Editorial
Chief Adviser's address
Collective efforts needed to counter global warming
Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed's address at the UN General Assembly, focusing on the disastrous consequences of climate change triggered by gas emission, is the latest reminder of the great danger that countries, including Bangladesh, are exposed to. If predictions are anything to go by, global warming, if it continues unabated, will lead to rise in sea-level and uproot 25-30 million people in Bangladesh alone!
The CA has rightly appealed to the major gas emitters to take up a comprehensive plan to halt the process of global warming through adopting various measures. Unfortunately, the industrialised West and some fast developing Asian countries are the biggest users of fossil fuel, identified as the number one contributor to global warming that will cause almost unmanageable climate changes. And it is the poor nations that will have to bear the brunt of it all. So, the human race as a whole is now on the brink of a calamity which threatens its very existence unless the nations responsible for creating the hazardous situation come forward to eliminate the root cause -- gas emission. The emphasis should be on carbon-neutral economic development which will be environment-friendly. But again, it is the developed countries which will have to evolve and transfer the required technology to the third world countries which are the main victims of climate changes.
A real challenge will have to be faced when millions of people will become refugees due to the rise in sea level. The world at large will have to show a great commitment to relocating and rehabilitating the refugees of climate change. In fact, a total revision of the existing international laws might be necessary to handle the humanitarian crisis that will crop up when huge areas with human habitation will go under the sea.
Bangladesh, being a country facing natural calamities like floods and cyclones on a regular basis, is aware of the enormity of the task of putting life back to order in the aftermath of any disaster. However, it is evident that far worse things may happen in the future. So, we expect the international community to show due sensitivity to the vagaries of nature, especially to the issue of global warming.
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