To move from climate risk to sustainable climate prosperity, the government is going to implement the ‘Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan’, which is essentially a strategic investment framework for climate financing. Under this, US$ 80 billion is being planned for investment by 2030 to achieve climate resilience. The investment will be funded from both domestic and external sources.
Four key climate change indicators – greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification – set new records in 2021. This is yet another clear sign that human activities are causing planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean, and in the atmosphere, with harmful and long-lasting ramifications for sustainable development and ecosystems, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The past seven years have been the warmest seven years on record. The world must act to prevent ever worsening climate impacts and to keep temperature increase to below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
We must devise immediate measurers to
protect people from environmental risks
Climate change affects the whole world but because of the geographic location, Bangladesh has long been in the eye of the storm. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world. Reportedly, by 2050, with a projected 50 cm rise in sea level, Bangladesh may lose approximately 11 percent of its arable land, affecting an estimated 15 million people living in its low-lying coastal region.
Bangladesh has done almost nothing to cause global warming unlike first world countries that bear a great deal of responsibility for carbon emission already in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, the country has to pay a much steeper price because of its geographical location. Hence, developing countries like Bangladesh need a global commitment to face climate challenges.
The world is now going through a situation where the most vulnerable countries, which deserve the highest level of priority, are failing to access support that is being realised. Major emitters show extreme reluctance on mitigation, which may wreck the international climate regime and put the climate vulnerable countries like Bangladesh at peril. As developed countries are accountable for the severe consequences of climate change, they must provide with necessary financial, technological and intellectual support to the developing countries. Also, we need to implement coherent and research-backed policy, legal and institutional framework to address climate related future challenges. We must devise immediate measurers to protect people from environmental risks. At the national level, our government should do whatever necessary for increasing the budget allocation to tackle the adverse impacts of climate change.