Fallouts of climate change: Dhaka seeks strong partnership with the UK

Dhaka seeks strong partnership with the UK to address the fallouts of climate change that threaten life and livelihood of millions of people. At a virtual meeting with UK State Minister Lord Ahmed on Wednesday, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam hoped for further engagement of UK both in Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) and Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) South Asia.

Shahriar Alam hoped that UK and Bangladesh would build momentum ahead of COP26 due in November next year for a resilient world.

He said Bangladesh, being a non-emitter country, has been constantly bearing the burden of incessant carbon emission of the developed countries. For climate change mitigation and adaptation, Bangladesh has prepared Delta Plan 2100 and was the first LDC to establish a Climate Change Trust Fund.

Bangladesh also developed a national "Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan" and launched the CVF "Midnight Survival Deadline for the Climate" initiative for all nations. Shahriar Alam also cited establishment of the South Asian regional office for Global Center of Adaptation (GCA) in Dhaka this September.

He highlighted UK and Bangladesh's partnership in the track number 6 of Climate Action Summit of the UN Secretary General, expecting that the UK-Bangladesh Climate Partnership Forum will bring these two countries together to share innovative ideas, experiences, knowledge, technology and initiatives to achieve greater progress on climate change.

Lord Ahmed highlighted that the UK as COP26 President and Bangladesh as chair of the CVF have unique opportunity to play leading roles in the critical moments ahead for the whole planet.

He said UK-Bangladesh partnership on climate action was built on strong bonds and hoped that it would last for long beyond COP26.

Ahmed expressed UK's commitment to double its International Climate Finance expenditure and its intention to spend half of the funding on adaptation and resilience.