development partners. In such a situation we actually don’t have ownership of the policy documents.”
Professor Nishat who spoke of a poor representation whenever negotiating for funds in the international CC conferences, said, “We often miss opportunities to negotiate as most of the delegation members are not so vocal. Usually, in such CC conferences some 196 countries represent. Everybody has their own agendas while Bangladesh pavilion should also have its own agendas and strongly pursue them by placing demands on the ‘right’ table.”
Professor Nishat regretted that the funds annually committed for the most CC affected nations is still small to cope with the challenges. Despite the multiple donors’ commitment, Bangladesh continues to get funds from its development partners.
He mentioned, “For instance, recently the International Monetary Fund (IMF) committed US$ 1.6 bln ($3bln) for risk management for those affected by CC. However, the problem lies with understanding among the implementing agencies. Often lack of proper coordination fails to effectively manage the funds for the beneficiaries.”
He also said that Bangladesh is ahead of many countries in research on CC adaptation strategies and continues to explore new avenues for further research.
Eminent environmentalist Dr Atiq Rahman said, “We cannot change the way CC continues to make impact on our environment but we can pursue the main contributors to minimize global carbon emission so that the impact of CC is on a positive note.”
Dr Atiq said that Bangladesh should pursue more aggressive negotiation with the West on raising their fund commitment since the root cause of the global carbon emission is in the West.
“Bangladesh’s contribution to global carbon emission is negligible but the impact on our nation is enormous. As I always said before that Bangladesh needs to balance between research & adaptation strategies while continuing to pursue aggressive negotiations for our maximum benefit.”
Dr Atiq, also winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his outstanding contributions to environmental research, continued, “Since the initial fund for the global mitigation strategies is too small (US$ 1 bln annually), Bangladesh needs to continue its own research in finding alternatives to the problems of internal and temporary migration. Many residents in the low-lying coastal areas are shifting to higher land for safer shelter and living but they need long-term solution.”
Dr Atiq also pointed out that Bangladesh needs to prioritize finding immediate solution for farmers in greater coastal regions as huge number of the population there are affected by salinity and rising sea level. “Production of rice, jute and a few other crops may drastically fall. We must act and plan from now before it is too late.”
According to the Global Climate Risk Index 2021 published by Germanwatch, Bangladesh is ranked 7th among the countries affected most in 2000-2019 due to climate change. Though its contribution to global warming is negligible (less than 0.48% of global emissions), the country is impacted by all the adversities of climate change.
Sea Level Rise (SLR) is the biggest threat for Bangladesh among all the external drivers. A recent study shows that the average sea-level rise in the coastal zone of Bangladesh is 3.8 - 5.8 mm/year over the last 30 years. The study illustrates that about 12.34 percent and 17.95 percent of the coastal area will be submerged due such trend. The findings also show that SLR alone will be responsible for a 5.8 pc to 9.1pc decline in rice production in the country.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has made commendable efforts to initiate policies, plans, and programmes to address climate change and disaster management. Some of these are: Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP), 2009 (updated in 2022), Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Act, 2010 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), 2015 (Enhanced & Updated in 2021), Bangladesh Delta Plan, 2100, National Adaptation Plan (NAP), 2022.
Among the major mitigation programmes concerned departments planted 71.146 million trees and 6921.7 hector of forest land brought under afforestation, distributed 9,00,000 improved cooking stoves and 10,908 solar home systems, and installed two solar mini-grid plants in the remote offgrid areas.
In disaster management Bangladesh is already well recognized internationally. Bangladesh has become a role model and demonstrated immense success in disaster risk reduction.
The successful programmes worth noticing are, Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP), establishment of 4,200 cyclone shelters constructed across the coast, and 320 Flood Shelters constructed across the country, with additional 393 Flood Shelters under construction.
Construction of 550 Mujib Killa which are specially designed raised land to provide shelter for the affected people and livestock in coastal regions during the cyclone/tidal surge, building 60 Multipurpose Rescue for persons with disability, and construction of a total of 66 Disaster Relief Warehouse- cum-Disaster Information Centers.