The New Nation - Internet Edition

BANGLADESH bears the brunt of climate change for which she is hardly responsible and so has grounds for making genuine claim to be compensated for the damages wrought by calamities exacerbated by human activities. Since developed countries have been instrumental in generating over 50 percent of greenhouse gases by pursuing unsustainable production mehoads over the last 200-300 years, they are the 'climate sinners' and should take the responsibility for the damage and its adverse impacts. It is encouraging that Australia and the USA, who had so long been resisting any binding emission cut targets, have shown significantly positive stand on the problem. The new government of Australia of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has ratified the Kyoto Protocol and the US Senate Committee voted for a cap-and-trade system with the aim of keeping GHG emissions at a tolerable level. The US administration is also going to invite big economics of the world to a climate change talk. It is desirable that the developed countries would extend to the least developed countries financial and technological assistance to help mitigate and cope with climate change impacts.

Indiscriminate use of fossil fuel by the industrial countries is responsible for increased accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere and the resultant global warming. Per capita energy consumption by the developed countries is very high. But, it is so low in developing countries that they have little contribution to global warming, but are the worst sufferers of its impacts. In this context, Campaign for Good Governance, an NGO forum, the other day urged the participants of the Bali climate conference to pay compensation for the huge losses caused to Bangladesh by cyclone Sidr. These claims for compensation have a ground provided for in the Kyoto Protocol. Bangladesh needs support for both immediate rehabilitation works and adaptation to changed climatic conditions.

The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted a rise of temperature of 1.4 degrees Celsius to 5.8 degrees from 1990 to 2100. With such rise in temperature, the Himalayan and the polar glaciers will melt causing rise of the sea level. It is reported that for a rise by 40 centimetres in the Bay of Bengal, about 16 percent of the land will go under saline water causing loss of cultivable land, dwelling houses and leading to migration of more than 10 million people. To adapt to such changes in climatic conditions, Bangladesh like many other developing countries will have to evolve new technologies and introduce new high yielding crops harvestable within short spans of time. Let the positive developments at the Bali conference help bring down emission of GHGs to a tolerable level. The rich countries of the world would agree to develop a fund to compensate for loss suffered by countries including Bangladesh who have little contribution to climate change but take its maximum adverse impacts.