Set criteria to prioritise vulnerable countries based on their risks

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Monday said that the initial thoughts on modalities for the release of 'fast start finance' do not inspire confidence of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), report UNB. "Initial thoughts on modalities for the release of fast start finance do not inspire our confidence," she said at the inaugural session of the CVF Conference 2011 at a city hotel. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was the special guest at the programme organised jointly by the Foreign Ministry, and the Ministry of Environment and Forests. "Conditions and criteria seem to favour countries that have greater capacities. We now have a situation where the most vulnerable countries, which deserve the highest level of priority, are failing to access whatever support that are being released," she said. She added: "We must, therefore, ask for a set of criteria to prioritise vulnerable countries based on their risks, impacts and lack of coping capacities." Hasina said there are tendencies to confuse climate change support with development finance. "Partners should provide us with new and additional support, beyond development assistance to meet additional costs faced by us due to climate change." She mentioned that funds being generated for the 2010-12 period are falling far short of commitments made in Cancun. There is also no clarity on how the global community would raise funds in the period between 2012 and 2020 towards operationalisation of the Green Climate Fund. Hasina alleged that on mitigation process, extreme reluctance was seen from the part of major emitters. Absence of a convergence on obligatory and voluntary mitigation commitment is already casting shadow over the Kyoto Protocol. She mentioned this may wreck the international climate regime and put the vulnerable countries at the risk of peril. In this connection, the Prime Minister said that it is widely accepted that the gravest effect of climate change may be on human migration. Last year, 42 million people were newly displaced by rapid-onset natural disasters. Extreme weather events are already displacing many more people than violent conflicts. She said: "Slow-onset events like sea-level rise and desertification get even lower global focus. We must work towards correcting this imbalance. We must appreciate that migration could be an effective adaptation strategy, as we focus on enhancing adaptation capacities of affected communities." Describing the grave effect of the climatic changes, Hasina said climate change is a reality for the world. It has been causing large-scale loss of human lives and irreversible damage to environment, ecology and natural resources. Climate change caused over 300,000 additional deaths last year. Economic cost was over $130 billion though estimates may vary. Hasina said the CVF should aim to influence global decision making and to make global governance responsive to our imperatives and challenges and should seek to articulate its demands in all global policy-making platforms such as G-8, G-20, the Bretton Woods Institutions, and of course the United Nations and its agencies.