Allocate funds for populations at risk, Bangladesh delegation demands

Pinaki Roy in Copenhagen for the Daily Star (Bangladesh): The Bangladesh delegation has demanded allocation from the adaptation fund in proportion to the percentage of its population exposed to climate change. Bangladesh has made significant progress in many sectors including food production and population control over the years but these achievements might be lost due to the impacts of climate change, the speakers told a global audience at a presentation at the Bella Center in Copenhagen.

The country has devised its strategy and action plans to battle climate change and also developed its capability. But it now needs fund to show the world how to deal with climate change through adaptation, the speakers said.

"The climate change adaptation fund has to be created by mandatory contribution of developed countries as over and above their usual overseas development assistance fund," said State Minister Hasan Mahmud, who is now leading the Bangladesh delegation, at a press conference in the afternoon. "More or less one billion people are affected in the world due to climate change and at least 15 percent of them live in Bangladesh," he said.

The state minister for forest and environment said at least 70 percent of the adaptation fund should go to the Least Developed Countries and the most vulnerable ones among the LDC groups should get priority. Earlier, the Bangladesh delegation arranged a presentation called "Bangladesh: A Victim of Climate Change - Sharing Experiences with the Global Community" where vulnerability of Bangladeshi people to climate change were presented with scientific data….

At the border side of Olinagar, Pheni, in Bangladesh, shot by Ziaul Hoque, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License