Bangladesh, one of the nations most vulnerable to global warming, will seek 15 percent of a 30-billion-dollar climate change fund committed at the Copenhagen summit, the environment minister said Tuesday.
Bangladesh, with a population of 150 million, makes up around 15 percent of the approximately one billion people estimated to be affected by global warming, Environment Minister Hasan Mahmud said.
"We demand per capita compensation: 15 percent of the 30 billion dollar fund," he said, referring to the "fast track" finance pledged by rich nations for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change for the 2010-2012 period.
The money will be used to construct cyclone shelters, reinforce coastal embankments, develop saline resistant crops and for a program of reforestation, he added.
The Copenhagen Accord, passed at the weekend, has been widely condemned for failing to spell out important global emissions targets for 2020 or 2050 that are the key to holding down temperatures.
It also promised 100 billion dollars for poor nations that risk bearing the brunt of the global warming fallout, but has not given a fixed payout plan.
The Bangladeshi government is satisfied with the outcome, Mahmud said.
"We haven't said it's a setback. We haven't also said we are very happy. But what we said is that it's an important achievement that the world has reached a consensus to tackle global warming," he said.
"It's not enough for our (least-developed countries') needs," Mahmud said, but added that important progress had been made by creating such a fund for the first time.
His comments came days after Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she was pleased with the "reasonable conclusion" of the Copenhagen summit.
On the summit's sideline, a charity called Germanwatch published a climate-risk study based on data from insurance giant Munich Re, saying Bangladesh was the country most severely affected by extreme weather events from 1990 to 2008.
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