The World Bank recently published a thorough analysis of various adverse impacts of human-induced climate change that will hit the coastal districts of Bangladesh over the coming decades, increasing the frequency and severity of coastal flood events. The estimated losses amount to USD 570 million every year going forward if measures are not taken to minimise those impacts. Let me …
Over the last few weeks, a number of developments around the world has brought forth the need to hold polluters responsible for the loss and damage they have been causing the planet. The latest such event is the devastating floods in Pakistan, which has been scientifically attributed to human-induced climate change. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the floods “climate …
Over the last 50 years, Bangladesh has been recognised in South Asia as well as around the world as a laboratory for development success in alleviating poverty, girls’ education and inclusion in the workforce, and unlocking the potential of the private sector in banking, industries and commerce, among others. This development was by no means perfect, particularly when it comes …
The ongoing devastating floods in Pakistan, which follow a deadly heat wave from just a few weeks back, is not just another flood event. They are, in fact, a manifestation of the undoubted fact that the world is already suffering the impacts of climate change and the consequent losses and damages. Even when the floodwaters continue to inundate nearly a …
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) is set to take place in Egypt this November. But many of the decisions taken in previous sessions of the COP still remain unimplemented. So what can we expect from COP27? Dr Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) at the Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), …
As the world is currently in the era of loss and damage from human-induced climate change, the need for Bangladesh to invest in different aspects of the issue at the global level has also entered a new era which will need significant investment in enhancing our capacities for climate diplomacy in different platforms. Let’s start with the annual Conferences of …
The tiny island nation of Vanuatu, located in the Pacific Ocean, is highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of human-induced climate change. And along with other climate vulnerable island countries in the Pacific, it has been leading the world on the issue of loss and damage. Recently, Vanuatu prepared a resolution for the upcoming session of the United Nations General …
This past week, the entire country has been rightly celebrating the successful completion and inauguration of the historic Padma Bridge, which links the south-western part of Bangladesh to its northern and eastern regions with prospects of unhindered transport between the two major regions of the country. However, while the prospects for economic progress are certainly most welcome, it may also …
The global environmental movement started in 1972, with the first global environment conference held in Stockholm, Sweden, hosted by then Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. Among the heads of governments who also attended was the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who famously declared that environment and poverty were two major global issues that needed to be tackled together. Since …
During the negotiations that led to the historic Paris Agreement at the 21st UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in 2015, the climate vulnerable countries argued for and succeeded in getting the global goal on mitigation of staying below two degrees Celsius—and if possible, below 1.5 degrees Celsius. This was indeed a remarkable achievement for the vulnerable countries at that time. …
