Bangladesh plans walkout in Paris climate summit to press for fulfilment of demands

Bangladesh plans to walk out of the climate summit with other developing nations to press for the help developed nations had promised to cope with the impact of climate change.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 25 Nov 2015, 05:02 PM
Updated : 25 Nov 2015, 06:33 PM

Environment and Forests Minister Anwar Hussain Manju said on Wednesday Bangladesh would seek money from the climate fund not as loans but as grants.
 
The minister made this statement at a press conference in the Secretariat, having in mind the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference 2015, or COP-21, which will be held in Paris from Nov 30 until Dec 11.
 
He said Bangladesh would highlight the damages it would suffer due to climate change.
 
“The money given to us must be in the form of grants. We can get loans from anywhere. We will insist that the money come as grant.
 
“Besides, the global warming level must not reach 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. We will have to stage a walkout with the developing nations to have these demands met,” Manju said.

The developed countries had promised developing nations $30 billion by 2010-12 at the Copenhagen summit in 2009.
It was also decided to put in $100 billion every year towards the creation of funds within 2020.
But Bangladesh had not yet received any compensation for climate-change induced damages, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said recently, adding that even soft loans would be welcome to cope with the emerging crisis.
When asked to comment on Muhith’s statement, Manju said, “We will ultimately have to accept that. Here we are stating our policy approved by the prime minister.”