Bangladesh to never exceed average per capita emission of developing world: official

UNITED NATIONS, March 29 (Xinhua) -- BANGLADESH will never exceed the average per capita emission of the developing world, a senior official from the South Asian country reiterated here Friday, noting that tackling climate change is directly linked with sustainable development and resilience building,

"BANGLADESH is of the firm view that climate change and sustainable development are interlinked and addressing climate change should be at the heart of the international development discourse," BANGLADESHi State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told a UN high-level meeting on the Protection of the Global Climate for Present and Future Generations of Humankind.

As one of the 10 most climate vulnerable countries in the world, the impacts of climate change will put severe stress on the limited land of BANGLADESH, Alam said, adding that the rapid meltdown of the glaciers will dry up his country's rivers which are basically the catchments of the Himalayan glaciers.

Just 1-degree centigrade increase of global temperature and further sea level rise will result in inundation of a large area of BANGLADESH and thus displacement of 40 million people by the end of this century, he said.

Climate change, hence, poses an existential threat to BANGLADESH's population of over 160 million, he said, although his country had hardly contributed to the deterioration of the environment, he said.

The findings of the IPCC (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degree Celsius about the dangerous consequences of global warming in the areas of poverty eradication, food security and public health are alarming, the BANGLADESHi official said, adding that his conviction is reinforced that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is contingent upon success in halting global climate change and reducing disaster risks.

"It is high time that we renew our efforts to implement the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework to their true letter and spirit," Alam said.

Amrith Rohan Perera, permanent representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, expressed similar sentiment on the same occasion Friday.

"We have strongly supported and committed to global efforts in addressing climate change by being a signatory to several environment-related international treaties and conventions including the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sendai Framework for Disaster [Risk Reduction]," he said, adding that, Sri Lanka needs to continue utilizing these global mechanisms, for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind.