Top UNDP official favours greater 'say' for grass-root people
Friday, 28 August 2009
A Z M Anas
With a major global conference on climate change is just months away, a top UN official says the ordinary people are unaware of Bangladesh's demand list, urging the government to close the "information gap."
"Nobody knows what's going to be put on table at Copenhagen," said M. Aminul Islam, assistant country director of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
"It's ironic … The people whose future fortune is tied to the climatic change know little about the government actions. It's indispensable to reduce the information gap," he told the FE Tuesday in an interview.
His strongly-worded comments come as Bangladesh's top climate negotiators are drafting the country paper ahead of the December conference, to be held in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, which aims to broker a new global climate pact.
Mr Islam said a changing climate is already inflicting harm on millions of coastal poor, especially the farming and fishing communities, but experts and policymakers are "less aware" of the potentially devastating trends.
More than 30 million people are crammed into the Bangladesh's coastline spanning 710 kilomtres, most of which are just one metre above the sea level.
"And it's the char and coastal people who will pay the terrible price," he said.
The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted that more than 50 per cent of Bangladesh's population would be displaced as a result of the impacts of sea level rise and global warming.
Peter Kim Streatfield, a top expert at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases and Research (ICDDR,B), said climate change would impact Bangladesh through temperature rise, rainfall changes, sea level rise and salinity increase.
Between 1999 and 2008, Mr Streatfield, who is researching on temperature changes in Chandpur district, said that the numbers of "hot days" (30C-plus) shot up by 10 per cent.
"Alarmingly, very hot days recorded a 400 per cent rise," he added.
The UN said Bangladesh would be one of the worst victims of climate change, even if its people share an iota of global carbon emissions-much less than one per cent.
Climate scientists predicted extreme events induced by climate change would batter Bangladesh's food production, destroy rural people's traditional livelihoods and burden people with more diseases.
Mr Islam said salinity in southern Bangladesh has been on the rise, leading to lower crops yield in the region.
He also figures that already, frequent cyclone warnings in recent years have eaten into one-third of working days of local fishermen, putting their livelihoods at jeopardy.
A rising temperature will force farmers in the north-west region to change crop patterns-from rice and wheat to maize and potato, the UNDP official said, adding that a few wealthier farmers would jump into fruits farming.
"If temperature rises by only two degree centigrade, Bangladesh 's wheat production will be a history," he said.
"How much aware are our experts about these changes?"
As climate change-related impacts are location-specific, the UN climate diplomat suggests the government should identify areas based on the magnitude of hazards and demographic characteristics.
"Policies should consider the changing occupations of the local people that may come under stress," he said.
Referring to the various studies, he noted that the climate change would set off more extreme events like devastating cyclones, flooding or droughts.
Still, Mr Islam, who oversees disaster programmes in Bangladesh, said that nearly 38,000 homeless families have taken shelter on embankment in the aftermath of the country's latest cyclonic storm-Aila. The 2007 cyclone SIDR killed 3400-plus people in south-western region, causing a loss topping US$1.6 billion.
"You can seek compensation from the richer countries that are the biggest carbon emitters. But you need a unified voice at the upcoming climate negotiations."
The Copenhagen talks are expected to break the decade-long impasse and replace the almost-dead Kyoto Protocol as the United States and other biggest polluting nations are to be more committed to a fresh accord cutting back on carbon emissions level.
With a major global conference on climate change is just months away, a top UN official says the ordinary people are unaware of Bangladesh's demand list, urging the government to close the "information gap."
"Nobody knows what's going to be put on table at Copenhagen," said M. Aminul Islam, assistant country director of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
"It's ironic … The people whose future fortune is tied to the climatic change know little about the government actions. It's indispensable to reduce the information gap," he told the FE Tuesday in an interview.
His strongly-worded comments come as Bangladesh's top climate negotiators are drafting the country paper ahead of the December conference, to be held in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, which aims to broker a new global climate pact.
Mr Islam said a changing climate is already inflicting harm on millions of coastal poor, especially the farming and fishing communities, but experts and policymakers are "less aware" of the potentially devastating trends.
More than 30 million people are crammed into the Bangladesh's coastline spanning 710 kilomtres, most of which are just one metre above the sea level.
"And it's the char and coastal people who will pay the terrible price," he said.
The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted that more than 50 per cent of Bangladesh's population would be displaced as a result of the impacts of sea level rise and global warming.
Peter Kim Streatfield, a top expert at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases and Research (ICDDR,B), said climate change would impact Bangladesh through temperature rise, rainfall changes, sea level rise and salinity increase.
Between 1999 and 2008, Mr Streatfield, who is researching on temperature changes in Chandpur district, said that the numbers of "hot days" (30C-plus) shot up by 10 per cent.
"Alarmingly, very hot days recorded a 400 per cent rise," he added.
The UN said Bangladesh would be one of the worst victims of climate change, even if its people share an iota of global carbon emissions-much less than one per cent.
Climate scientists predicted extreme events induced by climate change would batter Bangladesh's food production, destroy rural people's traditional livelihoods and burden people with more diseases.
Mr Islam said salinity in southern Bangladesh has been on the rise, leading to lower crops yield in the region.
He also figures that already, frequent cyclone warnings in recent years have eaten into one-third of working days of local fishermen, putting their livelihoods at jeopardy.
A rising temperature will force farmers in the north-west region to change crop patterns-from rice and wheat to maize and potato, the UNDP official said, adding that a few wealthier farmers would jump into fruits farming.
"If temperature rises by only two degree centigrade, Bangladesh 's wheat production will be a history," he said.
"How much aware are our experts about these changes?"
As climate change-related impacts are location-specific, the UN climate diplomat suggests the government should identify areas based on the magnitude of hazards and demographic characteristics.
"Policies should consider the changing occupations of the local people that may come under stress," he said.
Referring to the various studies, he noted that the climate change would set off more extreme events like devastating cyclones, flooding or droughts.
Still, Mr Islam, who oversees disaster programmes in Bangladesh, said that nearly 38,000 homeless families have taken shelter on embankment in the aftermath of the country's latest cyclonic storm-Aila. The 2007 cyclone SIDR killed 3400-plus people in south-western region, causing a loss topping US$1.6 billion.
"You can seek compensation from the richer countries that are the biggest carbon emitters. But you need a unified voice at the upcoming climate negotiations."
The Copenhagen talks are expected to break the decade-long impasse and replace the almost-dead Kyoto Protocol as the United States and other biggest polluting nations are to be more committed to a fresh accord cutting back on carbon emissions level.