Forging unity of vulnerable countries on climate issues

Countries responsible for global carbon emissions should provide sufficient financial and technical support to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), including Bangladesh, to tackle the adverse impacts of climate change. Despite having little contribution to global carbon emission, the LDC are bearing the brunt of excessive carbon emissions caused by industrialised nations which are mainly responsible for global warming-- a great threat for the planet. The Paris Accord requires all countries to devise plans to achieve the goal of containing global temperatures within two degree Celsius and strive for 1.5 degree Celsius, if possible.

The Least Developed Countries must be united backed to put pressure on industrialised countries to take action to curb the planet's rising temperatures. Bangladesh is already facing adverse impact of global climate change and it is urgent to raise its voice to get adequate support from green climate fund to make it a climate resilient country. Many people across the country have become refugees due to various reasons, including floods, river bank erosions and cyclones. Basically, they are climate change victims. Bangladesh alone can not face climate change as it is a global phenomenon. It should move bilaterally as well as multilaterally along with strong bargaining capacity to build up pressure on advanced countries to extend financial and technical assistance to climate-vulnerable countries. 

The United Nations has expressed grave concern saying that the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere grew at a record rate in 2016, not experienced ever before-- potentially fuelling a 20-metre rise in sea levels and adding 3 degrees to temperatures. The UN World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin said that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main man-made greenhouse gas, hit 403.3 parts per million (ppm), up from 400.0 in 2015. That growth rate was 50 per cent faster than the average over the past decade, driving CO2 levels 45 per cent above pre-industrial levels. The WMO bulletin said, "Today's CO2 concentration of 400 ppm exceeds the natural variability seen over hundreds of thousands of years".

The latest data add to the urgency of a meeting in Bonn in November 2017, when environment ministers from around the world will work on guidelines for the Paris Climate Accord endorsed by 195 countries in 2015. The agreement is already under pressure because the United States  President Donald Trump has hinted to pull the US out of the deal, which seeks to limit the rise in temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit).

The WMO said human CO2 emissions from sources such as coal, oil, cement and deforestation reached a record in 2016, and the El Niño weather pattern gave CO2 levels a further boost. The world has never experienced a rise in carbon dioxide as in the recent decades, which has happened 100 times faster than when the world was emerging from the last ice age.

Scientists know prehistoric levels from tiny air bubbles found in ancient Antarctic ice cores, and they can derive even older data from fossils and chemicals trapped in sediments. The last time carbon dioxide levels reached 400 ppm was 3-5 million years back, in the mid-Pliocene era. The WMO bulletin said, "During that period, global mean surface temperatures were 2-3° Celsius warmer than today, ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica melted and even parts of East Antarctica's ice retreated, causing the sea level to rise 10-20 metres higher than that today". Since 1990, the global warming effect of CO2 and other long-lived greenhouse gases have risen by 40 per cent. The two other main gases - methane and nitrous oxide - also grew to record concentrations last year, although at a slower rate of increase than carbon dioxide.

The green activists of low emission countries like Bangladesh unequivocally demand adequate compensation for the climate change victims. They urge upon the developed and industrialised countries to fulfill their commitment towards climate funding and ensure transparency in the use of the green climate fund. They also demand compensation, not loan, from the industrially developed countries, which are solely responsible for climate change and global warming.

The demand came afresh ahead of the programme of the twelve-day 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) scheduled to be held in Germany from November 6, 2017. The green activists point out that the existing agricultural system in countries like Bangladesh has started facing a serious threat because of climate change that also leads to various natural disasters. They assert on the necessary steps that should be taken to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change in the climate vulnerable countries to protect its living and livelihood conditions from further degradation. The ongoing climate change at alarming rates has severely affected every sector including agriculture and its diversity creating a real threat to food production in the LDCs. In this context, it is pertinent to say that for Bangladesh to face the odd situation, Bangladesh Climate Change Resilient Fund (BCCRF) and Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF) should be more effective so that the vulnerable people can derive tangible benefits. 

The writer is a retired Professor of Economics, BCS General Education Cadre.

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