Dhaka should ask for compensation, not aid

The Daily Star (Dhaka): Bangladesh should not ask for charity or aid from industrially developed countries to combat climate change but demand compensation from them, speakers at a dialogue in the city said yesterday. The reason for this, they said, is that the industrially developed countries are themselves causing the change in climate.

The comments came at a dialogue arranged by BBC Bangla Sanglap (Dialogue) at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre on “Bangladesh Sanglap on Climate Change” yesterday. Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, convener of Equity-BD and a panel member at the dialogue, said, "We should not be seeking help from developed countries. It is a question of justice and reparation. The developed countries have caused loss to Global Public Goods and they must compensate."

The effects of climate change are causing a huge loss to the government economically, speakers pointed out, citing the example of Sidr. Bangladesh received US$ 600 million in foreign aid though the loss caused by Sidr is estimated at US$ 3 billion. Bangladesh has an existing bank loan of Tk 17,000 crore while natural disasters like cyclone, flood and other climate change effects add to the deficit every year….

….Funds for adaptation and research to combat the situation should come from the countries causing the damage, they said. The speakers also urged the industrially developed countries to introduce special quota for Bangladesh to help people migrate from the affected areas in accordance with existing international laws….

The Ganges Delta, Bangladesh, NASA, Wikimedia Commons