Bangladesh's adaptation to climate change
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Shahiduzzaman Khan
BANGLADESH as a most vulnerable country sought 15 per cent of the US$30 billion fund agreed at the Copenhagen climate conference to tackle the adverse impact of the climate change. The country argued at the United Nations (UN) climate summit that it was not responsible anyway for the worldwide environmental problems whereas it is in the most vulnerable position as a nation at risk. One-fifth of Bangladesh will be gone, thus increasing the pressure on a country already engaged in several battles at the socio-economic levels. To recoup the loss the country has incurred due to climate change, Dhaka sought $500 million on an urgent basis as financial assistance from the UN and developed countries and another amount of $5 billion as compensation for next five years.
It is worthwhile to mention that the world has warmed by an average of 0.76° Celsius since pre-industrial times, and the temperature rise is accelerating. Without action to limit man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, the global average temperature is likely to increase further by 2° to 5°C this century. According to the Copenhagen accord, the developed countries are to provide new and additional resources and investments through international institutions approaching US$30 billion for the period 2010-'12 period. It says funding for adaptation will be prioritised for the most vulnerable developing countries such as least developed countries (LDCs), Small Island developing states and Africa. For mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, developed countries committed to a goal of mobilising jointly $100 billion a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries.
Although most of the world leaders were visibly frustrated at Copenhagen Accord, country's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed her satisfaction over arriving at a `reasonable conclusion' at the UN climate change conference, saying there are certain areas that need to be finalised in the future. A core group comprising 25 countries, including Bangladesh, prepared the agreement. Around 130 heads of states and governments gathered in Copenhagen recently indicating the great importance they gave to the climate change.
In spite of the fact that the greenhouse gas emission was negligible in Bangladesh, the country has become one of its worst victims. Global warming has subjected Bangladesh to an increasingly frequent and erratic pattern of floods, cyclones, droughts, colossal tidal surges along its southern coasts and unreasonable high level of monsoon rainfall causing landslides and heavy river erosions while absence of seasonal rain in the north causing desertification. As such, the country is in the process of adopting a new legal regime under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Protocol to ensure overall rehabilitation of climate refugees.
It may be mentioned that Bangladesh was already adapting to climate change. An immediate project is dredging of rivers to keep them on their natural course; deepen to hold more water; contain flooding, reduce flood-induced damages. The country has also established a climate change trust fund with its own resources and approved 134 climate adaptation and mitigation action plans, besides; a multi-donor trust fund has been set up with contributions from development partners.
Although mitigation is the prime responsibility of developed and major developing emitters of greenhouse gas, Bangladesh is preparing a strategic energy plan for following a low carbon path to development; social forestry; green belts for large carbon sink; clean coal technology; nuclear power; and renewable energy. Already 600,000 solar home systems have been installed; vehicles converted to using compressed natural gas as fuel; industries producing toxic waste relocated equipped with effluent treatment facilities; and biodegradable material used as alternate to synthetics. Even all these are not enough to tackle the emerging situation out of the effects of climate change.
The UNFCCC has defined climate change as a change of climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere, in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods. The goal of the UNFCCC is stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.
By ratifying the convention, all parties agreed to develop national programmes to slow climate change. All countries have a general commitment to address climate change, adapt to its effects, and report on the actions they are taking to implement the UNFCCC. Bangladesh signed the Convention on June 9, 1992, ratified it on April 15, 1994, and ratified the Kyoto Protocol on October 22 2001. The UNFCCC conference in Copenhagen offered a tremendous opportunity to press for an effective global deal to curb global warming. The developed countries were scheduled to make a commitment in cutting their carbon emissions by at least 80 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050, which is crucial in keeping global warming to 2oC or less.
International agreements made between governments of different countries are critical in addressing the global impacts of climate change. It is the moral and ethical responsibility of developed countries to take the lead in ensuring that the level of increase in global temperature is maintained below 2°C over pre-industrial levels. But the 15th conference (COP 15), governments failed to agree on a programme to radically slash global greenhouse gas emissions after the current commitment phase of the Kyoto Protocol that ends in 2012. They were also scheduled to agree to a much bigger package of resources to help poor countries adapt to the unavoidable climate change. But two weeks of frantic negotiations apparently went in vain. Many called the Copenhagen accord a backdoor deal that violated UN democracy; it excluded the poor and doomed the world to disastrous climate change.
The deal, which President Obama brokered after consultations with China, India, Brazil and South Africa, failed to take the views of other, more affected nations adequately into consideration. Another reason is that the very limited nature of the accord made it difficult to have it formally approved at the conference. Indeed, the fact that the conference president simply made it known that the accord had been taken 'note of' was a huge indication of all the things that had not gone right in Copenhagen.
All said and done, it is now time to move forward towards doing the right things about tackling climate change issue. The deal, however, makes a point that it has triggered an 'essential beginning'. There is little question that the talks in the Danish capital did not yield the kind of results people around the world expected it to. At the same time, however, they cannot be considered 'an abject failure', for the simple reason that they highlighted the massive degree of concern all nations have about the effects of climate change.
