By Xinhua,
Dhaka : The Bangladeshi caretaker government has proposed to create a fund titled “Fund for Climate Change” and allocate 3000 million taka (about 43 million U.S. dollars) for this purpose in the next fiscal’s budget.
Finance and Planning Adviser of the caretaker government Mirza Azizul Islam said this Monday when announcing the budget over state-owned radio and television for the year 2008-09 (from July 2008 to June 2009).
Bangladesh last year had been seriously affected by floods and cyclone Sidr, causing huge loss of lives of properties.
“The recent floods and cyclone Sidr are the inevitable results of global climate change,” Islam said.
According to the UN Human Development Report–2007-08, 18 percent of the land mass would be submerged due to one meter rise in the water of the sea level, affecting 11 percent of the world population.
“In fact, Bangladesh is potentially one of the most vulnerable countries likely to be exposed to the risks arising from climate change,” Islam said.
He said the Department of Environment has established a climate change cell which is conducting research to work out strategies to mitigate the adverse impact on the lives and livelihood due to climate change.
Islam called on all development partners and relevant agencies to come forward to contribute to the Fund for Climate Change.
“It is not humanly possible to resist the climatic change, we have to enhance our adaptability to the changes and try to minimize the scale of damage and dislocation,” Islam said.