Sheikh Hasina

PM calls for supporting victims in fight against effects of climate change

The article was published on Thursday 30 November. At the same time, world leaders gathered at the COP-28 climate summit in Dubai to find ways to combat the effects of global climate change. Climate change is a global catastrophe that the rich have imposed on the poor and increasingly on themselves. World leaders invited to the COP28 climate conference in Dubai must realize that their top-down approach will never work. Rather, we need to put the victims in charge of the fight against climate change and fund them in the fight.

Climate disaster will not stop with leaders' intransigence on climate change. As a result, typhoons and floods are already hitting the townships, and hunger is spreading as drought disrupts crop production. Only a tiny fraction of climate funding reaches the people struggling with the worst impacts of climate change—those who are left even more vulnerable without the resources they need to protect themselves and their livelihoods. Climate injustice and inequality are increasing.

Climate action at the global level means nothing if it does not help protect the people who are on the front line of climate change victims. We need to find ways to quickly and efficiently transfer all the necessary funds to locally driven climate-resilience initiatives. This requires new thinking and inventing a new approach. At COP28, the world must double adaptation financing. The disaster fund must be fully operational so that we can respond quickly and urgently to meet the needs of local communities to rebuild infrastructure and adapt more effectively to climate impacts. It is also an important step towards climate justice.