Adopt motion declaring ‘planetary emergency’: JS body

A parliamentary body yesterday recommended that the House adopt a motion declaring “planetary emergency”.

The parliamentary standing committee on environment at its meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban said different countries, including Bangladesh, are facing huge risks centring climate change.

These climate change prone countries might have to face issues such as loss of biodiversity, food security, water stretch, planetary overshoot and ocean related damage.

“All these factors support life on earth. All these factors allow life on earth to be sustained. We are at the convergence of a number of crises all at once,” ruling Awami League MP Saber Hossain Chowdhury, also chief of the committee, told reporters after emerging from the meeting.

He said the parliamentary watchdog has already sent a letter to Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, requesting her to take measures in this regard so that the motion can be adopted in the upcoming session of parliament.

The next session is scheduled to sit on November 7. This session is likely to be a brief one, sources at the Sangsad Bhaban said.

If adopted, Bangladesh parliament will be the first to adopt such a motion, which will help the country lead the fight against climate change and other related issues.

In the meeting, the parliamentary body also asked the ministry to take a united position with non-government organisations and development agencies in the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference, which is scheduled to be held in Madrid, Spain from December 2-13.

Conference of the Parties (CoP), a part of the programme, is the formal meeting of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is aimed at fleshing out details of the implementation of the landmark Paris Agreement climate pact, amid calls for urgent action from environmental groups and climate protesters.