Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin has said that Bangladesh will get financial assistance from the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) which is set to be established within 2023 by the Global Environment Facility.
The environment minister made the announcement at a press conference organized by the ministry on the occasion of the successful removal of 500 tons of DDT from the medical sub-depot of Chittagong and the achievement of the World Biodiversity Conference on Sunday.
The minister mentioned that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already pledged to provide $350 million in financial assistance to developing countries for the implementation of GBF and conservation of biodiversity and environment.
He said: “Bangladesh has convened the conference in solidarity with other countries to come forward with the goal of ensuring that the developed world receives adequate financial, technical and technological assistance. Before that, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change officially declared Bangladesh free from the dangerous bio-chemical pesticide DDT. “
The minister further said that the Department of Health had imported 500 tonnes of DDT pesticide in 1985 to implement the malaria control program.
The imported and unused dangerous organic chemical pesticide DDT, considered of low quality, is kept in stock at the medical sub-depot of the Health Department at Agrabad in Chittagong, he added.
The minister said that in this conference, the vision of “Living Harmony with Nature” by 2050 and the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” was adopted with the aim of preventing and protecting biodiversity and ecosystem damage by 2030.
The framework has set 23 targets under four objectives. One of these goals is to conserve 30% of the world’s terrestrial and aquatic environments and to secure at least $200 billion in funding per year from all sources by 2030 for biodiversity conservation; Ensure financing of at least $20 billion per year from the developed world to the developing and underdeveloped world by 2025 and at least $30 billion per year by 2030.