Get compensations from rich nations: Experts

Developing countries like Bangladesh are suffering the brunt of excessive carbon emissions by industrialised nations, the main cause of global warming, experts told a workshop yesterday.

Despite contributing little to global carbon emissions, Bangladesh is one of the countries most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change and the countries responsible must provide financial and technical supports to the sufferers, they said.

The workshop on "climate financing" was held at Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF).

PKSF Chairman Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said, "Many people across the country have become refugees due to various reasons like flood, river bank erosion, and cyclone. Basically they all are climate change victims."

Bangladesh alone cannot fight the impacts of climate change, as it is a global phenomenon, he said, adding it should work bilaterally as well as multilaterally along with strong bargaining capacity to pile up pressure on rich nations for their financial and technical supports.

Kholiquzzaman stressed the need for a strong political will of the countries to get better results from climate change issues to fight against the largely human-induced environmental crisis.

Secretary of Bangladesh Climate Change Trust (BCCT) Rashadul Islam and climate expert of PKSF Dr Fazle Rabbi Sadeque made presentations at the workshop separately.

In his presentation, Rashadul said various milestone initiatives had been taken in the country including Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP)-2009, Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund (BCCRF), Climate Change Trust Fund (CCTF), and Climate Change Trust Act-2010 aiming to enhance capacity on climate change issues.

The government has so far allocated Tk 3,000 crore for CCTF in seven fiscal years, he said.