Bangladesh
COP 26 Dealmakers COP26 results depending on PM Hasina, four others
Dhaka, November 4: The outcome of the COP-26 summit depends on the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina and four other dealmakers like her. They have been tasked with committing 197 other countries to change, according to BBC report.
According to a report by BBC's environmental correspondent Matt McGrath, titled 'Climate change: Five dealmakers who will influence the outcome at COP26', the five deal makers are Chinese climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua, Saudi Arabia's Ayman Shasly, UK Minister Alok Sharma, Spain's Minister for Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera and Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh represented the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group of 48 countries most affected by climate change.
According to the BBC report, Sheikh Hasina is the spokesperson of those countries facing climate change. Last year, about a quarter of Bangladesh was hit by floods and millions of people in the country were inundated.
The report said: "The prime minister of Bangladesh speaks on behalf of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a grouping of 48 of the countries most threatened by climate change.
"She's an experienced and straight-talking politician, who will bring the lived experience of climate change to the COP. Just last year, about one-quarter of Bangladesh was underwater as floods threatened a million homes."
It quoted Dr Jen Allan, an expert in international relations from Cardiff University as stating: "People like Prime Minister Hasina put a human face on climate change and can help world leaders understand what climate change already looks like."
Dr Allan said these countries "punch above their economic weight, so to speak".
"Because they are a strong moral voice, and because decisions are taken by consensus, they have been able to get a good deal of progressive decisions through the UN machinery," Dr Allan added.
Quamrul Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi negotiator, who works as part of Sheikh Hasina's team, told the BBC: "There are over one billion people now on the hook of adverse climate impacts. We want to get them off the hook by getting the richest countries to steeply cut back emissions, to fix the outstanding Paris rules, to ramp up climate finance and to address loss and damage."
