Berlin Conference: Dhaka for climate justice, compensation

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam has asked for climate justice that needs to be established and demanded compensation and adequate financial and other assistance for adaptation measures.

He called for more concrete global coordination and insisted that the developed countries and the countries responsible for producing huge amount of greenhouse gases must triple their nationally determined commitments (NDCc) if they want to limit the rise of global temperature below two degree centigrade and preferably up to 1.5 degree centigrade.

At the Berlin Climate and Security Conference held on Wednesday, Alam mentioned that for the persons displaced due to climate change, migration and relocation are options to consider, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Conference discussed the existential threat to human civilisation as a whole due to ever worsening climate change and the grave danger it presents to the physical and political security of different countries and even individuals.

To deal with climate change related displacement, Alam called for new binding legal instrument as the existing instruments are not adequate and are mostly voluntary.

The State Minister described the grave threat of climate change to Bangladesh and explained how, if continued in the same fashion, this will cause extreme devastation to every sector of Bangladesh endangering all the achievements.

Alam mentioned the actions and strategy under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to fight the adverse impacts of the climate change.

He said that Bangladesh and similar countries contributed nothing to the issue of climate change but they were the worst victims due to irresponsible activities of some developed and other states.

He also mentioned the Rohingya crisis and compared it with global climate change calamity as both of them produce similar devastation.

As there were proposals from other participants to refer the climate change and the security nexus to the Security Council of UN, the State Minister called for considering the issue necessarily as a development concern which should be covered by all organs and agencies of UN.

He demanded true implementation of the Paris Agreement, 2030 Development Agenda (SDGs) and the Sendai Framework and continuation of existing facilities for LDCs after graduation as effective measures to fight climate change.

This annual conference was organised by the German Federal Foreign Office, independent German think tanks Adelphi and Potsdam Institute of Climate Research, and the German Foreign Ministry project 'Climate Diplomacy'.

President of Nauru, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium, Foreign and State Ministers of Germany, Sweden, Ghana, Maldives, Malta, Palau, UK, Cote d'Ivoire, Afghanistan, former US Secretary of State John Kerry, Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Foreign Secretaries of different countries and scores of high officials and academicians from several leading think tanks of Europe participated in this year's Conference.