Warming ‘to displace over 20M in Bangladesh’

THE looming impact of climate change threatens to force 20 million to 30 million people away from their homes in Bangladesh, since much of the country has a possibility to disappear under water in the future, said Science andTechnology MinisterYeafesh Osman yesterday.

Bangladesh would do well to adapt to such climate changes and remain prepared in advance. Such adaptations will help the country see off the impacts and allow its development trajectory to remain on course, Osman said.

The minister was speaking at a seminar at the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry office in Dhaka on raising awareness among Bangladeshi research and business communities about Horizon 2020, a flagship research and innovation programme of the EU for the period 2014 to 2020.

Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU research and innovation programme ever making available almost 80 billion (US$92.35 billion) to fund collaborative research projects by researchers from Europe and beyond including Bangladesh.

Climate-related expenditure is expected to constitute over 35 per cent of Horizon 2020 budget, so it is high time Bangladeshi firms proactively made efforts to become a part of the researching parties, the minister said.

A partnership with European firms can benefit Bangladesh to improve understanding on the economics of climate change and pool resources in a structured manner to develop tools and methods for gauging impacts, Osman said. In the near future, Bangladesh is expected to graduate from its least developed country status.