‘Pole to Paris’ campaigner urges international community to provide climate change aid to Bangladesh

International community must commit a “serious amount of money” to Bangladesh for tackling climate change impacts, a ‘Pole to Paris’ campaigner says.

“They (international community) have to realise that countries like Bangladesh can’t alone tackle the challenge,” Dr Daniel Price, director of the campaign, said on Thursday at the end of his three- week long Bangladesh tour.

‘Pole to Paris’ is a public awareness campaign ahead of the crucial UN climate summit in Paris.

British climate scientist Price will pedal 17,000 kilometres to Paris from the Antarctic while his colleague Erlend Moster Knudsen will run 3,000 kilometres from the northern Arctic to reach Paris before the summit.

Price began his cycling from New Zealand and reached Bangladesh three weeks ago travelling through Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. He will leave for China and will then go to Mongolia and Russia before reaching Paris.

At a press briefing, he said, he had seen first-hand the impacts of climate change in Bangladesh while visiting Hatia, Bhola, and the Sundarbans.

Climate change has already begun affecting the lives of many in Bangladesh, though the country does not contribute in global warming.

Price said he knew Bangladesh’s climate vulnerability and now realised that “the situation is very complicated on the ground”.

They began the campaign being “frustrated” to see lack of political and economic commitment globally to lessen the climate impacts.

“We must act now. Our climate will change but how much is entirely up to us,” he said.

The December climate conference has been regarded as the most important meeting of modern times.

Price said this would be the last chance to reach a carbon cut deal.

“We’ll see very bad consequences if we fail,” he said.

He said they would document the travel experience to highlight the climate change consequences at the conference.

 “We must ensure the decision made is positive and provides a basis for a sustainable future for all,” he said.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has supported Price in Bangladesh.

Its acting country director Anas Qarman and programme analyst Alamgir Hossain were also present at the press briefing.