Environment and Forest Minister Anwar Hossain Manju on Saturday said Bangladesh started its own initiatives for mitigating negative impacts of climate change instead of looking at the developed world for help.
“The government is now providing support for building environment-friendly infrastructures. Bangladesh did not wait for the well-off nations’ help.
Rather it started working to protect the environment with its own initiatives,” Manju commented.
He was addressing the inauguration ceremony of a three-day Green Convention & Expo 2017 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) as the chief guest.
Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund Ltd (BIFFL) has organised the event. This year, the objective of the Convention and Expo is to promote the widespread use of green technologies in energy-intensive industries.
Bashundhara Cement and King Brand Cement were the platinum sponsors of the event. Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan was also present at the inauguration ceremony. He visited different stalls at the expo.
Addressing the function, the minister also said Bangladesh has already created its own funds to protect the environment.
“The commitment the heads of more than 200 countries made in Paris to mitigate the risks of climate change has not been fulfilled as it had no legal bindings,” he pointed out.
However, China and France strongly came forward to this end in spite of other developed nations reluctance, he added.
Manju also informed that financial support is being provided through BIFFL to support environment-friendly ventures like green brick kilns and eco-friendly industries.
Citing a WB study, World Bank Country Director Qimiao Fan informed that the study found 53 lakh coastal population are at risk of climate change impacts in Bangladesh.Mentioning the country’s outstanding economic growth for a decade, he said sustaining the growth requires the development of people in every part of the country.
He assured that the WB is committed to providing financial assistance to environment-friendly development schemes in Bangladesh. He informed that the lender will provide $2 billion financial assistance to Bangladesh in next three years in the sector.
Despite having resource constraint, Bangladesh has to invest more in improving environment-friendly infrastructure, commented ADB’s Alternative Executive Director Mahbub Ahmed.
Although Bangladesh is contributing the least to global carbon emission, it is the worst victim of negative impacts of climate change, repented Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir.
He informed that the central bank has taken up a number of initiatives to promote green financing in the country.
He said banks and financial institutions are being encouraged to channel green funds for which the central bank has already indentured 52 green financing products under eight categories.
Presenting the keynote paper at the event, A Atiq Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), said Bangladesh will require skilled manpower, technology transfer and financing to fight climate change impacts.
Bangladesh has made progress in renewable energy use as 45 lakh local people now use solar power, he informed.
Chief Representative of JICA in Bangladesh Takatoshi Nishikata, Finance Secretary and BIFFL Chairman Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, among others, spoke on the occasion which was chaired by Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam.
Last year, BIFFL organized a Green Brick Convention 2016 to promote green technologies for the country’s brick sector.
In this year’s expo, suppliers of the green and sustainable technologies will get the opportunity to showcase their innovative business solutions to their target customers through a total of 71 stalls.
The convention will also provide a platform for the participants to share experiences from global best practices and collate recommendations for the policymakers to formulate enabling policies and regulations towards fostering the green movement in Bangladesh.
Dr Ainun Nishat, Professor Emeritus, Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research of BRAC University, was the moderator of the panel discussion in the convention. S.M. Formanul Islam, the CEO of BIFFL, delivered the vote of thanks.