Bangladesh needs coastal embankments for climate mitigation: Momen

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen Saturday said Bangladesh needs to build embankments with renewable energy facilities along coastal belt as part of ‘climate mitigation’ to save its people from becoming climate migrants due to sea level rise.

“To protect our people from getting inundated by sea level rise and river erosion, and from becoming climate migrants, we need to create embankments high enough and wide enough to sustain in natural disasters,” he said.

Dr Momen said forestation of mangrove around these embankments would work both as buffers during the natural calamities like cyclones and surges and will also work as carbon sinking.

“We can also use the space on the embankments for installing solar panels and wind turbines to provide electricity to nearby off grid areas, and also to supply to the national grid,” he said

In addition, he said that a beautiful road on the coastal embankment would be a scenic road that creates jobs for tourism.

The foreign minister made the remarks while virtually inaugurating a two-day “Climate Camp 2021” organized by a local non-government organization named Earth Society marking the World Environment Day.

British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Chatterton Dickson, Convener of the Climate Parliament Bangladesh Nahim Razzaq, MP, Special Envoy of CVF Presidency of Bangladesh Abul Kalam Azad, Resident Representative, UNDP, Bangladesh Sudipto Mukerjee and Country Lead European Climate Foundation (ECF) Monower Mostafa also spoke at the inaugural session.

Following the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021 – 2030, the ‘Climate Camp’ brings the youth of Bangladesh at the community level together to take action on resetting their relation with nature to achieve the UN goals as #GenerationRestoration.

Noting that Bangladesh government is doing its best to tackle the climate challenges, the foreign minister said the national parliament declared it as a” Planetary Emergency”.

“I strongly believe that participation from the youth and civil society in collaboration with the government can bring the best result for Bangladesh to achieve sustainable solutions,” Momen said.

To create awareness at community level is the first step to bring result in national level where individuals, activists, community leaders and youth-led organisations can bring solutions through sharing best practices for better adaptation and mitigation, he observed.

“We must take the opportunity to build back better for a sustainable, prosperous and resilient future through shared responsibility and concerted actions in climate area,” Momen said.

He said the ‘UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’ is being launched with efforts to halt and reverse the decline of the natural world.

Referring the theme of this year’s Ecosystem Restoration – “aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean”, Momen said that this would help tackle poverty and combat climate change and “taking the theme forward will be successful only if there is people’s participation”.

The foreign minister said Bangladesh strongly believes that only with healthy ecosystems we can enhance people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change and stop the collapse of biodiversity.

“Bangladesh is the victim of the effects of global pollution without being a polluter”, Momen said, adding that every year Bangladesh is spending about 5 billion dollars, an average 2.5 percent of its GDP, on climate adaptation and resilience-building.

Selected 50 organizers are hosting and more than 400 participants joining the climate camp from different parts of Bangladesh on the topic of “Resetting Our Relation with Nature” to provide and submit their ideas, solutions, and best practices.