Why we need to transition to a circular economy At the heart of the Paris Agreement lies mitigation — the seemingly insurmountable task of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions to curtail the consequences of climate change. According to various studies, 65% of greenhouse gas emissions comes from fossil fuels combustion, 24% from industrial activities among which up to 67% is estimated to come from management of materials activities. Since … Read More
Look to the horizon What’s the difference between development and climate change adaptation projects? As the Green Climate Fund (GCF) attempts to ramp up its funding for adaptation projects, the UN fund continues to face a major challenge: how to differentiate a development project and a climate change adaptation project. Already two projects – one from Bangladesh and the other from Ethiopia – have … Read More
THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE Last month the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) at IUB held the first ever Climate, Culture and Art Symposium 2018. The event aimed to help young people understand climate change from a cultural and arts perspective. This involved both thinking about how climate change impacts different cultural traditions and norms in Bangladesh, … Read More
COP23 and Historical Responsibility in Climate Finance It was noted that rich countries have not yet delivered the promised $100bn per year in climate finance by 2020 agreed in 2009 at Copenhagen COP23, the second “conference of the parties” since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, was held under the presidency of the small, developing island state of Fiji. The Parties opted to continue to negotiate the … Read More
CBA conference in Uganda shows the way Photo:Abu Siddique At CBA11 in Uganda, there were a number of participants from Bangladesh including from BRAC, Transparency International Bangladesh, and Practical Action The series of international conferences on community based adaptation (CBA) was started in Bangladesh over a decade ago with the first few conferences held in Bangladesh and then they started being held in different countries including Tanzania, … Read More
The world’s newest development bank won’t fund coal Bangladesh should take note The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB,) the world’s newest development bank, held its Annual Meeting in South Korea earlier this week and agreed on a new energy strategy. Leadership at the bank also issued statements noting they would not be investing in coal. AIIB’s Vice President Thierry de Longuemar also confirmed that the bank won’t finance … Read More
An open letter from Bangladesh to the American people With Trump turning his back on climate change, the US can turn to Bangladesh to adapt: Dear friends in the United States of America, I am a researcher in Bangladesh working on adaptation to the adverse impacts of climate change, especially on the poorest and most vulnerable countries and communities. In light of the recent executive order signed by President … Read More
As the climate changes, will Bangladesh change too? As the climate changes, Bangladesh is also changing. This is most obvious in terms of biophysical changes — stronger hurricanes, harder rainfall and more salinity — but it is also affecting the government’s budget, institutional systems, and the way it manages its finances. The question is as climate change accelerates, can Bangladesh change fast enough? There are many changes from … Read More
Effective climate adaptation requires effective financing The world has been struggling against three “V”s or vulnerabilities to climate change, corruption and conflicts (four “C”s). However, before exhausting hope at the end of the tunnel, the world community have stood up and built the broad based global architecture in 2015 to protect the planet earth and its inhabitants. With the alarming progression of the climate risks, the … Read More
Can we count on the GCF? Assessing the GCF’s performance on funding adaptation for the most vulnerable countries By the end of this year, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) — the main international fund designated to help countries address climate change — will have been active for six years. At this point, it would be a good time to reflect back and evaluate the progress of … Read More
