Increase allocation to fight climate change

Speakers at a seminar on Sunday urged the government to allocate 2.0 per cent of the GDP in the proposed national budget for climate financing aimed at ensuring a sustainable economic growth in the country.
Referring to an inadequate allocation in the previous budgets, environmental activists and civil society members said it was not enough to protect the environment and combat climate change.
They also called on the government to include coastal infrastructure issues as a prioritized investment sector to achieve sustainable and climate-resilient economic growth.
The seminar was jointly organized by the COAST Foundation, Centre for Participatory Research & Development (CPRD) and Coastal Development Partnership (CDP) at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city.
Dhirendra Debnath Shambhu, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, attended the seminar as the chief guest.
Sharif Jamil, general secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, and Sujaul Islam, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, also spoke at the seminar moderated by Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, Executive Director of COAST.
Syed Aminul Hoque, director of COAST Foundation who presented a keynote paper, said the government's commitment to fighting climate change has hardly been reflected in the national budget for fiscal year 2022-23.
The allocation of Tk 305 billion as climate budget is traditional and it cannot meet the demand, he added.
The government has prepared Delta Plan-2100, NDC-2030 (National Determined Contribution 2030), BCCSAP-2009 and recently-drafted NAP (National Adaptation Plan) which requires around 2.20 per cent of the GDP for its implementation, but the current allocation is only 0.69 per cent.
He also demanded that the government allocate adequate funds for climate adaptive agriculture research and development, embankment construction and involve local government authority in repairing and maintaining embankments.
Dhirendra Debnath said climate financing is important and it needs to be increased for holistic and balanced development in socio-economic perspectives. He also demanded the formation of a separate ministry or board for dealing with coastal development issues.
Sharif Jamil said, "We don't expect the rise of capitalists. It would not be possible for the government to ensure socio-economic sustainability, ignoring environmental issues. The government will have to think of universal sustainability that would come from balanced planning of economic, environment and climate change issues."

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