The government agencies concerned want to get oversees climate funds as 'grant' rather than loan to help mitigate the impacts of climate change, a senior government official commented.
"There are complexities in taking fund as loan. It is better for the government to deal with the climate change issues with its own fund instead of taking loan from the donors," said SM Munjurul Hannan Khan, additional secretary, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
So the government prefers taking climate funds as grant rather than loan, he added.
He observed these while addressing a workshop on 'Enhancing adaptive capacities of coastal communities, especially women, to cope with climate change induced salinity'.
The event was jointly organised by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MWCA) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) auditorium.
Despite emitting less carbon dioxide, Bangladesh is the worst sufferer of the climate change which is mostly caused by the developed countries, the speakers viewed.
Government officials present also observed that due to climate change, the mangrove forests around the coastal areas are declining, which is a threat to the coastal livelihood and livestock.
Emphasising invention of new technologies and adaptation measures, Sheikh Rafiqul Islam additional secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, said the increasing level of salinity is causing harm to the farm land and its productivity.
Kamrun Nahar, secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, spoke at the workshop as the chief guest.
"The project will make a paradigm-shift in the way women will be empowered as 'change-agents' to plan, implement, and manage climate-resilient solutions to safeguard livelihood and lives and help the country become a middle-income one," she said.
UNDP's Resident Representative Sudipto Mukerjee said the Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved if the women remain ignored as they are more vulnerable to adverse impacts of climate change.
Government has already taken a number of initiatives including tree plantation programme and building new type of cyclone shelters with solar power facility, the government officials mentioned.
The ministry and UNDP is implementing a six-year long project in Satkhira and Khulna districts benefitting almost 0.7 million people.
The ministry provided $8 million while the GCF and UNDP gave the rest amount as a co-financer to plan, implement and manage climate-resilient solutions.
The project will mostly cover women and adolescent girls for climate resilient solutions, financed by the Green Climate Fund, world's largest multilateral fund for climate change action.
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