Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin said that Bangladesh is working sincerely to reduce climate risk not just with foreign aid but also with its own funding.
About $490 million (Tk3,852 crore) have been allocated from the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund established in 2009 up to the financial year 2020-21.
With the money of this fund, various ministries, government offices, organizations and various institutions are accepting and implementing more than 850 projects.
However, Bangladesh will be able to work more vigorously to combat climate change if it receives sufficient foreign aid.
The environment minister said these things while addressing the chief guest of the Shadow Parliament debate competition titled “Cop 27 Could Not Reflect the Expectations of Climate Affected Countries” organized by Debate for Democracy at Bangladesh Film Development Corporation on Saturday.
He said that although there are some limitations in this conference, we can see the light of hope. According to this decision, climate-affected countries like Bangladesh must be compensated by developed countries. The commitment to pay $100 billion per year to the target must be fully implemented. This year’s climate conference decided to create a Loss and Damage Fund, but the source of funding has not been determined, which needs to be done urgently.
The minister said that $230 billion are needed to implement Bangladesh’s Climate Adaptation Plan (NAP). 21.85% of greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 2030 through the implementation of Bangladesh’s Nationally Determined Contribution or NDC to reduce greenhouse gas emissions if sufficient foreign aid is received.
Debaters from Bangladesh University of Business and Technology and Stamford University Bangladesh participated in the shadow parliament held under the chairmanship of Debate for Democracy Chairman Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiran. Bangladesh University of Business and Technology team won the debate. Later, the minister gave away the prizes to the winning team.