Hasina seeks global help to fast-track Rohingya repatriation

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has implored the international community to step up efforts to expedite the repatriation of the beleaguered Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

She spoke in the inaugural session of the Dhaka Meeting of the Global Commission on Adaptation at a city hotel on Wednesday.

Marshall Island President Dr Hilda Heine, the current chair of Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA), and former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; and World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva also attended the inaugural event of the meeting.

“You all know, we have given shelter to 1.1 million evicted Rohingyas from Myanmar in our land in Cox’s Bazar. It is in an extremely vulnerable location. Their presence makes it more vulnerable. It is the responsibility of the global community to do more to ensure their quick return to Myanmar as well as look after them while they remain in Bangladesh,” Hasina said. 

The Global Commission on Adaptation works to prevent the adverse impact  of climate change globally. The Bangladesh prime minister shared the ideas to confront the impact of climate change.

The adverse impact of climate change will affect everyone sooner than the world had estimated, said Hasina. So, investment in adaptation must be prioritised urgently around the globe, she added.   

“In this age of science, technology, innovation and finance, we have enormous opportunity at our disposal to address climate change. However, I must mention that there is a limit to adaptation. Unless proper mitigation measures are in place, adaptation measures cannot be stretched without any limit.”

The prime minister urged everyone to be aware and perform their respective responsibilities to fight the adverse impacts of climate change.

“We are expecting to take advantage of the best adaptation practices, most cost-effective solutions and risk reduction with the help of the Global Commission on Adaptation,” Hasina said.

“We are eagerly waiting to see the recommendations of the flagship report next September at the time of the climate change summit called by the secretary general of the United Nations where I, on behalf of Bangladesh and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), have been invited to speak.”

“Bangladesh as a leading country of Adaptation deserves to have a Regional Adaption Centre here. I would like to request to consider the matter,” said the prime minister. 

Climate change poses the greatest threat to our present and future generations, she said adding that the average temperature has already reached about 1 degree centigrade of the pre-industrial level. The years, 2015 to 2018, were the warmest on record in human history.

Bangladesh will lose 2 percent of its annual GDP, said Hasina citing the ADB climate and economics report for South Asia. If temperature continues to rise at the current rate, the19 coastal districts in Bangladesh will be submerged permanently by the rising sea level.

“Evidences suggest that Bangladesh has already 6 million climate migrants, a number that could more than double by 2050. Changes in temperature, increased frequency and severity of floods, droughts, heat waves, cyclones and storm surges, sea level rise, salinity intrusion are affecting wide areas of Bangladesh. These changes are seriously affecting agriculture, crops, livestock and fisheries and threatening the food security of Bangladesh.”

According to IPCC report AR4, rice production in Bangladesh could decline by 8 percent and wheat by 32 percent by 2050 due to climate change, said the prime minister.

Bangladesh has made enormous socio-economic gains during the last one decade, but these gains are threatened by the adverse impacts of climate change, she said.

“We are working relentlessly to overcome our vulnerabilities and create adaptation measures for the people. Over the last decade we have spent on an average around $1 billion annually for adapting to climate change impacts,” said Hasina.

“Like many others, we firmly believe that climate change is a global challenge and we have to resort to global solutions. The Paris agreement is the most pragmatic and effective global deal towards this global solution,” she said highlighting the Paris conference in 2015.