LDCs Need Fund For Climate Adaptation

10 May 2012

Environment and Forests Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on May 8 called upon European leaders to give priority to adaptation in allocating green climate funds for least developed countries (LDCs) like Bangladesh affected by climate change.

“Immediate allocation of funds is needed to implement the adaptation programme to the countries representing the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and LDCs badly affected by climate chnage,” Dr Hasan said on the concluding day of the two-day ‘Informal Ministerial Roundtable for Ambitious Follow-up to Durban’ in Belgium of Brussels.

Ministers’ level delegation from 30 countries along with High-level representatives of EU and UNFCCC attended the meeting.

Referring to Bangladesh perspective, the most vulnerable country to climate change, he said, it urgently needs fund to reconstruct about 700 kilometers of seriously affected costal embankments that put at risk lives of millions.

Dr Hasan, who is leading a three-member Bangladesh delegation in the meeting, laid emphasis on non-government cooperation side by side with government organizations of development countries for making the Green Climate Fund (GCF) effective.

The GCF, which is intended to provide cash to help developing countries adapt to climate change and cut emissions, was launched at December’s UN climate conference in Durban.

According to the Durban summit, developed countries should put their efforts and energy into funding US$100 billion annually that has been promised for desperately needed climate funding in developing countries.

EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard invited representatives from AOSIS and LDCs and a number of Latin American countries for strengthening global climate negotiation on behalf of EU. They also focused on the preparation of the UN climate change convention and the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development in Brazil on June 20-22.

Following the first part of the Informal Ministerial Roundtable, Connie Hedegaard, Member of the EC in charge of Climate Action, and other Ministers for Environment held a press point on the outcome of the meeting.

SOURCE: Energy Bangla

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