Friday | 24 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
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Friday | 24 January 2025 | Epaper

Impacts of climate change and challenges to sustainable development

Published : Sunday, 7 November, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 912
A 13-day climate change conference called 'COP26' has started in Glasgow, Scotland organized by Britain and now all eye on the global climate conference of the United Nations. China, the USA, India, the European Union, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, Japan, Iran and Saudi Arabia are the world's top emitters of greenhouse gases and world leaders are bargaining their interest at this climate conference in Scotland.

In the conference, the plan to reduce the carbon emissions of any country by 2030 is to be presented there. In particular, the USA, China, India, including the world's largest emitters of carbon plans, will be the focus of everyone's attention. But the failure of the industrialized nations to provide financial assistance to combat the adverse effects of climate change has created a kind of global vacuum of confidence.

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries at risk from the impacts of climate change. In addition to climate change, deltaic Bangladesh is facing more natural crises. However, as the Himalayan glaciers continue to melt as a result of warming, sea levels are expected to rise and the risk of catastrophic disasters is likely to increase.

Bangladesh government has already identified floods, cyclones, droughts, tidal surges, tornadoes, earthquakes, river erosion, waterlogging and waterlogging, and soil salinity as major natural hazards.

From 1996 to 2015, Honduras, Myanmar and Haiti suffered the most in last 20 years. Nicaragua is in the fourth, Philippines in the fifth and Bangladesh is in the sixth position The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its fourth assessment report fears that the one-third of Bangladesh could be submerged in a century.

An area of about 60,000 sq km in 19 districts of the country is at risk of drowning. About two crore people may lose their houses. Many times rivers are eroded due to floods. Again the river broke and the locality was flooded. This resulted in loss of life, destruction of land and resources and displacement of many people.

Climate change is having a major impact on the three districts of southwestern Bangladesh, Khulna, Satkhira and Bhola. These districts are facing frequent disasters. Rising sea levels along the Bay of Bengal are exacerbating the crisis. Water salinity has also become a major problem. Many areas of the coast are now affected by this problem.

Climate change risks include thunderstorms, excess rainfall and flooding in coastal areas, which have already become apparent. These issues came up in the 2014 evaluation of the committee formed by the governments of different countries. Inflammation is on the rise in large parts of Europe, Asia and Australia. Similarly, the heavy rainfall has intensified in the USA and Europe.

Sustainable development plans have to be adopted keeping in mind the issues of climate change and disaster management and these plans have to be made keeping in mind the needs and wants of the common people. The Government of Bangladesh has already formulated the Seventh Five Year Plan keeping in mind the issue of sustainable development.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was originally enacted in 1992. After 23 years of hard work, a global agreement on climate change was signed in Paris in 2015. The climate agreement was signed in 2015 in the French capital, Paris, under the auspices of the UN, with the aim of preventing global warming.

However, former US President Barack Obama had a major role in signing the agreement. But the Trump administration surprised everyone by announcing in 2017 that it would withdraw the USA from the Paris Climate Agreement. His argument was that it was against US interests and that he was interested in an environmental agreement that would protect US interests.
The main objective of the Paris Climate Agreement, which is supported by 189 countries, is to prevent global warming and to provide financial assistance to the poorest countries already affected by climate change. In this historic agreement, the countries of the world agreed to keep the average rate of global warming below two degrees Celsius or, if possible, one and a half degrees.

The 17 SDGs include poverty alleviation and hunger eradication, achieving the goals of food security and improved nutrition, sustainable agriculture, ensuring healthy living, working for the welfare of all ages, ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education, achieving lifelong learning, gender equality, women's empowerment etc. The country's economic growth is being hampered by the COVID-19 epidemic and SDG implementation activities may be delayed somewhat.

Such fears have been expressed in the 'Sustainable Development Report 2020'. Bangladesh ranks 109th out of 166 countries in the world and is in the fifth place among the countries of South Asia. However, Bangladesh is ahead of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Although the MDGs have successfully met 8 targets, the report shows that Bangladesh has received 'red cards' in 8 of the 17 SDG targets, up from 10 in 2017.

The present government has taken various steps to deal with the adverse impacts of climate change. Bangladesh has recently adopted the groundbreaking Delta Plan-2100, which will pave the way for sustainable development for the next 100 years, taking into account the multidimensional risks of climate and disasters, including special plans such as carbon budgeting, carbon-free production routes and low-carbon industrialization.

Moreover, Bangladesh is committed to implementing the national goals set out in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Measures related to climate and disaster management have been included in the National Planning and Sustainable Development Strategy. The government is spending more than a quarter of its GDP on tackling the effects of climate change.

Bangladesh is one of the most affected vulnerable countries by the adverse impacts of climate change. To stop global climate change and disaster risk reduction, we need to truly implement Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework. Countries that emit large amounts of carbon must take immediate action to stop greenhouse gas emissions without killing any time.

The impacts of climate change are already being felt in various fields including infrastructure, trade and employment. Life is changing and this requires sustainable development. We need to work wholeheartedly to ensure a safe environment for future generations by ensuring social protection and environmental protection along with economic development. One of the main goals and objectives of the Glasgow Conference is to eliminate fossil fuels and to raise funds and strategies for countries at risk of climate change.
The writer is a banker and freelancer








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