Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque :
We have a very recent report about the amount of climate fund for the climate change victim countries. $9.3 billion pledges have been decided upon in Berlin meetings by 21 countries, including contributions from four developing countries. ‘Their combined contributions provide for the largest amount the international community has ever mobilized for a dedicated climate finance mechanism within a timeframe of less than five months.’ United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the pledges of more than $9.3 billion made by Governments towards the initial capitalization of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) at the first pledging conference for the mechanism, being held in Berlin, Germany.
The pledge comes on the heels of other significant climate actions such as the United States-China joint announcement to curb emissions as well as positive commitments reaffirmed by other leaders in recent meetings including at the G20 and the September UN Climate Summit. The Secretary-General also underscored the importance of climate finance for securing a meaningful, universal climate agreement in Paris in 2015 and for catalysing action on the ground. The Green Climate Fund seeks to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change.The Fund will contribute to the achievement of the ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).And in the context of sustainable development, it will promote a shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development. “The Green Climate Fund is the epicentre that determines the direction of both public and private investment over the next decades,” said Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, describing the capitalization of the Fund as one of the wisest investments in the 21st century.The green climate fund is intended to help climate vulnerable countries to fight out global warming. Launched at a UN climate conference at Durban, in December 2011 the green fund is to ‘channel up Dollar 100 billion a year by 2020 in aid of poor, vulnerable countries to adapt to climate change and cut emissions. Earmarking funds from the recently agreed green climate fund(GCF) of the Durban climate meet (2011) has happened to be ‘one concrete means by which the international community could ensure that the displaced people in Bangladesh receives their fair share of the funds required t deal with the consequence of climate change’
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-17), Durban 2011, has brought together representatives of the world’s governments, international organizations and civil society. The conference seeks to advance, in a balanced fashion, the implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, as well as the Bali Action Plan agreed at COP 13 in 2007, and the reached at COP 16. There is some sensational news about climate change agreement arousing mass expectations. The Australian climate change minisister Combet called the conference a ‘historic step forward’
The Chief US negotiator Todd Stern said: ‘Obviously the package is not going to solve climate change by itself, but I think it is a big step forward.’ ‘In a key area, the agreement set up a ‘Green Climate Fund’ to administer assistance to poor nations, which many experts say are already suffering more floods and drought as temperatures steadily mount’. ‘The green climate fund is intended to raise and disburse dollar 100 a year by 2020 to protect poor nations against climate impacts and assist them with low carbon development.’
One of the contentious issues in Copenhagen will be the commitment of developed countries of ‘financial and technological assistance to the developing countries for climate change mitigation and adaptation.’ The thing to be done on urgent basis is financing ‘mitigation projects in both the developed and developing countries.’ Besides there will be a volley of prescriptive measures such as’ cap and- trade, clean development mechanism, and harmonized domestic carbon taxes’. ‘A proportion of the proceeds from their fossil fuel trade should be used to pay for the damage caused by global warming. Carbon emissions generated by fossil fuels contribute to 76 per cent of global warming. Such a tax would be an incentive for the suppliers to invest more and be more innovative in clean energy.’
Of recent the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has stated that “negotiations toward a successor to the Kyoto Protocol are intensifying, and domestic climate policies being formed, ahead of a critical United Nations conference on climate change.” The policymakers are very much in favour of sustainable growth to “recover from the deepest economic crisis for decades and, in many cases, also the means to cope with severe fiscal pressures exacerbated by the crisis. The crisis has had major effects on the global economy, but these detract little from the urgent need to combat global warming.
Worst victims in Bangladesh are expected to get formal support from major players in the climate negotiations Bangladesh, which tops a Global Climate Risk Index published during the Copenhagen talks, strongly backs an extension of the Kyoto Protocol, as the only existing binding instrument on emission cuts, rather than creation of an entirely new climate deal. Bangladesh is also urging rich nations to contribute at least US$100 billion for a global fund to help poor nations adapt to climate change. Britain, meanwhile, is the first country to contribute 75 million pounds for creation of Bangladesh’s own multi-donor trust fund for climate change adaptation.
The small island states have threatened to boycott the conference. These states including African union have been organized into three alliances each expressing common views about limiting temperature to not more than one degree Celsius. They demanded compensation package for the victims. Human rights activists in various countries demanded climate justice and fair deal, heavy compensation package even immigration of the climate displaced people from poor and vulnerable countries.
The situation in Bangladesh reveals that the problem of climate displacement is a present. one signaling future uncertainties. The government of Bangladesh and that of other poor countries have been urged upon to take heed of the climate displacement nightmare unfolding to add to humanitarian crisis.
All national governments have been directed to make best use of the funds that may be placed at their disposals. Local bureaucracies as implementing agencies must be sensitized to make best use of the fund keeping an arm’s length from fuzzy governance.
our thin tanks suggest that funds may also be used for settlement of the displaced persons . In the same breath the fund may meet consumption needs of the villagers so far as electricity is concerned. In that case project trajectories may be planned for the production and expansion of solar energy based electricity. This would be cost-effective. The beneficiaries will be able to have access to electricity for home consumption as well as for production purposes. The end result would be lustrous and prosperous rural Bangladesh. However good governance is deemed essential for the proper utilization of green climate fund.
(Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Professor of Public Administration, Chittagong University.)
