‘Climate justice is all about wealthier nations’

Wealthier nations must deliver the climate finances to developing countries as promised without any excuses, said Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Bangladesh's special envoy for climate change in the Prime Minister's Office, on the sidelines of COP28 climate summit in Dubai Sunday.

In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Inter Press Service news agency, Saber said climate change was at the forefront of Bangladesh's focus, as one in seven people in the country faces forced displacement due to climate crises.

However, Bangladesh is facing numerous challenges despite paying due attention to building climate resilience and directing resources toward the most marginalised, he added.

"The biggest challenge we will have is the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas because it means flooding in the short term and sea level rise in the long term. We will lose about one-third of our agriculture GDP between now and 2050, and we can lose up to 9 percent of our GDP by 2100," Saber said.

"For us, it is not just one sector of our economy; it is an existential challenge for Bangladesh."

When asked where Bangladesh stands in tackling the climate crisis, Saber said the country is nowhere near where it was supposed to be.

He, however, said Bangladesh is looking back in retrospect to find where it made mistakes to utilise the knowledge to mitigate future challenges.

He said Bangladesh sees mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage as interconnected.

"The more effective our mitigation in terms of keeping temperatures in check, the more manageable the adaptation becomes, and the more manageable the adaptation becomes, the lesser the burden that we pass on the loss and damage."

He termed the Loss and Damage Fund, which was agreed upon on the first day of COP28 in Dubai, "a huge positive".

"We know that funds are nowhere near what is needed. But it is a good start, and we are hoping that the same spirit will be seen in other challenges such as mitigation, adaptation, funding, etc," he said.

Saber said climate justice is all about wealthier nations.

"They must deliver the finance so that we can adapt; they must rein in the emissions. They need to act as per science and not have any excuses. It is now or never because the window of action is closing very fast. If we don't get it right in COP28, whatever we do in subsequent COPs may well be too little, too late," he said.

"Developing or poor countries might bear the brunt of climate change in the first phase. In the long run, however, no country, including the wealthier ones, won't be spared."

Saber also highlighted the advanced measures Bangladesh has put in place to deal with climate disasters like cyclones.

He said the 1970 cyclone killed up to a million people, but now, cyclone casualties are in single digits, thanks to cyclone centres and early warning systems.

Saber went on to say that Bangladesh's huge success in food production is also now being threatened by climate change.

However, he reiterated that finances remain the key to mitigating and adapting to the challenges of the climate crisis. And the wealthier countries have to come forward to solve it.