WB pledges $2b to Bangladesh to fight climate change

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim today pledged Bangladesh to give USD $2 billion over the next three years to help the country become less vulnerable to climate change.

Kim made the pledge this afternoon at a press conference at WB’s Agargaon office in Dhaka, hours before conclusion of his two-day trip to Bangladesh focused on the country’s successes in reducing extreme poverty, according to a press release of World Bank.

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“Bangladesh is among the countries most at risk from the impacts of climate change. We must confront climate change now as it hits the poor the hardest,” said Kim.

World Bank Group plans to help Bangladesh become even more resilient to climate change, he said, appreciating the country’s adaptation and stronger disaster-coping mechanisms to reduce the impact of recent storms, cyclones, and floods.

“The dramatic decline in deaths demonstrates that Bangladesh’s adaptation measures do work,” the WB chief went on.

He said, “I’m most impressed by the resilience of the people of Bangladesh at a time when climate change puts their lives and livelihoods at risk.”

Yesterday, the WB President also pledged to provide Bangladesh with $1 billion over the next three years to combat malnutrition of children.