On 27 January, the British High Commission in Bangladesh invited
government, academic and civil society representation to the High
Commissioner’s residence to convey the UK’s ambition for this
year’s UN climate change conference (COP26) and its growing
collaboration with Bangladesh for advancing the climate agenda
towards COP26 and beyond.
British High Commissioner HE Robert Chatterton Dickson opened the
discussion by reflecting on the global outcomes of COP25 and
setting out the UK ambition for COP26.
The High Commisssioner said
“Climate change is the defining issue of our time. The UK and
Bangladesh can form a great partnership to lead global efforts to
tackle it. Our combined expertise and leadership mean we can work
together to raise the world’s ambition before and during COP26,
seeking global commitment on adapting to climate impacts and
building resilience for the future.”
Mr Ziaul Hasan ndc, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest
and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Focal Point for Bangladesh,
delivered the keynote speech.
Mr Ziaul Hasan ndc was joined by four distinguished participants
of COP25: Sultana Afroz, Additional Secretary, Economic Relations
Division, Ministry of Finance, Dr Saleemul Huq, Director,
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCAD)
and Adviser to the Least Developed Countries Group in UNFCCC;
Mohammed Malik, Infrastructure Development Company Ltd.; Sharaban
Tahura Zaman, Lecturer, Department of Law, North South
University, and LDCs group negotiator at COP25. The panellists
reflected on the process and outcomes of COP25, the journey to
COP26, and opportunities for the UK and Bangladesh to raise
global ambition to reduce the emissions gap.
DFID Country Representative Judith Herbertson, delivered the
closing remarks on UK-Bangladesh cooperation beyond COP26. She
said that DFID is planning a new programme to support adaptation
to, and mitigation of, climate change as well as environmental
management in Bangladesh.
The DFID Country Reepresentative said
”Our vision is that through our partnership and our programming,
we can show what can be done to clean up growth and build
resilience across the country; and share this expertise with
other countries.”
The UK, in partnership with Italy, will host COP26 this year in
November in Glasgow. More than 30,000 people are expected to
attend the conference, including heads of state and government;
experts; and campaigners. Delegates will be discussing ambitious
ways in which the world can lower emissions to keep global
temperatures below 1.5 degrees of warming. While the UK is
gearing up for the presidency of COP26, Bangladesh is advancing
its preparation to lead the Climate Vulnerable Forum and the
Locally-Led Adaptation Action Track of the Global Commission on
Adaptation (GCA). And leading up to COP26, the UK intends to
build a stronger partnership with countries like Bangladesh; a
vulnerable country but increasingly resilient to climate impacts.
As the leading voice against climate impacts, Bangladesh can play
a more significant role in the global climate change discourse
through COP26.
The UK is already a key partner to Bangladesh on disaster
management and resilience building. Since 2008, UK and Bangladesh
jointly helped over 27 million people gain access to early
warning systems for floods and cyclones, and provided emergency
assistance and recovery support after disasters to more than
900,000 people.
