Make 'Loss and Damage Fund' on climate change fully operational

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday called upon the authorities concerned to make the Loss and Damage Fund fully operational, reports UNB.
"The loss and damage fund should be operational completely," she said while UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services) Under Secretary General and Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva paid a courtesy call on her at her official Ganobhaban residence in Dhaka.
PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed the reporters after the meeting.
The aim of the Loss and Damage Fund is to provide financial assistance to poorer nations as they deal with the negative consequences that arise from the unavoidable risks of climate change, such as rising sea levels, extreme heat waves, desertification, forest fires, crop failures.
The prime minister expressed dissatisfaction as the rich countries are not complying with their pledges.
"Response from the Loss and Damage Fund from the rich countries have yet to be adequate," she said while UNOPS Under Secretary General has brought up the issue of COP28 for discussion.
The prime minister said her government has taken various measures to make Bangladesh as a climate resilient country that included raising a climate trust fund by its own resources.
She said they have given houses to the climate refugees at Khuruskul in Cox's Bazar under the Ashrayan Project-2.
The premier said her government has built green belt, artificial mangrove forest and planted trees in huge numbers alongside giving climate resilient houses to the people along the costal belt.
The UNOPS official highly praised the development of Bangladesh, particularly the social safety net programmes and micro savings under the dynamic leadership of Sheikh Hasina.