Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, called for firm actions for a sustainable future
Sheikh Hasina, the honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh, has called upon world leaders to take decisive actions to address the state of emergency on the planet through an “Overall Global initiative” to facilitate a sustainable future for the future generation.
World leaders from different countries gathered for a closed-door meeting to tackle climate change’s adversity at New York in the United States, local time Monday morning (20/09/21). During the meeting, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina proposed six recommendations on the respective issue. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, co-hosted the meeting.
Sheikh Hasina, in her proposal, called for strict implementation of the Paris Agreement to keep global temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius. She also emphasizes the collection of 100 billion US dollars annually as a climate fund from developed countries.
Fifty percent of this fund should go for adaptation and resilience, especially in climate-vulnerable countries. Highlighting the need for new financial processes and the transfer of green technology to developing countries, the Prime Minister called for tackling loss and damage due to climate change and the displacement of large populations.
Assistance is needed to increase the capacity of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) countries to deal with the dual dangers of pandemic and disasters, especially those with increased frequency of climate-related disasters,” She continued.
Sheikh Hasina further said that the international community has a special responsibility to assist the countries at risk of climate change in their adaptation and mitigation efforts. Highlighting the adverse effects of climate change, she said climate-vulnerable countries contribute the least to global greenhouse gas emissions, yet they suffer the most.
She referenced the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that paints a grim picture of the future and points out that if the global temperature goes above 1.5 degrees Celsius, they (CVF countries) will face permanent losses.
On her government’s role in tackling climate change, she noted that Bangladesh has emerged as a global pioneer in adaptation and resilience.
Bangladesh has recently submitted an ambitious and updated nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Perceiving that Sheik Hasina, said, “The government had adopted the ‘Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan’ focusing on green growth, resilient infrastructure, and renewable energy.” She made it clear that her government has moved from climate risk to climate resilience and from that to climate prosperity.
As the chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum and V20: The Vulnerable Twenty Group (V-20), the prime minister said that her government’s primary goal is to protect the interests of climate-vulnerable countries.
She added that Bangladesh shares best practices and adaptation knowledge with other climate-vulnerable countries through Dhaka’s Global Center on Adaptation(CGA) South Asia Regional Office.
