By Sara Schönhardt | 10/21/2022 6:22 AM EDT
Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, spoke this year at the UN meteorological convention in Glasgow, Scotland. Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina knows that emerging seas, flooding and excessive storms threaten to engulf large swathes of her country at low altitudes. But she is determined to make sure no one is forced to migrate because of a climate crisis they caused. Do not create
“Our purpose is that they don’t migrate,” Hasina said in a recent interview. “But I tell you one thing: if the sea rises even one meter, many small island countries will disappear and we may lose many of our islands. and also a coastal belt. “
Hasina spoke with E.
These pledges and the money needed to help countries prepare for climate damage will be at the heart of Egypt’s upcoming climate talks, and Bangladesh is an example of what more countries can enjoy if climate pledges are not met.
Sitting in her hotel room, surrounded by a set of aides and counselors, Hasina developed this frustration. Rich countries have failed to deliver on their financing promises, he said, yet they criticize vulnerable countries like Bangladesh for using coal as they struggle to secure economic growth.
“All evolved countries have already evolved themselves. Now they will blame us,” he said. We also need to grow. We need to make sure that our other people get their fundamental desires: food, education, housing, and job opportunities.
Bangladesh, like many climate-threatened countries, contributes a fraction (less than 0. 6 consistent with percent) of global warming emissions. But it is forced to bear the consequences, as rainfall accumulation and melting glaciers increase the threat of flooding and erosion. while salt from emerging seas contaminates agricultural soils and water supplies, damaging agricultural production that underpins the economy.
Crossed by several primary rivers and home to a giant mangrove forest called the Sundarbans, Bangladesh is among the countries hardest hit by rising temperatures.
Hasina helped usher in immediate economic expansion and improved climate resilience during her decade and more as prime minister. It also generated controversy: his anti-migration stance extends to safe havens coming from other countries seeking asylum. He recently appealed to the UN for help in repatriating safe havens for Myanmar’s Rohingya who have sought safe haven in Bangladesh, saying their prolonged presence has had economic and environmental ramifications.
Rising food and energy costs as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also threaten his administration’s economic gains. And the effects of climate change are so severe that Bangladesh’s efforts to build resilience may not be enough.
When Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founding president in 1971, he established a cyclone shelter construction program and a national formula to warn of nearby disasters, such as tropical storms or floods, she said.
But his grip on the force has become tighter, and in 1975 assassins killed him, his mother and more than a dozen other relatives in a military coup. Hasina, who was outdoors in Bangladesh at the time and could not return. For years, he said he knew what it was like to be a refugee.
Sea level rise, flooding and erosion have already displaced millions of people in Bangladesh. The World Bank estimates that by 2050, more than thirteen million people could be forced to migrate within the country in the absence of increased climate action.
Hasina has resisted this prospect since she was prime minister for a moment in 2009 and attended the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.
After talks collapsed that year, Hasina said she returned home worried but determined. It helped create a national climate update strategy, one of the first among emerging countries, and established a partnership to finance Bangladesh’s ability to recover and respond to the effects of climate change. Lately, the country spends about 7% of its annual budget on climate change adaptation, according to the Ministry of Finance.
It has also invested in the recovery of mangroves in coastal spaces from storms and salinity-resistant rice that can be grown in soils with high levels of salt due to seawater flooding, all part of a broader plan to make the delta region more sustainable. The country is also implementing a flexible housing program for landless families.
“Everything I do is related to the progress of our villages,” Hasina said.
Bangladesh’s adaptation efforts have captured global attention and served as an example for other climate-vulnerable countries. As chair last year of the Vulnerable Climate Forum, a framework of climate-threatened nations, Bangladesh unveiled a climate prosperity plan that aims to harness climate action to spur economic growth, job creation and resilience. Forum countries are now adopting plans.
But the government has also come under scrutiny from foreign observers for its attempts to crack down on environmental activism and its crackdown on fossil fuel protests.
Internal migration is putting pressure on the country’s overcrowded capital, Dhaka, raising concerns about safety and sanitation.
“She doesn’t want other people to migrate. He considers it a failure,” said Saleemul Huq, a climate replacement expert and director of the International Centre on Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh.
He disagrees. While building resilience is vital, he said, it is also mandatory to mitigate the effects of what lies ahead.
“I think we’re going to have to prepare, allow other people to migrate and them,” Huq said.
The demanding situations facing Bangladesh make the energy bigger. The country relies heavily on imports of coal, oil and natural gas. High costs have led the government to raise fuel costs and suspend operations at diesel forced power plants, leading to power shortages and blackouts. .
In August, schools, banks and government offices were asked for hours of operation to save electricity, The Associated Press reported.
“We’re buying power, but right now it’s a difficult time for Array,” Hasina said. “That’s why I asked other people to be very careful and [don’t] abuse her. “
At last year’s climate talks, Hasina said Bangladesh had a goal of expanding the share of renewable energy to 40 percent by 2041 and had abandoned plans to build coal-fired power.
In the interview with E.
“So we can identify a lot of industries, smart task opportunities. This will be wonderful for us,” Hasina said.
The country still plans to build renewables, but it is also building coal-fired power plants that Hasina described as “mostly supercritical. “Some blank force experts have warned that continued reliance on imported force will come at a cost.
Hasina said she needs evolved countries to meet their unfulfilled commitment to provide emerging countries with $100 billion a year until 2025 to build more sustainable and resilient economies. Other leaders too.
Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister and president-designate of Egypt’s upcoming climate talks, recently said cash was “more a symbol of acceptance and convenience than a therapy for real climate needs. “
But Hasina hopes developed countries will be more likely to find a solution to the big financial hole after a summer in which even rich countries have failed to triumph over the effects of global warming.
One suggestion he made: prevent investment in the Ukraine war from opposing the Russian invasion and use it in vulnerable countries like his.
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