CA for Saarc pressure on rich nations to cut emissions

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Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday called for putting collective pressure by Saarc on the developed nations for making a unilateral and unconditional commitment to reduce their greenhouse gas emission levels to save the vulnerable regions of the world from the perils of climate change.

“The world cannot, perhaps, go back to the pre-industrial age of carbon emission but it can surely contain a further surge in global warming. We can at least freeze the emission of greenhouse gases at an acceptable level. But this will require urgent collective actions. And it’ll require the large industrialised economies–the historical polluters–to cut back their emissions,” he said.

Inaugurating the daylong Saarc ministerial meeting on climate change at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel, the head of the caretaker government said Saarc can occupy a high moral ground on this issue and put pressure on the developed countries and must remind them individually and collectively that procrastination is not an option.

The CA urged the Saarc ministerial meeting to recommend specific measures taking into account the five principles agreed upon by all countries of the regional forum.

These are deeper cuts to greenhouse gas emission by developed countries with effective timeframe for the forthcoming second commitment period, provision of adequate additional resources by developed countries to tackle climate change adaptation needs in addition to regular Overseas Development Assistance arrangements, compensation for climate victims and development of insurance mechanism as a tool of risk reduction, facilitating effective access to and funding assistance for the transfer of environment-friendly technologies to the developing countries, as well as for adaptation and mitigation and sharing the environmental burden equitably.

“To demonstrate the world that together they can tackle the threats of climate change through a cooperative and collaborative arrangement in South Asia and let Saarc be a model of cooperation for combating climate change,” he told the meeting.

Eight boys and girls on behalf of Saarc member countries appealed to the Saarc leaders at the inaugural session for taking steps to make greenery pollution-free safe world.

Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Saarc Secretary General Sheel Kant Sharma and Secretary to Environment Ministry AHM Rezaul Karim also spoke at the function. Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser for Environment and Forest Ministry Raja Debashish Roy chaired the inaugural session.

Environment ministers from eight Saarc member countries –Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka — and other delegates are participating in the meeting.

Advisers, special assistants to the chief adviser, environment experts, diplomats, representatives from international organisations and development partners, environment personalities, government officials and distinguished personalities were present at the function.

“This Saarc ministerial meeting,” the CA said, “takes place at a critical juncture when we’re confronted with new and undeniable scientific evidence of climate change and how it threatens our very existence. The South Asian region is particularly vulnerable. This meeting should strive to uphold our basic right to climate-resilient development in the Saarc region.”

According to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, the CA said, Bangladesh could lose as much as one-third of its landmass due to the rise in sea level and the Maldives could disappear entirely. The floodplains of India and Pakistan could face permanent inundation, he added.

“Millions of our citizens could be permanently displaced. These are not scientific conjectures. They’re cautious predictions– often the best case scenarios — based on rigorous data analysis and simulations,” he said.

Fakhruddin said it is not the question of ‘if’, rather the fear is when and how soon the climatic meltdown might hit us with full fury. “There is, however, a silver lining in this doom and gloom. The world is increasingly united to address the challenges of global warming and climate change,” he told the inaugural session.

He said the adverse effects of global warming would derail all our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. “It’ll unleash the tragedy in human history, far graver than the ‘Black Death’ or the atrocities of World War II. We cannot, and must not, sit idle and let this happen to us,” Fakhruddin asserted.

Referring to Bangladesh’s good performance in adaptation, he said the country is actively seeking to establish an international adaptation centre in Dhaka to share its knowledge and the best practices and expressed the confidence that Saarc members will extend their full support to the country’s endeavour in this regard. “On the adaptation front, we can do much on our own.”

He said adaptation is, in fact, the codename for resilience. Many developing countries are already pursuing effective adaptation strategies to cope with climate change. Bangladesh is one such example. “We’ve made a significant progress in achieving climate-resilience with various adaptation measures. Our experience could serve as a model for many others facing similar challenges.”

But adaptation is often a costly proposition, he said adding that the Saarc countries should speak in one voice to ensure that the developed countries commit new and additional resources to support our adaptation efforts. “We should also remain vigilant against any attempt to make adaptation support contingent upon our commitment in mitigation.”

The CA said the industrialised economies must provide adaptation funds and facilitate technology transfers without any conditionality, and hoped that the current meeting would make headway in implementing the recommendations that the Saarc leaders made at the New Delhi summit last year.

Fakhruddin said the IPCC also forecasts that global warming would result in sea-level rise, with resultant increase in coastal flooding and salinity. “In 2007, two successive floods ravaged Bangladesh as well as parts of India. The rise in frequency and intensity of cyclones are ominous testimonies of climatic shifts in our region.”

The ferocity of Cyclone “Sidr” in November last year took us all, even the experts and forecasters by surprise. Another killer Cyclone “Nargis”, which originated in the Bay of Bengal in April this year, devastated the Irrawadi delta of Myanmar, he mentioned.

He said climate change would disproportionately hurt the poor and its irreversible impacts would steal the livelihood options of millions of our citizens living below the poverty line.

Fakhruddin said Saarc has evolved into an effective platform since its inception for addressing issues and concerns that have national consequences and regional implications. “As a result of our collective efforts, Saarc has already received worldwide recognition.”

The inclusion of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the USA and the European Union as observers in Saarc is a clear manifestation of this reality, he said.

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