Editorial
Climate change conference in Bali
Bangladesh must make its points in forceful manner
The conference on Climate Change beginning in Bali today is an opportunity for countries recently affected by natural disasters to take stock of their losses. More importantly, the conference offers a forum for such countries to draw attention to the causes behind the tragedies they have of late gone through. Obviously, there is much truth in the statement that the scale of suffering wrought by nature has been a direct consequence of the rather unprecedented changes that have come over climate patterns owing to global warming. For Bangladesh, the position is clear: it cannot but express its strong support for such initiatives as the one about to get underway in Bali.
It goes without saying that Bangladesh, where the matter is one of disasters caused by a change in climatic behaviour, has been at the receiving end without in any way having contributed to such change. It is a point that the Bangladesh delegation will need to emphasise strongly at Bali, given especially the fact that Cyclone Sidr, which has caused such immense damage in terms of loss of lives and nature in the south of the country, is largely seen not as a normal happening but a direct offshoot of climate change. It is here that the issue of gas emissions by developed countries takes centre stage once again. With the inter-governmental panel on climate change already singling out countries like Bangladesh and the Maldives as spots likely to be the worst affected by global warming, it becomes imperative for the international community to go back to initiatives like the Kyoto Protocol and come up with answers to the many questions that are being raised. The recent floods and cyclone in Bangladesh have already drawn attention to the devastation that may yet be caused in future, and not just in Bangladesh, if serious, purposeful efforts are not made to tackle global warming issues.
The urgent need is for a technology-based, efficient system to deal with natural disasters to be put in place. In this context, we believe that the setting up of a strongly funded international adaptation centre, here in Bangladesh, for undertaking research on the effects of climate change as well as suggesting measures toward preparedness in the face of oncoming disasters will reflect a seriousness of approach to the issue on the part of the global community.
Let the Bali conference offer points of light to a world beginning to feel the ramifications of global warming.
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