Climate fund to get $150m from UK

The UK government has pledged to commit around $150 million to the Multi-Donor Trust Fund to be formed by Bangladesh to cope with the climate change.
Speaking in parliament, State Minister for Environment and Forest Mostafizur Rahman said formation of the fund is now at the final stage with donor agencies and countries promising the government necessary financial assistance.
He said Bangladesh has taken various measures to be on guard against threats posed by global warming and rising sea levels.
It has already proposed to set aside Tk 700 crore for the fund to begin adaptation to the possible changes in environment, the state minister added.
“We look to complete the formation of the climate change fund by June,” he said in a scripted answer to a query from ruling Awami League lawmaker Tohura Ali.
Earlier on June 10, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told parliament the country will be able to pool the resources it needs to tackle the impacts of global warming.
In answer to AL lawmaker M Abdul Latif's question, Mostafizur said the government has plans to introduce numerical weather prediction system, a modern technology able to make more precise weather forecasts.
Replying to a query from AL lawmaker Nazma Akhtar, he said his ministry has asked the industry owners to set up effluent treatment plants by June 30 as “industrial effluent is responsible for around 60 percent of the pollution in rivers surrounding the capital”.
The state minister said the government has taken a raft of measures to prevent pollution in Buriganga, Turag and Balu rivers. Of the measures, 31 are for the short term, 14 mid term and five are the long term.
“Besides, it has adopted 40 action plans to free rivers from grabbers and pollution.”
Mostafizur said the government itself is setting up a central ETP for tannery industries in Savar.
Central ETPs are being set up also in export processing zones in Dhaka and Chittagong under Public- Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, he added.
The state minister's scripted answers were tabled following a decision of the Business Advisory Committee of the Jatiya Sangsad.