climate change | The Daily Star

  • Politics of climate change, sinking Bangladesh and floating houses

    Climate change is real and it is here to stay. There is no turning around because we have already gone too far. It will only get worse from here. Climate change is, therefore, an existential threat for our children and grandchildren for whom time is running out fast.

  • Tackling poverty and climate change at the same time

    Over the coming decades, at the global level as well as in Bangladesh we will be faced with two major challenges: tackling poverty and climate change. Although at first glance the two issues may not seem to be linked, I will argue that we cannot tackle either without also tackling the other at the same time. This is equally true for both the global and the national level, especially for poor countries like Bangladesh.

  • Tackling climate change in the Barind Tract

    In almost every global assessment of which countries are most vulnerable to climate change impacts, Bangladesh comes out as either first or at least in the top five, depending on the criteria used in the assessment.

  • Limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees

    In the run-up to the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in its 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) in December 2015, one of the most politically contentious issues was whether the limit of the long-term global temperature rise should be kept at 2 degrees centigrade or changed to 1.5 degrees.

  • What we can learn from the Green Climate Fund crisis

    The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was created under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to channel up to USD 100 billion a year from 2020 onwards from the developed countries to the developing countries to help them tackle climate change through both mitigation and adaptation projects.

  • Answering the Talanoa Dialogue questions

    At the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held last December under the presidency of the prime minister of Fiji, a new feature called the Talanoa Dialogue was introduced.

  • Earth's intact forests vanishing at accelerating pace: Scientists

    Earth's intact forests shrank by an area larger than Austria every year from 2014 to 2016 at a 20 percent faster rate than during the previous decade, scientists says.

  • Green Climate Fund: Still a work in progress

    The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was created under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to channel USD 100 billion a year starting from 2020 onwards, which the developed countries have pledged to provide to developing countries to tackle climate change through both mitigation as well as adaptation activities. The Secretariat of the GCF is located in Korea and the GCF Board has equal representation from developed and developing countries.

  • Fixing the rules for climate change action from Fiji to Poland

    The Paris Agreement on Climate Change adopted at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP 21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in December 2015 is the road map for all countries to tackle climate change by 2030. However, the rule book for the countries to follow will have to be agreed at COP 24, to be held in Katowice, Poland in December this year.

  • The battle over terminology: Adaptation vs resilience

    In the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), every word used can be contested between countries (sometimes they even argue for hours about a coma!). Hence every term has to be accepted by consensus by all the countries for it to be adopted in any UNFCCC decision.

  • The 'Talanoa Dialogue' on Climate Change

    The 196 countries that are signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meet each year around December at the annual Conference of Parties (COP) to review progress on implementing the decisions. The COP moves to a different continent each year as each continent hosts it in turn.

  • Updating Bangladesh's climate change strategy and action plan

    In 2009 Bangladesh developed and released the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) which was the first of its kind at that time. It was a remarkable document for a number of reasons.

  • Developing nations to study ways to dim sunshine

    Scientists in developing nations plan to step up research into dimming sunshine to curb climate change, hoping to judge if a man-made chemical sunshade would be less risky than a harmful rise in global temperatures.

  • Building climate resilient, migrant-friendly cities

    A recent report from the World Bank has looked at the potential number of people who will be displaced and become climate migrants due to the adverse impacts of climate change around the world by 2050. The report estimated the number to be around 140 million across Asia and Africa, with 40 million in South Asia.

  • Looking at climate change through culture and art

    If you go to Cape Farewell's website, you will see written in large letters, against what seems to be a giant glacial art installation, the question: “What does Culture have to do with Climate Change?”

  • Tapping the potential of our youth

    Many oil-rich countries like Norway, United Arab Emirates and Brunei have put billions of US dollars into Sovereign Wealth Funds through which they invest in interest-bearing assets around the world, either enhancing the amount in the fund, or for subsidising costs of selected services for their own citizens.

  • Govt study blames it on climate change

    Last year's prolonged floods were a “classic example of climate change”, a government study claimed. During the monsoon, floods are common but the floods in 2017 were distinct with its area covered an

  • Seas to rise a meter even if climate goals are met

    Sea levels will rise between 0.7 and 1.2 meters (27-47 inches) in the next two centuries even if governments end the fossil fuel era as promised under the Paris climate agreement, scientists say.

  • Sea level rise is accelerating

    Sea level rise is accelerating and could reach 26 inches (66 centimeters) by century's end, in line with United Nations estimates and enough to cause significant problems for coastal cities, a study says.

  • South Africa drought

    For global water crisis, climate may be the last straw

    Before man-made climate change kicked in -- and well before “Day Zero” in Cape Town, where taps may run dry in early May -- the global water crisis was upon us. Freshwater resources were already badly stressed before heat-trapping carbon emissions from fossil fuels began to warm Earth’s surface and affect rainfall.

  • Polar bears can't catch enough seals to stay fed

    Polar bears are struggling to find enough seals to eat, and the problem will get worse as the planet warms because their metabolisms are much faster than previously thought, researchers say.

  • How financing to tackle climate change can be mobilised

    At the recently concluded two-day international conference on climate finance in Dhaka, about a hundred national and 50 international experts, government officials, researchers and private sector representatives shared their experiences and knowledge about raising and spending money to tackle climate change around the world.

  • Mammals more likely to survive climate change: Study

    Mammals and birds stand the best chance of all animals of surviving Earth's rapidly changing climate, researchers say.

  • 2017 2nd hottest year after 2016

    Last year was the second hottest worldwide on record, just behind a sweltering 2016, with signs of climate change ranging from wildfires to a thaw of Arctic ice, a European Union monitoring centre says.

  • 2017, the year of hurricanes, wildfires and floods

    2017 has been the year of Climate Change impacts and its horrors making to the news on a daily basis. From hurricanes to wildfires, the previous year was a constant reminder that the planet is in the eye of the great climate change storm.

  • Ctg on World Bank’s funding list for vulnerable cities

    Bangladesh’s port city lying on the coastal belt, Chittagong is on the list of World Bank’s funding for cash-short cities with big plans for protection from damage of climate change.

  • Two years of the Paris Agreement

    On December 12, 2015 at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris, France, under the leadership of the then President Hollande, the historic Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted. It was a historic agreement for a number of important reasons.

  • Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

    PM to leave for Paris tomorrow

    Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will travel to France tomorrow to attend the One Planet Summit, an event for discussing funding for the fight against climate change.

  • Conflict of interest

    A heated debate is currently ongoing about the necessity to prevent Business and Industry Non-Governmental Organisations (BINGOs) representing Big Oil from disproportionately and wrongly manipulating, slowing and watering down climate policy and negotiations.

  • Easing the pressure on Dhaka

    The second Annual National Conference on Urban Resilience was just held in Dhaka and in three days it brought together several hundred people from different sectors including the central government, local government, mayors and town planners, as well as researchers, academics, NGOs and private sector actors to discuss the future pathways to build urban resilience in Bangladesh.

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