Rich countries come under fire over climate

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The finance and foreign advisers yesterday lambasted rich countries for failing to make a “firm commitment” in the Bali Declaration to cut greenhouse gas emissions and insisted they pay the adaptation costs of nations most vulnerable to climate change effects.

Inaugurating a day-long Bangladesh-UK conference on climate change yesterday, Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury said the Bali Declaration is a “weak” document because “it lacked a firm commitment on emission cuts” and it is not equitable in mitigation responses.

At the conference, donors pledged financial support for long-term adaptation and mitigation programmes in Bangladesh.

The conference, which brought together government officials, experts and donors at Hotel Sheraton, set the agenda for a high-level meet styled “International conference on climate change and Bangladesh” in London in late May.

“More importantly, the sacrosanct principle of common but differentiated responsibility suffered a setback in the outcome of the document,” Iftekhar said, adding that it was also “disheartening” to see advanced developing countries like China and India did not target greater emission cuts.

He said the poorest countries–most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change–must have access to eco-friendly and cost-effective technologies.

Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam said rising awareness about climate change “has not been backed by remedial funding for action”.

Azizul said the Bangladesh government has traditionally been “reactive” to environmental concerns which must be changed to a “proactive” policy otherwise Bangladesh will seriously risk a reversal of development.

He said adverse effects of climate change would harm future growth in Bangladesh, which would also negatively affect the budget’s revenue and expenditure.

Although the country needs donor support to pay for the projected $4 billion to protect the coastal belt from future climate change effects, any “multi-donor fund” would have to work out the government-donor relations, he added.

Raja Devasish Roy, special assistant on environment and forests, echoed the sentiments of the two advisers, adding that any climate-change fund for Bangladesh requires clear government oversight mandate.

Donors told the audience that support for climate change in Bangladesh is one of their top priorities and that they are currently mulling a “multi-donor trust fund” for long-term assistance.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank along with the heads of missions and representatives from the US, Britain, Japan, the Netherlands and Denmark gave assurance of support in a panel discussion.

“We want to assure that Bangladesh will not go under water…We’re here to assure the financing to contribute to address the climate change,” Dutch Ambassador to Bangladesh Bea Ten Tusscher told the conference.

British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury said to “characterise Bangladesh as a victim, a mere passive bystander in a sequence of inevitable events, would be gross and unhelpful misjudgement”.

He said, “It would deny their role and, indeed, responsibility for leadership in international institutions and partnership with the UK and others.”

Bangladesh can lead the world on how to “adapt to climate change” and help demonstrate the urgency of the issue by showing that climate change is not just a “rich country concern”, Choudhury added.

Chris Austin, DFID head in Bangladesh, said as the intensity of climate change increases the pace of response must also rise.

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