Staff Reporter: The United Nations and Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide all necessary assistance to Bangladesh to combat climate change, including the implementation of Bangladesh’s National Adaptation Plan (NAP). On Tuesday, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis and Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Representative Edimon Ginting said this in two separate meetings with Minister Md. Shahab Uddin in the meeting room of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate. Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the meeting Dr. Farhina Ahmed, Additional Secretary (Administration) Iqbal Abdullah Harun, Additional Secretary (Development) Mizanul Hoque Chowdhury, Joint Secretary Zakia Afroz, ADB Country Specialist Soon Chang Hong, ADB External Affairs Team Leader Gobinda Bar and other senior officials of the Ministry were present.

In the meeting, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Md. Shahab Uddin said, Bangladesh needs 230 billion US dollars until 2030 to implement the National Adaptation Plan. We expect the cooperation of international organizations like the United Nations and ADB in the implementation of NAP. Referring to the participation of Bangladesh in the COP-27 conference, the minister said, Bangladesh is expecting effective steps in the implementation of the Glasgow-Sharm Al Sheikh Work Program on the Global Goals on Adaptation and the decision to provide 100 billion US dollars of aid promised by developed countries to countries at vulnerable to climate change.

The minister said that a specific financing mechanism must be determined for the most vulnerable countries. In this regard, according to the calculations of the Standing Committee on Finance, the 8.8 to 9.9 trillion US dollars required for developing countries by 2030 should be taken into consideration. The minister said that the global community must work together to implement the decision to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees to save the planet.

Gwyn Lewis, UN resident coordinator assigned to Bangladesh, said that after returning to the country after the COP-27 conference, the UN will help Bangladesh if it formulates a specific action plan to deal with climate risks. He said, Bangladesh can prepare this action plan by setting priorities from Bangladesh Climate Adaptation Plan, Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan, Delta Plan, Eighth Five Year Plan etc. He expressed special interest in helping climate refugees as a result of climate change.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Representative Edimon Ginting said Bangladesh is a role model in the world in dealing with climate change. Various programs undertaken by Bangladesh are followed by other countries of the world. He said that ADB is assisting Bangladesh in various projects. ADB will financilly help the projects proposal to address climate risk if the government sends it. The country representative of ADB presented a proposal to work on the installation of solar panels above the water without causing any damage to the water bodies in the Haor area. He said that ADB’s assistance to Bangladesh will continue at an increasing pace.