The 28th session of the Conference of Parties, COP 28, kicks off in Dubai tomorrow (Thursday) with the onuses largely placed on the rich nations for mitigating the impacts of climate change on the most vulnerable countries including Bangladesh.
A 100-member mammoth Bangladesh delegation headed by its Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin will be participating in it with special focus on the 'operationalisation' of the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) for which a resolution on "Detailed Arrangement" is scheduled for discussion during the summit.
Bangladesh being Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum of 48 most vulnerable developing countries is expected to speak out on injustice done to developing nations due to heavy industrial emissions for which they are least responsible. As a result, CVF nations incur huge financial and property losses induced by rapid climate change.
Bangladesh had earlier called for a Delivery Plan for the UN-agreed $500 billion of additional climate finance from the rich nations for four years period until 2024. But despite the fact that the time span is nearing its end, wealthy nations' pledges have remained largely unfulfilled.
This is unfortunate that since COP 13 in 2007 in Bali, the climate talks have faced tough challenges in addressing historical emission responsibility committed by the developed countries. And since then, they have continued to refuse to pay their fair share of climate finance.
This is why questions arise whether Dubai COP 28 would be able to represent the interests of the most vulnerable countries, ensure the transparency and accountability of the climate finance and bridge the gap between the polluters and the victims.
It has been noticed that the rich nations have been less inclined to protect vulnerable countries from climate crisis impacts by following the right paths. According to a recent 2023 study by Oxfam, wealthy nations have been interested in providing loans instead of grants and curtailing funds from other aid projects. Oxfam calls for increased clarity and accountability in climate finance reporting and support for adaptation and resilience in developing countries.
To support the vulnerable nations, there has been an urgent need of operationalising the Loss and Damage Fund that is a sort of compensation package through which rich nations or the polluters are to pay a damage cost to developing nations.
Vulnerable countries like Bangladesh need the support from this Fund. These countries have been grappling with climate change impacts with over 13 million people likely to be pushed into poverty by 2030 and over 18 million by 2050, according to the World Bank.
Bangladesh suffers the most though it has low per capita emissions in the world. But the country largely relies on international funding for its fight to climate adaptation. We hope that the COP 28 will live up to Bangladesh's expectations.
