Demand to increase the allocation of budget to tackle climate change in Bangladesh
“We are facing social and cultural damage due to the effects of climate change. The budget allocated for dealing with its adverse effects is inadequate considering the current socio-economic situation.
The national climate budget should include issues such as migration and loss and damage caused by climate change,” climate experts stated this at a webinar titled ‘Stakeholder Consultation on Bangladesh Climate Budget (2021-22)’ organized by ActionAid Bangladesh.
Climate experts, consultants, negotiators, journalists and stakeholders participated in that meeting.
Dr Mizan R Khan, Professor of Environmental Science and Management of North South University (Bangladesh), Ferdousi Begum, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (Bangladesh) and Farah Kabir, Country Director, ActionAid Bangladesh, were present as the panelists in the webinar.
In the meeting, experts tried to analyze the climate budget from a human rights perspective where an accurate picture was visualizing understanding the relevance and effectiveness of climate spending. At the same time, they expressed concern over the reduction in the allocation of climate budgets for various ministries compared to last year.
Climate experts say less than 8 percent of the budget is allocated for 25 ministries and departments in Bangladesh to address the effects of climate change in FY 2021-2022.
In the FY 2021-2022, the budget allocation for the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (Bangladesh) is Tk. 3692.1 million, which is Tk 197.3 million less than the revised budget of last year. Besides, the budget was reduced by Tk 4271.9 million in the Ministry of Water Resources and Tk.1133.19 million in the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock compared to the previous year ((US$1≈ Tk.85).
Dr. Mizan and Khan said that, as the transition from the Least developed countries (LDCs) in Bangladesh begins, there is a fear that climate financing will decrease from the international level. In addition, 85 percent of the allocation for climate finance comes from the local sector, so the local industry should give importance.
Ferdousi Begum, deputy secretary at the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, said, “Women and children were the most affected by any disaster. Therefore, we are trying to figure out how to formulate women and child-friendly budget.
