Category: Dr Saleemul Huq Media
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A developing partnership between Bangladesh and the UK to tackle climate change
Earlier this month, during the London Climate Action week, my organisation, the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, together with the UK’s Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and the Bangladesh High Commission in London, organised a major event with several hundred Londoners, including many British Bangladeshis, themed “Learning lessons from Bangladesh”. The speakers included myself;…
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Bangladesh can lead the way
Finding solutions to the global problem of climate change Last week, Bangladesh hosted a major global climate change meeting in Dhaka, hosted by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with Ban Ki-moon, former secretary general of the United Nations, Chief Executive Kristalina Georgieva from the World Bank, and President Heine of the Marshall Islands present. The visiting…
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GCA Meeting
Vulnerable countries merit greater attentionThis year marks a clear break with the past in terms of the climate change problem now becoming a “climate change crisis” with the adverse impacts of human-induced climate change getting visible across the world. The most recent manifestation of it was the unprecedented heatwave in Europe, which was several degrees higher than normal. This…
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Climate change diplomacy is now the challenge
Last May, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was invited to the annual leaders’ high-level meeting in Munich, Germany, to speak on the growing concern about the global security threats due to climate change. On July 10, Bangladesh will be hosting President Heine of the Marshall Islands who heads the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF)—which is a group…
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Environmental migration and non-migration: A new scientific discourse
People migrating from one place to another—whether within the same country or across international borders—is a complex phenomenon, in which pull factors (such as job-seeking) and/or push factors (such as environmental degradation) can play important roles. Recently, the impacts of climate change have been included in this hypothesis, as a major environmental push factor, which…
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Preparing for COP25
Climate change affects the least developed countries the most The nearly 200 countries that have ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meet every December at the annual Conference of Parties (COP) to review progress and decide new actions. The COP moves from continent to continent each year with last year (COP24),…
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Time to ramp up investment in adaptation to climate change
2019 is proving to be a game-changing year with regard to the issue of global climate change in a number of ways. First, we are seeing the unequivocal attribution of incidents starting from hurricanes, wildfires, floods—such as in the mid-Western states in the US—to human-induced climate change repercussions. From now onwards, it is fairly safe…
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Graduating out of LDC status – What Bangladesh should keep in mind
The Least Developed Countries (LDC) group constitutes 47 countries, mostly in Africa and some in Asia (including Bangladesh), officially recognised by the United Nations (UN). Countries belonging to the group are entitled to duty-free access to developed country markets for their goods and are recognised under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)…
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Bangladesh shines at Geneva meeting
Last week the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland with more than 4,000 delegates from all over the world and many different stakeholders including government, UN agencies, private sector, civil society, women’s groups, indigenous peoples’ groups, youth groups, groups related to people with disabilities, and many others.…
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How Least Developed Countries can become leaders in tackling climate change
The group of Least Developed Countries (LDC) has been negotiating under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for many years and has continuously taken leadership roles at key points. For example, the push for and successful inclusion (against great odds) of the long-term global temperature goal of 1.5 degrees Centigrade in the…
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Making polluters pay for loss and damage
The recent devastation in Mozambique due to two successive hurricanes (Aida and Kenneth) of unprecedented severity for southern Africa, are a clear indicator that we are now living in a climate changed world. And that the huge loss and damage sustained by the people of Mozambique is due to human-induced climate change and not just…
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How the Green Climate Fund can be more effective
It has now been well over five years since the Green Climate Fund (GCF) was set up with its headquarters in Songdo, Korea to support both mitigation and adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries. It received an initial contribution of around USD 10 billion and is now undergoing a review of its performance in…