Climate taken seriously

As the most vulnerable nations to climate change impacts, Bangladesh and the Maldives are becoming frontrunners in adapting the climate change impacts.
The environment ministers of the two South Asian nations at a high-level event organised during the annual UN Climate Summit convened in Doha discussed how Bangladesh and the Maldives were prioritising climate change issues as a key developmental challenge and embracing actions aimed at increasing climate resilience of people and infrastructure through strategic national investments and innovative national climate financing.
According to recent estimates, some 14.6 million people in the coastal areas of Bangladesh are vulnerable to inundation due to increased cyclonic surges, and this number will increase to 18.5 million by 2050 under moderate climate change scenarios, said a World Bank release.
Over the last decades, the Bangladesh government has invested more than $10 billion to make the country less vulnerable to natural disasters. Measures as strengthening river embankments, building emergency cyclone shelters, and developing world class community based early warning system have significantly reduced the loss of life and livelihoods and property damages caused by extreme weather events.
The statement said the high-level event was organised to showcase the proactive responses of extremely vulnerable nations toward climate resilience as the nations are beginning to experience the early impacts of global climate change.
It said the experiences and lessons shared by the top government officials at the event echoed the findings of the recent released World Bank Report “Turn Down The Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided”. It summarises a range of climate consequences on development against a global path of emissions reductions that could lead to 4 degrees Celsius increasing in warning.
“Bangladesh is already a global hotspot for tropical cyclones and other climatic events and is highly vulnerable to increased intensity of storms and droughts that will result from climate change," said Environment and Forests Minister Hasan Mahmud.
He said that two-thirds of the country was less than five metre above sea-level and vulnerable to coastal inundation and salinity intrusion, which “we are already experiencing”.
To supplement its national programs, Bangladesh has successfully aligned its development partners to address the climate change challenge and established an innovative financing mechanism -- the Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund (BBCRF).
So far, the BBCRF has channelled $ 170 million in grant funds from seven development partners, namely Australia, Denmark, the EU, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA to strengthen the resilience to climate change.
The government of Bangladesh is in the driver's seat and the authority of choosing projects to fund and implementing them. On an interim basis, the WB is playing the role of trustee -- conducting fiduciary transparency and accountability with due diligence of the BCCRF, the release added.
The government of Bangladesh has also created a separate “Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund” and allocated $ 350 million from its own resources for the last four years since 2009.
Bangladesh has been implementing 106 projects to address climate change including better adaptation and mitigation.
Meanwhile, the Maldives has a Strategic Plan of Action (2009-2013) also known as the National Framework for Development and National Adaptation Programme of Action (2006) that provides a solid policy foundation to environmental sustainability, climate change adaptation and low carbon development.