Bangladesh Prime Minister’s four suggestions at the opening ceremony of the Leaders’ Summit
By Zeba Tarannum
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina put forward four suggestions to global leaders on dealing with the risks of climate change.
She placed the suggestions before the summit while speaking at the opening ceremony of the ‘Leaders Summit’ climate conference with the participation of global leaders at the invitation of US President Joe Biden on Thursday, 22nd April. The Prime Minister also called for taking integrated initiatives based on these suggestions.
The US President invited 40 world leaders, including Sheikh Hasina, to join the virtual climate conference- ‘Leaders Summit’ to address climate change. US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris attended the opening ceremony through video conference.
The Prime Minister’s suggestion is given below-
• An ambitious action plan needs to be formulated by developed countries to reduce their carbon emissions to keep the global temperature at 1.5 degrees Celsius within this century.
• Must be secured annually of an amount of US $100 billion as Climate compensation, 50 percent of which will use for adaptation and 50 percent for mitigation.
• Major economies, international financial institutions, and private sectors should come forward for concessional climate financing as well as innovation.
• To emphasize green economy and carbon-neutral technologies and to this end emphasize the exchange of technology between countries.
In a recorded video message, the Prime Minister said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us that a concerted effort by all countries is needed to address the global crisis.”
Sheikh Hasina expressed her heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to President Biden for rapidly organizing the Climate Summit after returning the United States to the Paris Climate Agreement and inviting the Prime Minister to the event.
Sheikh Hasina mentioned that Bangladesh is planning to spend about 2.5% of its GDP, or about 5 billion US dollars, to address the disasters and sufferings caused by climate change and build sustainable climate tolerance systems.
At the conference, the Prime Minister highlighted the Rohingya issue and said Bangladesh gave shelter to more than 1 million Rohingyas who have been forcibly displaced from their home in Myanmar. They have risked the country’s ecosystems.’
The Prime Minister added, on the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh has planned to plant 300 million saplings across the country to celebrate ‘Mujib100 Year’. She also mentioned plans to formulate a ‘Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan’ to achieve low-carbon economic growth.
The Prime Minister mentioned as the chairperson of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) and V20, Bangladesh’s key focus is on upholding the interests of the climate-vulnerable countries.
