The global climate fund for Bangladesh must be in the form of compensation for climate damage done by the developed world, environmentalists told a roundtable yesterday.
“The developed countries should compensate Bangladesh with debt cancellation for the climate damage,” said Dr Hasan Mahmud, state minister for environment and forests.
The 30-billion “fast start” climate cash should have been released a year back but its process is still going very slow, he said. “That is an example of climate injustice.”
Dr Mahmud was speaking at the roundtable “Climate Change: Rights and Justice” organised by Brac University at Brac Centre in the city.
Bangladesh is one of the countries worst affected by climate change though she has not contributed to the cause. The per capita carbon emission every year in Bangladesh is only 0.2 tonne against 15 to 20 tonnes in the developed countries.
The state minister said an estimated 30 million Bangladeshis will be displaced by the year 2050 due to climate impacts.
Bangladesh hopes to achieve the quality of life as that of the developed world with clean energy and technology that require extra money, he added.
Mary Robinson, ex-president of Ireland and internationally acclaimed human rights activist, said economic development of a vulnerable country is a human right in the climate justice discourse.
The poorest, who are not responsible for carbon emission into the atmosphere, will be the worst hit by the devastations of the climate change, but the climate change discourse has so far not been people-centred, she said.
Prof Ainun Nishat, an environmentalists and vice-chancellor of Brac University, said the developed world, the major historical emitters, is obligated to provide the developing and vulnerable countries like Bangladesh with required fund, clean energy, and technology.
The least developed countries and small island countries need equal right to emit carbon to bring about equal economic development in proportion with the developed world to get out of poverty cycle, he said.
A host of environmentalists, development researchers and NGO leaders attended the discussion moderated by Brac director Babar Kabir and chaired by Brac executive director Dr Mahbub Hossain.
