City Desk :
Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin has said although women are vulnerable to climate change, they have been playing a proactive role in addressing climate change impacts in Bangladesh.
“Climate change related risks and vulnerabilities adversely affect women and tend to loss their lives and livelihood,” he said while speaking at the High-Level event of the Gender Caucus in the conference of the parties (COP-15) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
The meeting was held on Monday night in Abidjan, C”te dIvoire, hosted by the First Lady of Cote dIvoire Dominique Ouattara, a ministry press release said on Tuesday.
Shahab Uddin said in Bangladesh, climate change obstructs country’s sustainable food security and makes its population especially women vulnerable to health as well as environmental shocks, reports BSS.
“Yet, women play a significant role in reducing and reversing land degradation. Women contribute to restoring, protecting and improving land in a range of ways,” he said.
The environment minister said with its scarce resources, Bangladesh has taken a number of measures for uplifting the conditions of vulnerable women.
The Bangladesh government is trying to its best to ensure gender equity, he said, adding that women have been given equal opportunity in all sphere of life in the Constitution of Bangladesh.
Shahab Uddin said Bangladesh has formulated a number of policies, laws and guidelines to ensure gender equity.
“The government has introduced gender budget in national budgeting system. With the dynamic leadership of our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, now a number of top posts are possessed by women,” he said.
The minister said the 8th five-year plan of Bangladesh undertakes a number of activities, which will help mitigate the severe problem of land degradation in Bangladesh and will support the global agenda of achieving sustainable development goals.
“We are encouraging and welcoming international cooperation and support through UNCCD secretariat as well as Global Mechanism for improving the conditions of affected people especially for women,” he said.
