Dhaka, Sep. In Sukh-er Bati, a village tucked into Roumari upazila in Kurigram, people speak of Ukina Bano the way you’d speak of someone whose luck ran out a long time ago. Some call her unlucky. Others say God tests those He loves most. Neither explanation touches what she is actually carrying. Ukina is sixty-two. Her story came out of …

PHOTO: Md Jamil Hossain The story of Char Khedaimari: A community’s struggle to survive in the shadow of river erosion Suggested: The river didn’t just take their homes, but memories too When the river takes their homes and their memories As part of the “Evidence-based Approach to Address Non-Economic Loss & Damage (EBAAN)” project under the International Centre for Climate …

“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 prosperity. In Bangladesh, we are …

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 compared to what is needed …

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 extent of  being, some would …

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 describe the situation has become …

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 main commitments were agreed upon: …

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 threshold into what I call …

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 is to come. It was …

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 summit. The first was an …