The developed nations of the world need to perform their own responsibilities to the poor nations. They must cut back green house emissions and help them adapt to climate change. For their part, the developing countries, especially the most vulnerable among them, must enhance their negotiating capacities to have their grievances adequately addressed in global platforms in future.
szkhan@thefinancialexpress-bd.com
BANGLADESH as a most vulnerable country sought 15 per cent of the US$30 billion fund agreed at the Copenhagen climate conference to tackle the adverse impact of the climate change. The country argued at the United Nations (UN) climate summit that it was not responsible anyway for the worldwide environmental problems whereas it is in the most vulnerable position as a nation at risk. One-fifth of Bangladesh will be gone, thus increasing the pressure on a country already engaged in several battles at the socio-economic levels. To recoup the loss the country has incurred due to climate change, Dhaka sought $500 million on an urgent basis as financial assistance from the UN and developed countries and another amount of $5 billion as compensation for next five years.
It is worthwhile to mention that the world has warmed by an average of 0.76° Celsius since pre-industrial times, and the temperature rise is accelerating. Without action to limit man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, the global average temperature is likely to increase further by 2° to 5°C this century. According to the Copenhagen accord, the developed countries are to provide new and additional resources and investments through international institutions approaching US$30 billion for the period 2010-'12 period. It says funding for adaptation will be prioritised for the most vulnerable developing countries such as least developed countries (LDCs), Small Island developing states and Africa. For mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, developed countries committed to a goal of mobilising jointly $100 billion a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries.
Although most of the world leaders were visibly frustrated at Copenhagen Accord, country's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed her satisfaction over arriving at a `reasonable conclusion' at the UN climate change conference, saying there are certain areas that need to be finalised in the future. A core group comprising 25 countries, including Bangladesh, prepared the agreement. Around 130 heads of states and governments gathered in Copenhagen recently indicating the great importance they gave to the climate change.
In spite of the fact that the greenhouse gas emission was negligible in Bangladesh, the country has become one of its worst victims. Global warming has subjected Bangladesh to an increasingly frequent and erratic pattern of floods, cyclones, droughts, colossal tidal surges along its southern coasts and unreasonable high level of monsoon rainfall causing landslides and heavy river erosions while absence of seasonal rain in the north causing desertification. As such, the country is in the process of adopting a new legal regime under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Protocol to ensure overall rehabilitation of climate refugees.
It may be mentioned that Bangladesh was already adapting to climate change. An immediate project is dredging of rivers to keep them on their natural course; deepen to hold more water; contain flooding, reduce flood-induced damages. The country has also established a climate change trust fund with its own resources and approved 134 climate adaptation and mitigation action plans, besides; a multi-donor trust fund has been set up with contributions from development partners.
Although mitigation is the prime responsibility of developed and major developing emitters of greenhouse gas, Bangladesh is preparing a strategic energy plan for following a low carbon path to development; social forestry; green belts for large carbon sink; clean coal technology; nuclear power; and renewable energy. Already 600,000 solar home systems have been installed; vehicles converted to using compressed natural gas as fuel; industries producing toxic waste relocated equipped with effluent treatment facilities; and biodegradable material used as alternate to synthetics. Even all these are not enough to tackle the emerging situation out of the effects of climate change.
The UNFCCC has defined climate change as a change of climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere, in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods. The goal of the UNFCCC is stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.
By ratifying the convention, all parties agreed to develop national programmes to slow climate change. All countries have a general commitment to address climate change, adapt to its effects, and report on the actions they are taking to implement the UNFCCC. Bangladesh signed the Convention on June 9, 1992, ratified it on April 15, 1994, and ratified the Kyoto Protocol on October 22 2001. The UNFCCC conference in Copenhagen offered a tremendous opportunity to press for an effective global deal to curb global warming. The developed countries were scheduled to make a commitment in cutting their carbon emissions by at least 80 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050, which is crucial in keeping global warming to 2oC or less.
International agreements made between governments of different countries are critical in addressing the global impacts of climate change. It is the moral and ethical responsibility of developed countries to take the lead in ensuring that the level of increase in global temperature is maintained below 2°C over pre-industrial levels. But the 15th conference (COP 15), governments failed to agree on a programme to radically slash global greenhouse gas emissions after the current commitment phase of the Kyoto Protocol that ends in 2012. They were also scheduled to agree to a much bigger package of resources to help poor countries adapt to the unavoidable climate change. But two weeks of frantic negotiations apparently went in vain. Many called the Copenhagen accord a backdoor deal that violated UN democracy; it excluded the poor and doomed the world to disastrous climate change.
The deal, which President Obama brokered after consultations with China, India, Brazil and South Africa, failed to take the views of other, more affected nations adequately into consideration. Another reason is that the very limited nature of the accord made it difficult to have it formally approved at the conference. Indeed, the fact that the conference president simply made it known that the accord had been taken 'note of' was a huge indication of all the things that had not gone right in Copenhagen.
All said and done, it is now time to move forward towards doing the right things about tackling climate change issue. The deal, however, makes a point that it has triggered an 'essential beginning'. There is little question that the talks in the Danish capital did not yield the kind of results people around the world expected it to. At the same time, however, they cannot be considered 'an abject failure', for the simple reason that they highlighted the massive degree of concern all nations have about the effects of climate change.
The developed nations of the world need to perform their own responsibilities to the poor nations. They must cut back green house emissions and help them adapt to climate change. For their part, the developing countries, especially the most vulnerable among them, must enhance their negotiating capacities to have their grievances adequately addressed in global platforms in future.
szkhan@thefinancialexpress-bd.com