{"id":67779,"date":"2021-04-02T21:00:45","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T21:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=67779"},"modified":"2021-04-02T21:00:45","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T21:00:45","slug":"pm-calls-for-unity-in-war-against-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=67779","title":{"rendered":"PM calls for unity in war against nature"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Dhaka:<\/strong> Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called upon all to remain united in the war against nature to avert a possible loss for mankind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our war against nature, we\u2019ll lose unless we unite,\u201d she wrote in the renowned magazine Diplomat in its April 2021 issue.<\/p>\n

In the write up \u2013 \u2018Forging Dhaka-Glasgow CVF-COP26 Solidarity\u2019 \u2013 she said that humans are consciously destroying the very support systems that are keeping us alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat planet shall we leave for the Greta Thunbergs or those at the Bangladesh Coastal Youth Action Hubs? At COP26 we must not fail them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sheikh Hasina, currently the president of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), said, we want to see climate financing unleashed, not only towards low-carbon economy, but also for the promised US$100 billion, and 50 percent dedicated to climate resilience-building.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to see international carbon markets unlocked for transnational climate cooperation and solutions found to our profound loss, damage and climate injustice,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

She mentioned that the CVF represents over one billion of the world\u2019s most vulnerable communities, whose very survival is threatened by the slightest sea level rise, frequent hurricanes or rapid desertification.<\/p>\n

In this connection, she said that for Bangladesh, often referred to as the \u2018ground zero\u2019 of natural disasters, climate change is a survival battle braved by millions of our resilient people whose homes, lands and crops are lost to the recurring wrath of nature.<\/p>\n

Every year, 2% of country\u2019s GDP is lost to extreme climate events. By the turn of the century, it will be 9%. By 2050, more than 17% of its coastlines will go underwater displacing 30 million.<\/p>\n

Six million Bangladeshis have already become climate displaced. And yet the country continues to bear the 1.1 million Rohingyas from Myanmar at the cost of environmental havoc in Cox\u2019s Bazar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho will pay for this loss and damage?\u201d She asked.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister wrote that like Bangladesh, every CVF nation has an irreversible climate loss and damage story to tell.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they contributed little to global emissions. It is time to address this climate injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that international cooperation on climate had been de-prioritised by the US for several years. International climate finance was falling far short of the $100 billion pledged at Paris.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe G-20, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of global emissions lacked the political will to finance transactional carbon markets to support low-carbon projects in vulnerable countries. Loss and damage remained a far cry.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then, she said, COVID-19 hit us like a bolt from the blue, triggering the triple perils of climate, health and nature. A rude awakening finally forced the world to heed to my warning that the climate crisis is indeed an emergency.<\/p>\n

And any recovery had to be green, nature-based and resilient. Therefore, my first act as CVF President was to declare climate change a \u2018planetary emergency\u2019 and call upon all to be on a \u2018war footing\u2019 to arrest global temperature rise at 1.5 degrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy Autumn 2020, I\u2019d seen very few NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions), and COP26 was postponed, so I launched the \u2018Midnight Survival Deadline for the Climate\u2019 initiative at the CVF Leaders\u2019 Summit,\u201d Sheikh Hasina said.<\/p>\n

She said that US President Joe Biden\u2019s returning to the Paris treaty was also inspiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut those who failed to meet CVF\u2019s midnight-deadline, I urge them, to submit ambitious NDCs ahead of COP26. CVF\u2019s most vulnerable members pledged no less than a net-zero by 2030, including Barbados, Costa Rica and the Maldives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talking about Bangladesh, she wrote that Bangladesh, the CVF member with the largest population, also submitted interim NDC updates with additional pledges over and above Paris to reduce methane emissions. For Bangladesh and the CVF, climate adaptation and financing is a prime \u2018survival\u2019 priority as we relentlessly struggle to protect our populations from recurrent extreme climate events.<\/p>\n

\u201cRealistically, my climate survival philosophy has been a common sense one. \u2018Help thy self\u2019 and wait for no one to rescue. Because, climate change is not going to spare us for our inactions.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a testament to this, she said, she had long championed locally-led adaptation and resilience-building at the heart of which are local actors, especially women and youth.<\/p>\n

In 2020, when Category-5 Cyclone Amphan mercilessly hit Bangladesh and India, Bangladesh demonstrated its capability to evacuate 2.4 million people and half-a-million livestock to safety in less than five days.<\/p>\n

That same year, two-thirds of Bangladesh went under water in flash floods during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Even though this double jeopardy cost $3.5 billion in GDP losses, disaster preparedness of Bangladesh saved millions of lives.<\/p>\n

She said that Bangladesh has also learnt to self-finance its climate projects. The government has thus created a $450 million Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund that supports nearly 800 adaptation and resilience projects in its vulnerable coasts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are spending on an average 2.5 per cent of our GDP \u2013 US$5billion each year \u2013 on climate adaptation and resilience-building.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that Bangladesh built 16.4km of sea dykes, 12,000 cyclone shelters and 200,000 hectares of coastal plantation.<\/p>\n

The scientists invented nature-based solutions for the country\u2019s coastal communities, such as salinity and stress tolerant crops, rain reservoirs and pond-sand-filters, floating agriculture technology and mobile water treatment plants.<\/p>\n

In Bangladesh, the Prime Minister wrote, we are now championing climate prosperity. By pioneering the \u2018Mujib Climate Prosperity Decade 2030,\u2019 named after Bangladesh\u2019s Founding Father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during his birth centenary, I have called CVF nations to initiate \u2018climate prosperity plans.\u2019 We have already planted 11.5 million trees under our plan.<\/p>\n

These are strategic, low carbon investment frameworks integrated into national development plans for capturing our growth and prosperity. But the CVF can only do so much on its own.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a limit to adaptation too!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is vital to build strong CVF-COP solidarity. We want to see a Dhaka-Glasgow-CVF-COP26 Declaration emerge from November\u2019s meeting.\u00a0 We, the climate vulnerable nations want to see G20 submit ambitious NDCs before COP26.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called upon all to remain united in the war against nature to avert a possible loss for mankind. \u201cIn our war against nature, we\u2019ll lose unless we unite,\u201d she wrote in the renowned magazine Diplomat in its April 2021 issue. In the write up \u2013 \u2018Forging Dhaka-Glasgow CVF-COP26 Solidarity\u2019 \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":67780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n