Addressing a Thematic Debate of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Bangladesh's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ismat Jahan also called on the international community to fully implement the Kyoto Protocol.

This informal thematic debate on climate change was convened by the president of the General Assembly as a preparatory step for the upcoming high-level meeting of the General Assembly in September 2007 on the sidelines of the 62nd session of the General Assembly, according to a message received in Dhaka.

"For Bangladesh, climate change is a matter of survival. According to the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), the projection for Bangladesh is ominous, to say the least," Jahan told the meeting.

The ambassador also said the frequency and intensity of extreme weather caused devastating impacts on the country's socio-economic development.

Referring to Bangladesh's initiatives in addressing the climate change, she said the government has already submitted its National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA) to UNFCCC in November 2005.

Bangladesh has set up a two-tier Designated National Authority (DNA) for access to Clean Development Mechanism projects under the Kyoto Protocol.

Ambassador Jahan referred to the establishment of a climate change cell under the Ministry of Environment for mainstreaming climate change issues in the national development strategies and activities.

She stressed that national efforts are unlikely to succeed without commensurate level of global actions and called upon the international community to fully implement the Kyoto Protocol.

Urging the international community to support the efforts of Bangladesh in implementing its adaptation programmes, the ambassador underscored the importance of access to environmentally sound technologies, know-how, practices and processes at an affordable cost.

She also urged the international community to strengthen the Least Developed Country fund under the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Ismat Jahan cautioned that climate change might trigger a large number of 'climate refugees' through sea-level rise and other adverse weather events, particularly in many low-lying developing countries. She called for urgent international attention to address this alarming issue.

She underlined that the concerns and particularities of the least developed countries (LDCs) should get special attention in all future climate change-related discussions and decisions. There should be specific commitment from the development partners for financial and technical assistance for this group of countries, she said.

She said since there is a 'scientific consensus' in climate change, the international community needs to translate this into 'political consensus' for a concrete global action.