Invest adequate fund for adaptation, PM urges industrialised nations

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GENEVA, May 16 (BSS): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today urged the industrialised nations to invest adequate accessible fund for adaptation by vulnerable economies. "The fund, we envisage should be adequate, sustainable and easily accessible to meet the full cost of adaptation," she said while speaking at the high-level segment of the 16th Congress of World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) at Geneva International Conference Centre. Contribution to this fund should be over and above the usual ODA, based on population and vulnerability ratio, she said and urged the developed nations to make the climate fund "operational" soon for adaptation. Presided over by WMO President Alexander Bedritskiy, the opening session of the congress was also addressed by First Vice- President Ali Mohammad Nooriyan, Second Vice-president Tyrone Sutherland and Third Vice-President Antonio Divino Moura. Heads of state and government and ministers of member countries and territories attended the high-level segment of the congress. Earlier on her arrival at the centre, the Bangladesh Premier was received by WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud at the VIP gate of the centre. "The emission reduction has to be on the basis of equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities with the participation of all countries," she asserted. Laying emphasis on improving the ability to predict climate and to help users incorporate the information into their decision making, she said Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) needs to operate at global, regional and national levels. On Bangladesh's vulnerability to climate change in terms of scale and intensity, Sheikh Hasina said despite being a negligible emitter of greenhouse gases, Bangladesh is the worst victim of global warming. The Bangladesh Premier said since independence in 1971, Bangladesh has spent over US $10 billion on adaptation like flood management schemes, protection of river banks, cyclone shelters, polders, and elevation of road levels. She said these were done by diverting fund allocated for development priorities, thereby, slowing them down, as well as MDGs. "Yet, we have registered a GDP growth rate of 6 per cent for the last decade, and remained on course to achieving the MDG targets by 2015," she added. She said without waiting for assistance from others, her government has established a Climate Change Trust Fund with an initial capital of US$ 200 million. Besides, she said a Multi-Donor Trust Fund with the support of the development partners has been established although the amounts are meager in comparison to the needs. She said through decades of living with natural disasters, Bangladesh has evolved disaster preparedness, now a major focus on development planning, and developed a National Plan for Disaster Management 2010-2015 in line with commitments under the Hyogo Framework for Action. The Prime Minister said her government has undertaken a plan to construct 14,000 cyclone shelters in the coastal areas to reduce vulnerability of the poor to manageable levels, strengthened the capacity of early warning systems and modernized the meteorological offices.