Climate Justice Alliance Bangladesh demanded the cancellation of the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan as the debt-dependent plan was adapted undemocratically and designed solely to advance the political ambitions of the then government.
"We believe that the non-inclusively and non-representational formulated plans always keeps avenues of corruption, these plans would never targeted for achieving the climate resilience. As a part of the reform campaign for the forward march toward democratization, we loudly utter the urgent need to revise, extend, and reform the existing climate plans and policies to ensure they are effective and equitable," Md Shamsuddoha, Coordinator of Climate Justice Alliance-Bangladesh told at a press conference on Saturday at National Press Club.
The alliance is a coalition of 30 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), chartered four points demand and said that the alliance have raised concerns whenever any climate plan or policy was formulated but the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan was developed exclusively by foreign consultants under the sole supervision of the previous government's Chief Coordinator of SDG affairs and without any broader consultation with relevant stakeholders.
During the press conference, Md Shamsuddoha provided a brief overview of the political economy context of the country's key climate plans, which include Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan (MCPP) 2022-2041, the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) 2023-2050, the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) up to 2030, and others.
"The final draft did seek input from a selected group of local experts, it was done in strict secrecy. Given that the plan carried the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, offering critical feedback was a highly sensitive matter," Md. Shamsuddoha added.
A review of the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan reveals misalignment with other national strategies, over-concentration of investments in physical infrastructure, which is primarily highly dependent on foreign loans, this approach risks increasing the country's debt burden.
They also demanded radical reforms of the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund- BCCTF and the Climate Change Trust Act, 2010 to prevent syndicated corruption in funding decisions and implementation.
In his introductory remarks in a written paper, Md Shamsudohha narrates a scenario of the political economy context of the country's key climate plans and explained how Bangladesh's Climate Change Trust Fund, sourced from country's revenue income, has become a worst case example of political domination and syndicated corruption.
"Given that the plan carries the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, offering critical feedback was considered a highly sensitive matter. The MCPP estimates a cost of US$170.95 billion for implementation, of which US$140.2 billion is allocated for infrastructure development and is loan-based. Without any feasibility assessment, the plan estimates US$27.1 billion for a 4-gigawatt wind power generation project in the Bay of Bengal," the paper said.
The paper pointed out the unjustified composition of the Climate Change Trust Fund Board-among the 17 Trustee Board members, 14 are Ministers who typically priotise political interest, compromising the critical adaptation needs of climate-vulnerable people. In practice, the legal framework governing the fund's operation and implementation-the Climate Change Trust Act-has ensured an all-out dominance by politically biased bureaucrats and the ruling party, creating a favourable environment for unabated corruption.
Taking part in the discussion, Prof Ahmed Kamruzzaman Mazumder of Stamford University criticised the loopholes in Bangladesh's National Adaptation Plan, which was not developed in the context of vulnerabilities arising from the country's geographical diversity.
He referred the massive devastation caused by the recent flash flood of the country.
