The Paris Agreement to tackle climate change which was achieved at the 21st Conference of Parties in Paris, France last December has been ratified by well over fifty-five countries accounting for over 55% of global emissions (the two thresholds that need to be achieved for the agreement to go into force as international law). It thus went into force on …

The historic Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 entered into force yesterday and is now legally binding. The agreement represents an immense triumph for global diplomacy, since it was ratified by 92 countries in less than a year’s time, including some of the world’s biggest emitters such as China, India, and the US. The Agreement has been hailed “historic” as it …

Earlier this month, the fifth Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum was held in Colombo, Sir Lanka. This year’s theme was “Adapting and Living below 2C.” This is because the UN climate treaty — the Paris Agreement, which goes into force next week — set a upper temperature limit of 2C warming above pre-industrial temperatures. Given that Bangladesh is a …

(Originally published here) Bangladesh is about to lose $50 million (about Tk400 crore) of climate funds because of tension between the World Bank and donors, and a lack of commitment on the government’s part. Even as the government is grappling to find funds for dealing with the climate change impacts, the donors have decided to pull the plug on Bangladesh …

(Originally published here) Climate change poses a serious threat to the environment and people around the world. The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that, without adequate adaptation and mitigation measures, the world is likely to face severe and irreversible impacts of climate change in the form of extreme weather events, loss of …

(Originally published here) Money for fighting climate change was in focus at the closing session of Gobeshona – an annual Conference for Research on Climate Change in Bangladesh. The conference provided the opportunity for international and multi-stakeholder participants to engage with a wide range of Bangladesh-specific climate change research. John Timmons Roberts, Ittleson Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies at …

(Originally published on Dhaka Tribune here) As a developing country and member of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group, Bangladesh is used to receiving development assistance from rich countries since our independence over four decades ago. This development assistance is received under what is commonly called Official Development Assistance (ODA). This has amounted to the tune of several billion dollars …

(This article originally published here) By 2050, climate change impact could make an additional 14% of the country extremely vulnerable to flooding and dislocate more than 35 million people  Adaptation means taking the necessary steps to adjust policies and practices in order to reduce as much as possible the adverse impacts of climate change. Adaptation to climate change must be …

(This article originally published here) Government should install at least 10 high precision automatic tidal gauge stations along the coast Bangladesh has been experiencing sea-level rise by 6-20mm per year in three different coastal regions, a new study prepared after analysing 30 years’ data on tidal water states.   The study named “Assessment of Sea Level Rise and Vulnerability in …

(Article originally published here) Population growth rates in some of the worst salinity-hit coastal districts of Bangladesh have become negative, coupled with a staggering growth in slums, point at a mass exodus of agro-based people towards the urban areas. The alarming intrusion of salinity into vast tracts of arable land in these districts can be directly linked to the global …