Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan emphasized the urgent need for robust adaptation finance in vulnerable nations, including Bangladesh.
She highlighted that without additional financial flows to expand adaptation resources, countries like Bangladesh face significant risks to sustainable development.
Rizwana Hasan said this while addressing an event titled 'Governance for Strengthening SDG Climate Synergies' at the Blue Zone Side Event 1 of the World Climate Conference (COP-29) in Azerbaijan’s Baku.
The adviser outlined Bangladesh's status as one of the world's most climate-vulnerable nations, citing its geographical position in South Asia's low-lying delta.
She explained how rising sea levels, extreme heat, severe weather events, flooding, and cyclones threaten millions of lives, disproportionately affecting the poor and marginalized.
Rizwana warned that these impacts undermine Bangladesh's ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while exacerbating poverty and destabilizing infrastructure.
Bangladesh requires $8.5 billion annually for adaptation, yet only $3 billion is currently sourced domestically, leaving a $5.5 billion shortfall. On a regional level, South Asia requires approximately $98 billion per year, while the global adaptation finance gap stands at $366 billion annually, she noted about the financial gap.
She stressed that financial mechanisms must prioritize grant-based finance and concessional loans to alleviate the burden on vulnerable nations, avoiding high-interest market-rate loans that exacerbate economic instability.
The adviser also called for transparent and accountable governance of adaptation finance to ensure effective implementation of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). Rizwana also emphasized the need to balance environmental goals with economic priorities, urging the global community to close the adaptation finance gap immediately.
bd-pratidin/GR
