Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has appealed to developed countries, and world leaders, for their support regarding climate change adaptation and wider capacity-building.
The prime minister delivered her statement at high-level leaders’ dialogue on "Implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change: Towards COP24 and Beyond,” held at the UN Headquarters on Wednesday, reports UNB.
"We need support for climate change adaptation and wider capacity-building— and also for technology development and transfer in areas like agriculture, public health, and disaster management," she said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was present at the event.
Sheikh Hasina said she hoped member states would take the opportunity to have a discussion about climate finance, at COP24, to put the world on track to meet pre-2020 aims and long term goals of the Paris Agreement.
Pointing out that Bangladesh is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, the premier said: "Climate change threatens the life and livelihood of 160 million of our people."
She said Bangladesh has climate action and disaster risk reduction in its national plan.
"We’ve investments of over 1 percent of our GDP to address climate change impacts. Moreover, $450 million has been allocated, from our own resources, for adaptation and mitigation purposes," she said.
The prime minister said Bangladesh has adapted its agricultural methods to weather the impact of climate change.
She recalled the moment when she announced, in New York, five years ago, that Bangladesh will never exceed the average per capita emissions of the developing world—as a responsible member of the international community.
Sheikh Hasina said: "Our commitment to low-carbon, climate-resilient development is firm. We plan to move to carbon budgeting and resilient industrialization. We wish to de-carbonize our manufacturing pathways."
She said Bangladesh has installed around six million Solar Home Systems and provided two million Improved Cook Stoves for the underprivileged.
She also said that Bangladesh is developing stress-tolerant crop varieties to cope with the impacts of climate change.
"In spite of our limitations, we allocated $385 million of our own funds for adaptation and mitigation," the prime minister added.