Saber Hossain Chowdhury, special envoy to the prime minister for climate change, has said if positive GDP growth is to be maintained, Bangladesh must address the issue of climate change, which is causing the country to lose 2% of its gross domestic product.
“If this continues, we will lose 9% by 2050,” the Awami League MP said on Tuesday while participating in a general discussion on the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 in parliament.
The lawmaker said climate change is an existential crisis for the whole world and it is now a visible challenge and crisis.
“How much Bangladesh can progress in the future will depend on how we deal with the climate issue. The budget for the new financial year has an allocation of Tk37,000 crore [to combat climate change]. We will monitor the work done by 25 ministries and departments. Protection of people's life and livelihood has not been done by any government in the past.”
Highlighting the steps taken by the government on the issue of climate change, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, president of the Parliamentary Committee on the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change Affairs, said in 2010, when no one was talking about climate, Bangladesh formed the Climate Change Trust Fund with its own financing.
Addressing the finance minister, he said: "I talk about tobacco every year during the budget presentation, but I do not get any response. What is being done about tobacco, if the finance minister would give an explanation....”
Saber Hossain Chowdhury said: "Some 161,000 people die every year because of tobacco use in Bangladesh. Those who make these tobacco products, why are they given special benefits every year?”
Expressing his anger he said: "As a result of taxation, the prices of many products increase after the budget announcement. Our finance minister increased the price of tobacco himself. Through this, he is giving an opportunity to the tobacco company to make profits… If you want to impose taxes on tobacco, you have to do it in such a way that the government gets all of it.”
When Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal asked Saber Hossain Chowdhury to meet him in his office, the climate envoy said: "I do not need to be invited to tea. Explain it in front of everyone in parliament. We get Tk22,000 crore in revenue from tobacco. But it costs Tk30,000 crore… Tk300 crore comes from the surcharge imposed on tobacco. Of this, only Tk9 crore is spent on tobacco control.”
He said: "Today, every sector is improving due to the continuity of the government. I hope the people of Bangladesh will take it into consideration.”
