The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Environment Adviser Dr CS Karim yesterday said though Bangladesh is in no way responsible for global climate change, the country is affected most by the malaise.

Some economists and civil society think tanks, on the other hand, blamed the globalised market economy for climate change and suggested a people's participator economic order.

At the ongoing Bali Conference on Climate Change, Bangladesh will seek help from the developed countries, which are responsible for increasing global warming by generating greenhouse gas, CS Karim said at a press briefing at the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

He said Bangladesh, which is leading the least developed countries (LDCs) at the Bali Conference, would highlight at the conference the destruction caused to Bangladesh by super cyclone Sidr.

Dr Karim said the country needs support from the developed world for transfer of technology, capacity building and clean development mechanism as well as financial support to set up an

He also stressed the need for insurance facility for facing the unwarranted sufferings from natural disasters caused by global warming. Environment and Forests secretary AHM Rezaul Karim and joint secretary Rabindra Nath Roy Chowdhury also spoke at the briefing.

Meanwhile, Dr Piash Karim, an environmentalist and economist, yesterday linked climate change with the globalised market economy and stressed on building a responsive society by introducing people's participatory economy.

BRAC University Professor Dr Piash Karim was addressing a press conference organised by Voice, a civil society organisation, as part of its campaign for social awareness against climate change.

The NGO raised an 11-point charter of demand at the press conference urging the developed countries to adopt concrete emission reductions and support adaptation.

Executive Director of Voice Ahmed Shawpon Mahmud read out the written statement at the press conference while Dr Piash Karim elaborated various aspects of globalised market economy that is causing climate change.

Associate Coordinator of ActionAid Bangladesh A R Aman and two Canadian environmentalists Parker Mah and Aude Leroux also spoke in the press conference.

Dr Piash Karim said, "The poor and the week countries are the victims of over prolific behaviour of the capitalist world. They are causing climate change and hampering lives of millions of people. If the rich and the powerful world do not change their behaviour, problem of climate change will not be mitigated."

He said the least-developed countries including Bangladesh were at a greater risk from climate change and must compel the industrially developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as proposed under the Kyoto Protocol in 1997.

He warned that cereal production in Bangladesh would be adversely affected due to changes in temperatures and rainfall due to climate change.

Rapidly melting Himalayan glaciers could cause increased floods and soil erosion, impact monsoon rains and crops, and jeopardise the water supply of millions in Bangladesh.

Rising sea levels and more frequent cyclones and storms in the Bay of Bengal could threaten coastal populations in the area. If people are displaced by sea level rise, millions could be forced to migrate.

Bangladesh has already suffered greatly from climate change. The country has taken a double blow this year, first from the devastating floods in July and then from the worst cyclone since 1991 in mid-November.

It is feared that a sea-level rise of just 16 inches in the Bay of Bengal would submerge 11 percent of the Bangladesh's land area in the coastal zone, displacing 7 to 10 million people -- who would then be forced into the interior of the already densely populated country.