Make 'Loss and Damage Fund' on climate change fully operational: PM Hasina urges richer nations

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday called upon the authorities concerned to make the Loss and Damage Fund fully operational.

"The loss and damage fund should be operational completely," she said while UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services) Under Secretary General and Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva paid a courtesy call on her at her official Ganabhaban residence.

PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed the reporters after the meeting.

The aim of the Loss and Damage Fund is to provide financial assistance to poorer nations as they deal with the negative consequences that arise from the unavoidable risks of climate change - for example: rising sea levels, extreme heat waves, desertification, forest fires, crop failures.

The prime minister expressed dissatisfaction as the rich countries are not complying with their promises.

"Response from the Loss and Damage Fund from the rich countries have yet to be adequate " she said while UNOPS Under Secretary General has brought the COP28 for discussion.

The prime minister said her government has taken various measures to make Bangladesh a climate resilient country that included raising a climate trust fund by its own resources.

She said they have given houses to the climate refugees at Khuruskul in Cox's Bazar under the Ashrayan Project-2.

The premier said her government has built green belt, artificial mangrove forest and planted trees in huge numbers alongside giving climate resilient houses to the people along the coastal belt.

The UNOPS official highly praised the development of Bangladesh particularly the social safety net programmes and micro savings under the dynamic leadership of Sheikh Hasina.

He apprised the premier that the UNOPS in collaboration with DG of Health Services are constructing medical grade oxygen generating plants for 29 hospitals around Bangladesh.

In response, the PM Hasina said," It will be better if the plants are constructed in all the 64 districts in Bangladesh.

The premier greeted the UNOPS for responding to the humanitarian need during the Rohingya influx in Bangladesh from Myanmar in 2017 and also during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

She appreciated the UNOPS expertise of managing projects.

The premier said she believed that UNOPS proven expertise in project management can help improve the project implementation culture in Bangladesh.

Ambassador-at-Large Mohammad Ziauddin and PM's Principal Secretary Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah were present at the meeting.