Bangladesh seeks climate justice, compensation in Berlin meet

Bangladesh has asked for climate justice to be established and demanded compensation and adequate financial and other assistance for adaptation measures.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam made the demand at the ‘Berlin Climate and Security Conference 2019’ on Tuesday.

He said migration and relocation are options to consider for the persons displaced due to climate change.

He called for more concrete global coordination and “insisted that the developed countries and the countries responsible for producing huge amount of greenhouse gases must triple their nationally determined commitments (NDCc) if we want to limit the rise of global temperature below 2 degree centigrade and preferably up to 1.5 degree centigrade”.

To deal with climate change related displacement, Shahriar urged new binding legal instrument as the existing instruments are not adequate and are mostly voluntary.

The state minister described the grave threat of climate change to Bangladesh and explained how, if continued in the same fashion, this will cause extreme devastation to every sector of Bangladesh endangering all the achievements.

He demanded true implementation of the Paris Agreement, 2030 Development Agenda (SDGs) and the Sendai Framework and continuation of existing facilities for LDCs after graduation as effective measures to fight climate change.

This annual conference is organised jointly by the German foreign ministry and two German independent think tanks namely Adelphi and Potsdam Institute of Climate Research.

The conference discussed the existential threat to human civilization as a whole due to ever worsening climate change and the grave danger it presents to the physical and political security of different countries and even individuals.