Bangladesh is at high risk of Climate Change due to its Geographical position
Anisul Islam Mahmud, Former Environment Minister of Bangladesh, has said, ‘’Bangladesh is more prone to climate change consequences due to its geographic location.’’
He spoke as the chief guest at a roundtable meeting titled “Adapting to Climate Change: Bangladesh’s Progress” hosted by the English daily ‘The Daily Sun’ and USAID recently held in Dhaka.
Enamul Haque Chowdhury, Editor of Daily Sun, chaired the event.
Anisul Islam Mahmud said, ‘The Sea level rising and the Global temperature increasing- this two have created so horrors situation that impacts seriously on Bangladesh as a developing country.’
“In 2021, the Bangladesh government has dropped ten major projects that might be related to affecting climate change. Climate will continue to be changed, but we have to look at adaptation.
There is no other option for Bangladesh. Our resources are limited, but we are still trying. If there is transparency and we can work according to the plan, then it is possible to adapt to climate change,’’ he continued.
Md. Rezaul Haque, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Bangladesh, presented the keynote address and said, ‘’Climate change is the number one issue in the world today.
Bangladesh ranks 7th in terms of risk in this regard. Record temperatures are already higher than in the past, which is now close to 40 degrees. One of the reasons for this is climate change.’’
Noting that Bangladesh is moving forward in tackling climate change, Rezaul Haque further said, ‘’Bangladesh started this journey since the COP-7 conference.
To this end, the National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) has launched in 2005 and updated in 2009. In conjunction with the Delta Plan and SDGs, in the beginning, it was working on six key issues, which later expanded to 11 issues in 2022.’’
Delwar Hossain, Environment and Forest Affairs Secretary of Bangladesh Awami League, also spoke at the round table meeting.
Praising the media, he said that the local media are contributing largely to the benefit of the environment to protect against climate change. He called for strict adherence to the law to curb pollution in the city.
All Speakers called for more research on climate change risk and the development of curricula in universities.
