Dhaka urges countries to be more ambitious on climate issues

Bangladesh has urged countries to be more ambitious on mitigation, adaptation, climate finance and the issue of loss and damage.

"As President of the CVF Forum, it is our honour to continue to amplify at the COP26 and beyond, the voices of CVF members, especially those most affected by climate change," said State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam.

He made the remarks while addressing the "CVF-CoP 26 Dialogue: Meeting the Survival Deadline towards Maximal Resilience" held virtually yesterday.

"Our Parliament declared a 'Planetary Emergency' and called on the world to work on a war-footing to stop climate change," he said.

Chairperson of the Bangladesh National Advisory Committee on Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Autism and CVF Thematic Ambassador for Vulnerability Saima Wazed Hossain said unfortunately, CVF communities across the globe are at a tipping point of these extreme climate incidents and related mental health risks.

"With rising temperatures and sea-levels rise, they are not only faced with irreversible existential and survival deadlines and highest climate displacements, but also with irreversible mental health loss and damage with very limited capacities to respond," she said.

She said they need to create CVF-COP26 climate and mental health networks of resilient climate survivors, climate ambitious youths, mental health experts and parliamentarians for innovating technology-based climate resilience life skills and coping mechanisms for empowering communities to tackle mental health impacts of climate change.

"We need the COP26-CVF partnership to rally behind the CVF's call for a dedicated UN Special Rapporteur for climate change and human rights to uphold human rights of the most vulnerable of climate victims," Saima said.