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Dhaka Friday,  Mar 29, 2024

$7b Plan To Save environment

The government has prepared a five-year country investment plan (CIP) to combat the impact of climate change. It will invest USD 7 billion (Tk. 56,000 crore) in this sector. The main objectives of the CIP are to manage natural resources, control environmental pollution, combat the impact of climate change, and ensure good ecological governance.

Planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal unveiled the CIP, prepared by the environment and forest ministry, at a city hotel yesterday. Among others, environment and forest minister Anwar Hossain Manju, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) mission director Janina Jaruzelski, and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative in Bangladesh, David Doolan, also spoke on the occasion.

The additional secretary of the environment and forest ministry, Mohammad Ziaur Rahman, chaired the programme. Describing the various aspects of the CIP, Manju said, “It took the ministry two years to make the CIP, considering the ongoing challenges in the environment sector. Tk. 56,000 crore (USD 7 billion) will be needed to implement the five-year plan.”

He added that a strategic investment plan like the CIP would help select priority projects in the environment, forests, and climate change sector to face the challenges.

“It is important to take part in all the concerned departments and ministries in a coordinated way to implement the plan to help the country develop,” the environment and forest minister said.

He added that the main objective of the CIP is to ensure a healthy environment. Kamal said Bangladesh is appreciated globally due to its economic advancement and environment management.

“The government has given importance to the environment and climate change sector in its seventh five-year plan. The objectives have been described in the plan. The CIP is expected to help us ensure a developed and healthy environment in the country,” the planning minister said.

Additional secretary Abdullah Al Mohsin, who is also the director of the environment and forest ministry support project, briefed the audience about the objectives of the CIP. “It will help the departments and the ministry implement the annual development projects to achieve the

snational targets,” he said during the presentation.

Considering Bangladesh as the most vulnerable country to climate change across the globe, both the government and the ministry of environment and forests must play a proactive role to realise the country’s fair share from the global community, to combat climate change risks.

According to International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) and other study reports, the number of climate-forced migrants has been increasing and it would reach around 20 crore by 2050 in low-lying developing and island countries across the globe.

As per estimates considering climate changes the country is currently going through, around one crore people will become refugees by 2050 in Bangladesh as a result of climate change.

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