Bangladesh Climate Development Partnership formed: Prime Minister

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh has formed the ‘Bangladesh Climate Development Partnership’ (BCDP) to coordinate with international partners to address the impact of climate change on their global agenda.

He said that this BCDP will work with various partners, developed countries and international organizations and provide funds for various programs to mitigate the problems of climate change.

The Prime Minister said these things while meeting with the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Simon Steele in the Bilateral Discussion Room of the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) on Monday (April 22).

According to a press release of the Prime Minister’s Press Wing, the Prime Minister mentioned that Bangladesh is taking a long-term program to combat the effects of climate change. He briefly described the various adaptation and mitigation programs of Bangladesh including the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan and the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) to combat the adverse effects of climate change.

Sheikh Hasina said that due to the adverse effects of climate change, Bangladesh often faces various types of cyclones, heavy rains and heat waves.

We are encouraging social movements for afforestation, generating 84,000 volunteers and building multipurpose cyclone shelters, he said. Bangladeshi researchers have developed saline, flood and drought tolerant rice varieties.

Sheikh Hasina said that Awami League is the pioneer of this movement, mentioning that tree plantation program will be started all over the country during the rainy season from next June.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for setting up climate fund on her own initiative. He said that Bangladesh is not only working to combat the effects of climate change, but is also undertaking various social programs for adaptation and mitigation. Simon Steele opined that these are clearly examples for the whole world.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the longest-serving leader of Bangladesh, said that she spoke about the issue of climate change in various international forums. He said, in these forums you can share your experience with world leaders to deal with the adverse effects of climate change problems to accelerate the movement to solve the climate change problem.

The Executive Secretary of UNFCCC said that other countries can use these experiences of Bangladesh to deal with the effects of climate change in formulating their own adaptation and mitigation plans. He also said that Bangladesh is not only in its own country, but is leaving its impact on climate change in the whole world.

Meanwhile, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Chief Secretary Mohammad Tofajzel Hossain Mia, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Gwen Lewis and Secretary of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Dr. Farhina Ahmed was present.

SSH