Fixing the rules for climate change action from Fiji to Poland The Paris Agreement on Climate Change adopted at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP 21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in December 2015 is the road map for all countries to tackle climate change by 2030. However, the rule book for the countries to follow will have to be agreed at COP 24, to … Read More
Dhaka’s climate refugees a warning The slum is about the size of a basketball court. Hidden behind a wall of corrugated iron, it is easily mistaken for a vacant lot or construction site, consisting of a series of sweatboxes, also made of corrugated iron, no larger than a couple of square metres each. They line two paths about 25 metres long, which are connected to … Read More
The battle over terminology: Adaptation vs resilience In the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), every word used can be contested between countries (sometimes they even argue for hours about a coma!). Hence every term has to be accepted by consensus by all the countries for it to be adopted in any UNFCCC decision. Under these circumstances the accepted term under the … Read More
Time to make polluters pay for climate change At the 19th Conference of Parties (COP19) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Warsaw, Poland in 2013, there was a breakthrough agreement to set up the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) on Loss and Damage with its Executive Committee having equal representation from developed and developing countries. Bangladesh was also made a member of the … Read More
Building national capacity to tackle climate change Under Article 6 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), all countries are supposed to ensure awareness, education and capacity building to tackle climate change with the developed countries also promising to support these efforts in the developing countries. Each year, at the annual Conference of the Parties (COP), there is a negotiating track to review progress … Read More
Dr. Saleemul Huq handing over award to Hugh Brammer Dr. Saleemul Huq handing over award on behalf of University Press Ltd. to Hugh Brammer for there 40 years anniversary . After that Dr. Saleemul Huq, Director of ICCCAD Delivered his speech at Climate Change And Development Seminar Series hosted by the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at Sussex University, UK . The Seminar was held on Monday 16 April 2018 … Read More
The ‘Talanoa Dialogue’ on Climate Change The 196 countries that are signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meet each year around December at the annual Conference of Parties (COP) to review progress on implementing the decisions. The COP moves to a different continent each year as each continent hosts it in turn. The last (23rd) conference, known as COP23, was the … Read More
Updating Bangladesh’s climate change strategy and action plan In 2009 Bangladesh developed and released the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) which was the first of its kind at that time. It was a remarkable document for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was developed entirely by Bangladeshi experts with Bangladesh government’s own funds, rather than by international consultants funded by a developed country or UN … Read More
Building climate resilient, migrant-friendly cities A recent report from the World Bank has looked at the potential number of people who will be displaced and become climate migrants due to the adverse impacts of climate change around the world by 2050. The report estimated the number to be around 140 million across Asia and Africa, with 40 million in South Asia. Of them, a significant … Read More
Tackling the environmental challenges in Cox’s Bazar Having just returned from a scoping mission to Cox’s Bazar to see the environmental situation both inside and outside the Rohingya camps, I am going to share some thoughts on the immediate and long-term needs from an environmental perspective. Before doing so, I would like to pay tribute to the people and government of Bangladesh as well as the international … Read More