Climate Finance Loss and Damage

 Raise Voice against Climate Finance Loss and Damage

Loss and Damage

Concern! We should raise voice against Climate change. This issue has climbed to the top of the political agenda in the last couple of years around the world. It is the focus of UN meetings, gatherings of major economic forums like the G8, G20, and WTO, as well as international financial institutions (IFIs). As an active member of UNFCCC Bodies, Bangladesh government has developed a comprehensive guideline and implementing strategy against climate change and incorporated the issue into Vision 2030, 2041, and Delta Plan 2100.

The Earth’s average temperature has already increased by approximately 1.1°C from 1901 to 2020 (IPCC 2021). The 2017 U.S. Climate Science Report and Climate Change Knowledge Portal of the World Bank, claimed that GHG emissions are rapidly increasing so, global warming is increasing near 2°C. G20 countries raised 80% of greenhouse gas emissions. If this trend continues, it could rise by 5°C or more by the end of 2100. The melting of glaciers also rises. The global mean sea level has risen 4 to 10 inches over the last 100 years. As a result, there have been significant changes in weather patterns around the world, including droughts, floods, and erratic rainfall.

The Global Climate Risk Index (CRI) 2021 says Bangladesh is the 7th most vulnerable country in the world. Similarly, according to a project by the Swiss Embassy, more than 90 million people live in "high climate exposure risk areas," along with 53 million people experiencing "very high" exposure. Various disasters increase this loss and damage, such as cyclone Bhola in 1070, whose worth damage was $2.5 billion, the monsoon flood in 1998; economic damage of $2.0 billion, in 2007, Cyclone Sidr was $2.3 billion (Eskander and Steele, 2019), Cyclone Aila was $270 million (UNOCHA, 2009); and in the Cyclone Bulbul fisheries sector, it was $5.5 million (NAWG). Over 7.1 million people in Bangladesh were displaced by climate change in 2022, which could reach 13.3 million by 2050 (WHO). According to the Bangladesh Research Centre (RDRC), there were a total of 1,274 rivers in Bangladesh in 1971; since then, 507 have vanished. It is predicted that 84% of the Sundarban will be flooded by 2050 due to sea level rise, and the entire Sundarban will be lost by 2100.

Rich countries promised in 2009 to deliver $100 billion a year for five years, starting in 2020. Environmental groups say $100 billion is not enough. African countries say the financing should be scaled up more than tenfold to $1.3 trillion per year by 2030. The UN says it would require $4 to $6 trillion each year in renewable energy and infrastructure development until 2030. The last UN conference, COP28, promised to contribute $700 billion to the loss and damage fund, which is insufficient as well.

About 23 years after the establishment of the UN in 1945, the issue of climate change came to the attention of the UN organs, and the issue was discussed at the first international scientific conference (Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972). Later, in 1985, the Vienna Convention was adopted through the efforts of UNEP, and in 1989 the Montreal Protocol was also signed.

In 1992, 158 countries signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The first Conference of the Convention (COP1) was held in 1995, where the signatories agreed to work on reducing emissions of polluting gases, as outlined in the Berlin Mandate. In this way, the COP becomes the supreme decision-making body of the UNFCCC. Its key objective is to evaluate progress in handling climate change issues and make crucial decisions on future actions. Note that, the COP3 conference held in Kyoto in 1997 established the Kyoto Protocol, COP21 (Paris, 2015) adopted the Paris Agreement; and COP27 (Egypt, 2022) emphasizes creating loss and damage funds for poor and vulnerable countries.

The last COP28 (UAE 2023) focuses on loss and damage funds and young people's priorities for climate action. The upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP 29) will be held in November 2024 in Azerbaijan.

As a UN signed country, Bangladesh is committed to the people for a safe environment by the constitution. So, the government has adopted multiple alliances, networks, and plans against climate change, like Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 (updated in 2022), the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) 2015 (updated in 2021), The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) 2022, the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan (MCPP) 2022-2041, Standing Orders (SOD) on Disaster 2019 etc.

A total of 34 climate change-related projects have been selected for implementation under Delta Plan 2100. Where the cost is kept at US$ 23.23 billion. The Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP), established in 1973, where 76,140 volunteers for DRR. Bangladesh has become a role model for disaster management and disaster risk reduction (DRR), which is globally well-recognized.

Besides the government, NGOs are playing a vital role. Such as RUPANTAR is implementing various activities in the whole country, including the southern region of Bangladesh, in environmental management, including climate change and adaptation, climate-smart agriculture, solid water management, disaster management, DRR, WASH, and protection of the Sundarban. International organizations like SDC, WaterAid, Care Bangladesh, Oxfam-GB, and UN-based organizations like UNICEF are supporting this larger program. RUPANTAR is raising awareness among the masses across the country on the above issues through the popular mass media, Pot Song.

The UNFCCC and the IPCC concluded that industrialized countries must take action against climate change and are obliged to assist developing countries in mitigating and adapting to climate change through capacity building and technology transfer.

Bangladesh's efforts in implementing the obligation under the Montreal Protocol to reduce over 2.14 MtCO2-e emissions by 2025 are a promising step towards a more sustainable future. It's always encouraging to see UN-signed countries taking action towards reducing their carbon footprint.

Writer: Md. Mustafizur Rahman