Submitted by Anonymous on
Bangladesh is expected to be the most vulnerable country in the world in next 30 years mainly because of its exposure to climate-related natural disasters and sea-level rise; human sensitivity in terms of population growth and pattern, development, natural resources, agricultural dependency and conflicts; in adequate adaptive capacity to combat climate change (Maplecroft, 2010). In fact, multiple hazards instigated by various climatic factors including temperature variation, erratic rainfall, flood and recurrent flood, cyclone and storm surge, drought, saline intrusion coupled with social or non-climate factors (such as population density and poverty) are already affecting the many parts of country especially in the coastal region, north-west and low-lying areas.
The Government of Bangladesh realizing the consequences of the climate change has made striking progress in terms of policy, strategy and institutional arrangement. Following allocation of 100 million USD in 2008 and 2009 together to bring adaptation and mitigation actions on the ground, the country recently established Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund (BCCRF) and approved another 100 million USD for 2010/2011 to implement the projects and programmes under six major themes (i. Food security, social protection and health ii. Comprehensive Disaster Management iii. Infrastructure iv. Research and knowledge management v. mitigation and low carbon development and vi. Capacity building and institutional strengthening) of the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP). This fund will be managed and implemented by the government and technical support will be provided by the World Bank to facilitate that the requirements are met in the implementation process. A governing council and a management committee chaired by the government will be the apex bodies to manage the fund. However, representatives of the line ministries, development partners and civil society will be included in both the council and management committee. In addition, a policy titled “Climate Change Trust Fund Policy” has been developed by the Cabinet as part of an integrated plan to face disaster due to climate change in the country.
The government also officially launched the “Climate Change Unit” under the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in June 2010. At this stage, the CCU is headed by the Joint Secretary, MoEF. The unit will be equipped with 9 senior officers and 33 staff. National level experts will also be recruited as advisors to strengthen the unit and make it better functional. The MOEF and CCU have already approved 66 projects for implementation in vulnerable coastal zone, drought prone area, flood and low lying ecosystem, hilly and haor area, and charlands covering mainly water, agriculture, forestry, infrastructure, health, capacity building sectors etc. Some of the projects are approved for conducting action research and institutional strengthening. However, most of these projects will be implemented by the different relevant government institutions. Some of the projects will be implemented by NGO or Civil Society Organizations at both national and local level.