Climate change and its effects on Bangladesh

Shahiduzzaman Khan PRIME Minister Sheikh Hasina was scheduled to address the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly on climate change in New York yesterday. She was expected to focus on the adverse impacts of climate change and global financial crisis in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is, unfortunately, one of the few countries with the worst exposure to extreme weather conditions caused by global warming, due largely to worldwide excessive carbon emissions. As such, it is in dire need of financial and technological assistance to adapt to the changing climate. Indeed, climate change and poverty are increasingly being addressed as twin challenges in the country's sustainable development. It is widely understood that the present development paradigm is no longer able to sustain human development. There is a need for change in the country's perspective for development and from that perspective, environment and development can both be seen as win-win goals. Bangladesh, a densely populated delta nation, faces the potentially worst human displacement induced by climate change. It is the toughest challenge to accommodate millions -- not thousands -- whose future is poised to be swamped under a rising sea. Some 1156 people huddle together on each square kilometre in a country whose population hit 162 million in mid-July, making it one the most densely populated nation in the world. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a top United Nations (UN) scientific body, has estimated that more than 30 million people living along the Bangladesh's coastline would become refugees in the coming decades as a result of sea level rise. Successive summits this year, one held at New York and another scheduled to be held in Copenhagen, are expected to bring some positive news for mankind. At the Climate summit in New York, China promised to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide it emits to produce each dollar of gross domestic product by a "notable margin" by 2020 compared with 2005 levels. The country also pledged to increase forests by 40 million hectares (about 98.8 million acres) and increase nuclear or non-fossil fuels to 15 per cent of power by 2020 and work to develop a green economy. But the United States (US) has fallen short of its promises, making no specific pledges for carbon cut. These two countries account for more than 40 per cent of the carbon emissions, roughly divided between both. The success of the upcoming Copenhagen summit on climate change largely depends on US stand on the issue. The US never joined the 1997 Kyoto accord, the first major attempt to limit emissions in a global treaty, partly because the accord did not set mandatory targets for powerhouse developing states like China. Media reports say India, another big polluting nation, is also likely to outline its plan to cut green house gas emissions, making an increase of renewable energy use by 20 per cent by 2020. Japan may seek to cut greenhouse gas levels 25 per cent, to 1990 levels, by 2020. The world's second biggest economy is expected also to provide significant financial and technical aid for green development. Addressing the UN summit on climate change, UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon said failure to reach broad agreement in Copenhagen would be morally inexcusable, economically short-sighted and politically unwise. He pointed to worst-case scenarios of UN scientists, who say that the world has only 10 years to reverse the course of climate change, which would put at risk entire species and worsen natural disasters. President Obama, who has sharply reversed US policy with his determination to fight climate change, took the UN podium for the first time in his ninemonth-old presidency to declare that global warming was a top priority. He said: "We are determined to act. And we will meet our responsibility to future generations." But he insisted that developing nations also take action