Shawdesh Desk:

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said that the world major economies should exercise honesty about climate change to avoid impending crisis.

‘We expect the world’s major economies to remain honest about climate change and do their fair share to avert the impending crisis,’ she said.

The prime minister made the remarks in a’ High Level Thematic Session of Climate Ambition Summit on ‘Delivering Climate Justice: Accelerating Ambition and Implementation on Adaptation and Early Warnings for All’ at ECOSOC Chamber here.

She arrived in New York on September 17 to attend the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The prime minister said that Bangladesh’s experience demonstrated that investing in adaptation and early warning makes perfect sense.

‘We hope our development partners will seize these opportunities to deliver climate justice,’ she said.

Sheikh Hasina said that Bangladesh has joined this session to lend support to two initiatives by the UN secretary general.

As a climate justice advocate, she said that Bangladesh stands ready to align with any constructive move that advances the agenda.

The prime minister said that Bangladesh had requested the UN system to conduct a table-top exercise on nation-wide earthquake modeling.

She said that they are working on Bangladesh’s second satellite, Bangabandhu II, as an Earth Observatory.

‘Bangladesh is willing to share its expertise with other vulnerable countries through South-South and triangular cooperation,’ she said.

She also expressed her hope that ‘early warnings for all’ would be able to encourage MDBs and IFIs to join such efforts.

The prime minister mentioned that Bangladesh had reduced fatalities to a single digit compared to the millions that perished during the Bhola Cyclone in 1970.

‘We have one of the world’s largest community volunteer programmes comprising 65,000 coastal people,’ she said.

Bangladesh’s latest National Plan for Disaster Management has adopted an integrated multi-hazard early warning approach, the prime minister said.

‘We are using mobile technology to provide regular updates on weather forecasts,’ she said.

Thematic Ambassador of the Climate Vulnerable Forum Saima Wazed was present.