Britain to give Bangladesh £75m to help adapt to climate change

Telegraph (UK): Britain is to give Bangladesh £75m as part of a flagship fund to help millions of people adapt to climate change. The money will go towards projects that help people survive the worst affects of climate change, such as building new embankments or helping farmers move from rice to crab farming. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change, with 70 million people at risk of flooding by 2050.

In a conference at the Royal Geographical Society, Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, said development is not just about social and economic issues but tacking huge changes in the environment. It signals a new direction for international development for Britain towards helping poorer countries deal with global warming.

"Climate change is today's crisis, not tomorrow's risk, and is already affecting millions of people in Bangladesh," Mr Alexander said. "But Bangladesh is resilient and is setting an example to other vulnerable countries with its innovative approach to adapting to the changing climate."

….The £75m, which is in addition to development aid, includes £60m for helping people adapt to climate change and £12m for the disaster management programme. It also includes £3m for research which will help bolster Bangladesh's arguments in international negotiations….

Bangladesh location map by Rei-Artur, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2