Climate change affects the whole economy

Climate change affects the whole economy. The escalated frequency and intensity of climatic events have severe consequences on economic growth in the country. Climate change affects the agriculture, health, infrastructure, energy and industry in Bangladesh.

Experts said these in High Level Multi-logue on ‘Loss and Damage from Climate Change in Banglades’ on Thursday afternoon at Long Beach Suites Dhaka. They engaged in a conversation with experts across sectors towards collective solutions that reduce and manage loss and damage so that social, developmental and environmental gains are sustainable.

The event jointly organized by ActionAid Bangladesh (AAB) and the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) brought together government, business, INGOs, NGOs, academics, donors and multilaterals talking about the losses and damages from climate change faced by the country.

” Loss and damage will occur if we do things badly. We have a cyclone happening in July now in Bangladesh. Climate change is going to make things more erratic,” said Dr. Saleemul Huq, Director of the International Centre for Climate and Development

“We have representation from researchers academics, development organizations, government and private sector as well. Somehow we need to come together, because we can’t work in silos on this issue,” said Farah Kabir from ActionAid Bangladesh.

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) reduces vulnerabilities to hazards through better preparedness and management of resources while climate change adaptation (CCA) enhances resilience to climatic uncertainty. Loss and Damage (L&D) are the impacts of climate change that people cannot cope with or adapt to. For a long-term climate resiliency strategy, we need to have synergies between DRR, CCA, sustainable development, and L&D.

Bangladesh experiences both economic (property, infrastructure) and non-economic (lives, ecosystems) loss and damage from climatic change. The losses and damages on business and society from climate change impacts cannot be ignored and there is a need to come up with adequate solutions to minimize and manage such losses and damages.

“We will push this issue of loss and damage harder and forward and we need inputs from all of you,” said Dr. Nurul Quadir Joint Secretary (Environment) of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and member of the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Multilogue Series is a dialogue initiative driven by ActionAid Bangladesh, in collaboration with Global Network of Civil Society Organisations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR), to actively promote discussions about emerging disaster management and climate change issues. By continually engaging new and existing stakeholders, the goal is to develop comprehensive resiliency strategies.

More information about this program

The Multilogue Series is a dialogue initiative driven by ActionAid Bangladesh, in collaboration with Global Network of Civil Society Organisations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR), to actively promote discussions about emerging disaster management and climate change issues. By continually engaging new and existing stakeholders, the goal is to develop comprehensive resiliency strategies.

2015 is a pivotal year the international community, who look to establish the next phase of Development Goals (from MDGs to SDGs. This Multilogue series was born after the 2012 UN Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Sendai with the 1st session aimed to establish linkages between the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SGD) and a post-Sendai framework for DRR. A crucial aspect of that process pertains to international governmental commitments and agreements that combat climate change; to establish a post-Kyoto Protocol framework which will be negotiated at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris this December, 2015.

The second edition of the Multilogue series aims to further unpack the key elements of climate resiliency strategies leading into COP21 and beyond. Another important, yet underrepresented, component of climate resiliency – alongside DRR – is the concept of Loss and Damage (L&D). In the faces of a changing change, “future loss and damage is potentially of unimaginable magnitude” (Barbados, 2012).

Bangladesh Experience of L&D
Bangladesh, one of the most vulnerable to climate change (Maplecroft, 2010), experienced 247 extreme events from 1991-2011, equating to an average annual death toll of 824, and average annual financial loss of USD 1.7 billion or 1.18 percent of annual GDP. (Harmeling and Eckstein, 2012).

Floods in 2007 inundated 42% of total land area, killing 1,110 people, affected 14 million people, submerged 21,000 sq. km of agricultural land, completely destroyed 85,000 homes, damaged 31,533 km of road; and costing USD 1.1 billion (World Bank, 2010). Cyclones Sidr (2007) produced a financial L&D of $1.67 billion (Daspugta, et al., 2011) or 2.6% loss of GDP, with s death toll of 3,402. Severe cyclones are expected every 3 years in Bangladesh (MoEF, 2009)

The annual water-level in the south-west region is increasing by 5.5 mm/year (Rahman et al, 2011) where salinization is having a devastating impact on agriculture productivity), biodiversity and health issues. An estimated 62 cm rise by 2080 would equate to 4,690 sq. km or 13% of coastal region landmass being flooded (IWM & CEGIS) while 1 meter raise of sea level would equate to 17% of Bangladesh submerged under sea water (BCCSAP, 2009).

By 2050, the total additional investment needed to cope with a changing climate will total about US$2.4 billion, with an annual recurrent cost of more than US$50 million. The projection of damage from cyclone out to 2050 will result in an additional financial L&D of $4.56 billion, in addition to a conservative estimate of monetized loss from additional deaths and injuries of $1.03 billion (Dasgupta et al., 2011).

This Multilogue will explore:
– The harmonization of DRR, CCA, Sustainable Development, L&D for better preparedness and readiness activities;
– How key national institutions can mobilize and deploy appropriate resiliency measures where DRR, CCA and L&D approaches intertwine and influence each other
– The types of policy changes needed at the national level to integrate institutionalise climate approaches across the sectors;

– The systems needed to establish Common but Differentiated Responsibility amongst global community and the role Bangladesh plays.

The reality is: DRR & Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) measures are ‘capped’, subject to limitations and/or failure. Without the recognition and incorporation of Loss & Damage to development approaches, resiliency strategies will never be fully realized, complete or comprehensive. There is a need to consider the synergies, while respecting the difference between DRR, adaptation, mitigation, sustainable development and L&D.

This event, along with future discussion, will set an agenda that highlights the demands and expectation for negotiation at COP21 in Paris, which are crucial to establish a foundation on which comprehensive resiliency approaches can be build and expand.