Vulnerable nations form new alliance to battle climate change

Bangladesh and 19 other countries that are among those most vulnerable to climate change have come together to foster greater investment in climate resiliency.

The alliance, known as ‘Vulnerable Twenty’ or V20, was formed in Peru capital Lima on Thursday ahead of the World Bank-IMF annual meeting.

Finance ministers of the V20 countries that have a population of close to 700 million people urged the developed world to curb emission.

Their finance ministers would meet every two years.

In a statement, the group said that responding to climate change was a “foremost humanitarian priority”.

The V20 was committed to act collectively to “foster a significant increase” in public and private finance for climate action, it added.

Afghanistan, Barbados, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam are the other members of the group.

Some of them are arid, isthmus, landlocked, mountainous and small islands from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific.

In a communique, the group said they were already facing an average of over 50,000 deaths a year and escalating annual losses of at least 2.5 percent of their GDP potential per year.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman read out Finance Minister AMA Muhith’s prepared speech at the meeting.

Philippines Finance Minister Cesar Purisima was quoted in the statement as saying that losses incurred due to climate change were projected to exceed $400 billion by 2030 for V20.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim hoped Philippines-led V20 would play an important role in pushing for greater investment in climate resiliency and low carbon growth at home and abroad.

He added that the group would have the global lender’s support.

Goals of the group include "improved access to international climate change finance" to help cope with droughts, floods, melting glaciers and rising sea levels.

The statement said Bangladesh was breaking ground with its Urban Resilience Project, an initiative driven by a three-year process helped by the Global Facility for Disaster Risk and Reduction (GFDRR) and the World Bank to build consensus among national decision-makers and technical experts on how to tackle the complex issue of urban disaster vulnerability.

The $173 million fund will provide state-of-the-art emergency management systems and equipment, and improve building construction planning and oversight in the country’s major cities, Dhaka and Sylhet.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Rahman later told bdnews24.com that Bangladesh shared its success stories in coping with climate change impacts.

“We want to develop our readymade garment sector into a ‘green garment sector,” he said, adding, “We took the initiative to protect the environment.”

The central bank chief said the banks had been ordered not to give loan to industries that might harm the environment.