e_Paper 7-11-2016

Bangladesh’s focus
adaptation financing
Environment and Forest Secretary Kamal Uddin Ahmed, who is the
alternative lead of the Bangladesh delegation at the conference of parties
(COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco, speaks to DhakaTribune’s Abu
Siddique on the country’s expectations on implementing Paris Agreement
What will Bangladesh’s proposals
be in this year’s COP to implement
the Paris Agreement?
There are two major issues in the
discussion - mitigation and adaptation.
But our interest is in adaptation
as we are the one of most
vulnerable nations, and also emit a
negligible amount of carbon-di-oxide
to the atmosphere. We will try
to address the loss and damage of
our country as well as the people
due to the adverse impacts of climate
change. Our target will be to
set a mechanism so that we can reduce
our risk.
But Article 52 of the decision
chapter under the Paris
Agreement says that the
developed countries will not take
any responsibility and liability
of already affected people. Then
how you will talk about the loss
and damage issue? Are there any
options to discuss the issue, to get
the compensation?
Yes, still there is some space to talk
on the issue. Loss and damage issue
is now being discussed under
the Warsaw International Mechanism.
Under that mechanism, an
executive committee is working to
prepare a 2-year and a 5-year interim
plan on how to set up the compensation
mechanism.
There is no clear road map on
climate financing in the Paris
Agreement. Do you have any
proposal?
I do not think that there are no directions.
There are some. For example,
the Paris Agreement says
that the finance will go towards
mitigation and adaptation with a
50-50 balance.
But, according to article 9 (4) of
the Paris Agreement, the balance
of financing is not obligatory
rather voluntary.
Actually, this sort of agreement is
always based on mutual understanding.
You may call this a gentlemen’s
agreement, which does not
need to be legally binding. When
a country ratifies an international
agreement, it makes an obligation
to itself to maintain that agreement.
If you look at the Kyoto protocol,
the countries adopted that but finally
some of them refrained from
signing and ratifying the protocol
which ultimately led to a failure.
In case of the Paris Agreement,
this has not happened. It already
came into force on October 5.
Regarding loss and damage, we are
hearing of insurance mechanisms.
What is Bangladesh thinking about
that?
If the insurance mechanism ultimately
helps us, we will take it. The
issue is still in preparation stage
and we are discussing it and trying
to learning about it.
Bangladesh is yet to have direct
access to the Green Climate Fund.
Yes. Not only Bangladesh, none of
the countries which are trying to
get funds has direct access into the
GCF. However, we have a project
worth US$80 million through a German
Bank KFW. If we want to get
resources from GCF, we need a national
implementing agency which
we do not have. But we are trying
News 5
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2016
CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
COP22
to get direct access. That is why we
have already designated six organisations
to make them able to get
direct access from the fund.
To get direct access to GCF,
the fund authority introduces
a comprehensive mechanism
including physical capacity and
fiduciary management policies.
What Bangladesh is doing to meet
the conditions of the GCF?
We are trying to enhance our capacity
and management skills to meet
their conditions so that we can get
direct access from the fund through
our own implementing agency.
At the same time, Bangladesh
is trying to get loans to take
adaptation measures. The recent
declaration of US$2 billion loan as
climate financing in Bangladesh
by the World Bank’s visiting
boss creates a confusion. Is the
government backtracking from
demanding climate compensation?
No, the loan from World Bank was
not part of our plan. It was somehow
placed to them or they have
given that in their own interest. We
(the Environment Ministry) did not
approach them.
Can you give me a summary of
your proposal which you are going
to place in this year’s COP?
Firstly, we will emphasise on the financing
so that we can get resources
as early as possible to implement
our projects to reduce the risk of
global warming.
As we are not liable to carbon-emission,
we will not focus
on mitigation. And in the case of
adaptation, our financing has to be
on grant basis. We will not take any
loans.
In addition, we will try to
strengthen the Warsaw International
Mechanism to get output for
loss and damage. •
Paris deal execution
planning starts
• Saleemul Huq from Marrakech
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 4th November less than a
year after it was agreed in Paris. This
is record speed for an international
agreement (in contrast the previous
Kyoto Protocol took five years to
come into force). This shows the political
momentum from Paris is still
very much alive and hopefully will
galvanise action to implement Paris
Agreement at COP22 starting in Marrakech,
Morocco on 7th November.
Unlike the previous Kyoto Protocol,
the Paris Agreement is a
universal agreement in which all
countries, both rich as well as poor,
have promised to take actions to
both reduce emissions by mitigation
as well as adapt to the adverse
impacts of climate change which
are already happening . This means
that reaching the long-term temperature
goal of 1.5 Degrees which
was the major achievement of the
vulnerable countries in Paris, is
now the responsibility of each and
every country to set itself the most
ambitious greenhouse gas emission
reduction targets.
Unfortunately, the current level
of country commitments when
added all up will take us to well
above 2 Degrees so everyone will
have to do more if we want to go
down to 1.5 Degrees.
Thus COP22 will be successful if
DT
all countries agree to revisit their
own emission reduction targets by
2018 when next review will take
place.
Another important decision to
be taken in Marrakech will be on
Loss and Damage which is also an
issue of concern to the vulnerable
developing countries such as Bangladesh.
At COP19 in 2013 in Warsaw,
Poland an agreement was reached
to set up the Warsaw International
Mechanism on Loss and Damage
with an Executive Committee of
twenty members. Bangladesh was
selected to be one of the ten from
developing countries. The committee
has been meeting since then
and will present their report and
recommendations to COP22. This
topic is a highly politically sensitive
one and it is expected that there
will be heated debate around it, but
it is to be hoped that a final decision
will be reached that everyone can
agree on by the end of the COP.
Finally, the issue of finance is a
perennial sticking point at every
COP and this one is no exception.
For the vulnerable countries, like
Bangladesh, the issue is about
delivering the promised funding
from the developed countries to
the most vulnerable developing
countries to help them adapt to the
adverse impacts of climate change
which they are already facing. This
issue does not require a new decision
in COP22 but rather the developed
Countries need to agree
on ensuring that money that has
been promised in previous COPs is
actually delivered and also that it
reaches the most vulnerable. At the
moment the funds are flowing at a
trickle and this needs to be speeded
up considerably. •
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY
MODERATE RAIN
OR LIGHT
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7
Dhaka 28 23 Chittagong 29 25 Rajshahi 30 19 Rangpur 29 19 Khulna 29 18 Barisal 28 22 Sylhet 29 21
DHAKA
TODAY
TOMORROW
SUN SETS 5:16PM
SUN RISES 6:09AM
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW
32.0ºC
16.7ºC
Cox’s Bazar
Tetulia
Source: Accuweather/UNB
PRAYER
TIMES
Cox’s Bazar 30 24
Fajr: 5:25am | Zohr: 1:15pm
Asr: 4:15pm | Magrib: 5:35pm
Esha: 7:45pm
Source: Islamic Foundation