Tag: The Daily Star
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Bangladesh’s leadership of the Climate Vulnerable Forum
How has the world benefitted?
“The time to take action to save the planet is not tomorrow, but today.” — Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as Chair of CVF at CVF leaders’ event at the UNGA, New York on October 7, 2024. “I believe our Presidency’s most important legacy will be to shift the narrative from climate vulnerability to resilience and…
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What Bangladesh can do before COP29
This year’s climate summit—the 28th Conference of the Parties for climate change (COP28)—started with a surprise on the very first day: the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund, where the COP28 presidency pioneered a pledge of $100 million. By the end of the event, the pledges totalled almost $700 million. Though this amount is paltry…
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Tribute To Prof Saleemul Huq: A towering scholar of exceptional brilliance
The fact that he was one of the leading global experts on climate change and an integral part of nearly every international and regional group of any worth anywhere is something one would never know by talking to him. He was as modest as he was brilliant. He was extremely self-effacing and shy to the…
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The Climate Action Summit in New York has failed to deliver
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guitterez, has been holding an annual Climate Action Summit on the margins of the UN General Assembly in September each year. He invites world leaders to come and share what they are doing to tackle climate change, the biggest human-induced global crisis. Over the years, his language to…
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We are not on track for 2030 climate targets
Back in 2015, three essential global agreements were adopted with targets set in 2030. We are at the halfway point of this time frame; if we review the current situation, the progress is not good. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change was adopted at the 21st UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in December 2015. Two…
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In funding climate actions, we can be more creative
A simple $5 loss and damage aviation levy could be imposed on every passenger flying on any of the airlines under the jurisdiction of the UAE. There are only a hundred days left until the start of COP28 in Dubai, set to be held on November 30, and already the world has crossed the critical…
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Our world has entered its hottest days. What now?
Over the last few months, I have been saying at different meetings that 2023 will see the beginning of the era of losses and damages from human-induced climate change. I have also been saying that every new day, week, month, and year will bring more climate change impacts, and no country is prepared for what…
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Key takeaways from the Paris summit on climate finance
Recently, I had the privilege of being invited to the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact, hosted by President Emmanuel Macron of France, alongside over 20 heads of government. Bangladesh was represented by Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Climate Envoy Saber Hossain Chowdhury. I was invited to speak at three events during the…
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Making a university great, with climate action
Today’s column is in response to the thought-provoking series of articles in The Daily Star on “What makes a great university” by Dr Syed Saad Andaleeb, Dr Ahrar Ahmad, and Dr Halimur R Khan. I would suggest not changing the entire university sector in Bangladesh, but rather to develop a world-leading effort in research and teaching to…
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Time to make climate funds part of mainstream finance
The problem of global climate change has already gone through two eras and has now entered the third era. The first was the era of mitigation; the second was the era of adaptation; and now we are in the era of loss and damage from human-induced climate change. Mitigation and adaptation are still prevalent issues,…
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More heatwaves are coming our way. Are we prepared?
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]While Bangladesh has a lot of experience in tackling cyclones and floods, we have not taken heat stress into consideration until now.[/quotes] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently completed its sixth assessment report (AR6), with the Synthesis Report coming out in March. The Synthesis Report carries some key messages about the…
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Closer to making polluters pay
Last week, at the general assembly of the United Nations in New York, a resolution was adopted by consensus to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an advisory opinion on whether impacts of human-induced climate change are a violation of international human rights. This resolution was put forward by the government of Vanuatu…