Shawdesh desk:

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday called for consolidating global partnership to make the world a ‘safer and better place’ for future generation.

‘Let us join our hands together to consolidate our partnership to fight against the perilous threats of climate change and make the world a safer and better place for our future generation,’ she said.

She said this in a recorded speech of the prime minister that was aired in the 79th Annual Session of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific on ‘Accelerating Climate Action in Asia and the Pacific for Sustainable Development’.

Mentioning that climate change is the real challenge of recent time, she said: ‘I would like to propose the following steps that ESCAP may take into account.’

In the proposals, Sheikh Hasina said that climate-vulnerable developing countries, especially in Asia and the Pacific, required adequate finances to implement their NAP as well as to achieve NDC targets.

She also said that International Support Measures of knowledge sharing, technology transfer and innovation-driven trade and investment were to be placed for transition towards climate resilience growth for the graduating countries.

Trade facilitation measures, digital trade and IT-enabled services should be available in the developing countries to deal with the Fourth Industrial Revolution and mitigate the challenges of climate change, she continued.

‘Sub-regional cooperation is to be strengthened, especially accelerating the current partnership and developing new partnerships, for promoting the climate actions for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific,’ said the PM.

Sheikh Hasina said that the Asia and the Pacific region, home to 60 percent of the world’s population, was highly vulnerable to climate change.

The region is facing natural calamities like floods, cyclones, heat waves and droughts in an increased rate due to the impacts of climate change affecting lives and livelihoods, she said.

She mentioned that Bangladesh was one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world although its contribution to global emission is very negligible.

‘Our development programs, therefore, focus on addressing climate-resilient development efforts,’ she added.

The prime minister said that they established ‘Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund in 2009’ to help vulnerable communities. About 851 projects costing around half a billion US dollars have so far been executed under the fund.

In October 2022, she said Bangladesh submitted the National Adaptation Plan-NAP to UNFCCC. It has identified 113 interventions across 8 priority areas with a costing outlay of around 230 billion US dollars upto 2050.

Bangladesh has also submitted an ambitious and updated Nationally Determined Contributions-NDC to the UNFCCC in 2021, she added.

‘We have adopted the ‘Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100’, a 100-year strategic plan, for achieving a safe, climate-resilient prosperous delta,’ she said.

Sheikh Hasina said that they were also implementing the ‘Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan spanning from 2022 to 2041 with the vision of setting Bangladesh’s development trajectory from vulnerability to resilience.

‘Bangladesh has been recommended for graduation from the LDC by 2026. However, the frequent climate-induced disasters may disrupt our smooth transition. Climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction are, therefore, policy priorities of my government,’ she said.

Bangladesh has been hosting 1.2 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals, she said, adding that their overdue presence not only poses a serious security threat but also triggers a severe environmental degradation.

‘We reiterate our call to take concerted efforts to send back them to their homes in Myanmar,’ said the prime minister said.