To deny climate change and its impacts is to deny science itself at this point.
Yet another incontrovertible truth is that the effects of climate change are born entirely out of the early industrialization of nations that are now considered to be developed, in terms of their economy at least. It is, then, nothing short of criminally unfair that developing nations such as Bangladesh have to grapple with those effects, which we clearly had no hand in creating.
To that end, major greenhouse emitting countries have a clear obligation, under international law to boot, to provide funding in order to help highly vulnerable countries such as ours in recovering from the impacts of climate change.
We wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments shared by UN Special Rapporteur Ian Fry in stating that Bangladesh should not have to carry the burden of climate change alone. Nor should any developing nation. For too long have major emitting countries denied their share of the responsibilities in the absolute havoc they have wreaked over the planet.
It is time they paid up.
While Bangladesh must be lauded for emerging as a global leader when it comes to locally-led adaptation measures, the fact of the matter is that countries such as ours simply do not have adequate resources to successfully undertake adaptation measures.
Despite contributing very little to the overall problem of climate change, Bangladesh is among the most vulnerable countries to its effects. Therefore it remains the solemn duty of the developed nations -- those who are most at fault for warming our planet in the first place -- to pay their dues and support countries who, through little fault of their own, are having to bear the brunt of the effects.
There is no other way.