Dhaka Declaration calls for a $100b Green Climate Fund

FE Report Dhaka Ministerial Declaration of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) has demanded formation of a Green Climate Fund (GCF) worth $100 billion to help address the challenges of climate change vulnerabilities. A 13-point Dhaka Declaration also underscored the need for allocating 50 per cent of the proposed GCF for adaptation purpose, reducing the current emission level by 85 per cent by 2050 and limiting the global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by industrialised nations. "We call upon the developed countries to make firm commitments on a progressive increase of funds with a specific and reasonable annual enhancement in the period 2013-2020 leading to USD 100 billion per year(in 2009 dollars) under the Green Climate Fund (GCF), and to realise those commitments,' reads the Dhaka Ministerial Declaration of CVF. The Declaration has been made public through a press briefing by CVF. State Minister for Environment and Forests Dr. Hasan Mahmud addressed the briefing at a local hotel. The Foreign Minister of the Maldives, the Environment Minister of Nepal and the Agriculture and Forest Minister of Bhutan attended the programme. Earlier in the morning, ministers and representatives from 16 countries, which are vulnerable to climate change, held a day-long discussion to finalise the Dhaka Declaration. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the meeting of CVF as chief guest, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke at the function as special guest. The CVF is a global partnership of countries disproportionately affected by the consequences of global warming as a result of heightened socio-economic and environmental vulnerabilities that actively seek a firm and urgent resolution to a current intensification of climate change, both domestically and internationally. The CVF was established in 2009 under the initiative of the Maldives. The first ministerial meeting of CVF was held in November, 2009 in Maldives; the second one in Kiribati in November, 2010 and the third in Dhaka on November 14. At the briefing, responding to a question, State Minister Hasan Mahmud said developed nations failed to disburse their committed funds worth $30 billion among the climate-vulnerable countries between 2010 and 2012. "The developed countries have so far disbursed only $3.0 billion out of the pledged $30 billion to climate affected countries, which is discouraging and frustrating," Mr Hasan told the briefing. Out of $3.0 billion, Bangladesh has received only $125 million, he added. The State Minister said Bangladesh now needs $10 billion immediately to mitigate its losses caused by climate change. "A lot of commitments were made by developed nations, but very little action has so far been taken to implement their commitments," Mr Hasan said. The Declaration said the climate change is rendering development projects costlier and compelling diversion of already inadequate funds from development to costly adaptation programmes. It said that climate change induced displacement of people is a major concern and their relocation puts enormous pressure on infrastructures and service facilities, and furthermore, large-scale displacement has the potential to transform into security concerns. The Dhaka Declaration calls for a legally binding global agreement for adaptation and mitigation. 'We renew calls for a comprehensive legally-binding global agreement capable of fully attaining the objective of the UNFCCC(United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), in all urgency and into the long term, and voice the imperative for a well-calibrated balance in the global focus on adaptation and mitigation with emphasis on development and easy transfer of environmentally sound technology to nationally determined priority areas,' reads the Declaration. As a viable adaptation strategy, the Declaration said, "Migration is a viable adaptation strategy to address human displacement induced by climate change. It calls for an international dialogue for an appropriate framework on migration issue.