The Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) concluded in Doha, Qatar on 09 March 2023. The event attended by around 5,000 participants, including 47 heads of state or government and 130 ministers and vice ministers, adopted the Doha Political Declaration. The declaration commits to implementing the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA), a ten-year plan to put …

Sweden and Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) have launched a four-year partnership to strengthen climate action in Bangladesh. The Embassy of Sweden in Dhaka and IUB signed the project agreement on Monday (23 January), said a press release. Tanweer Hasan, vice chancellor of IUB, and Maria Stridsman, head of cooperation and deputy head of mission of the Embassy of Sweden in …

Among the three strategies for addressing climate change – mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage (L&D) – the latter two continue to suffer from interpretational ambiguities. Adaptation does not have an agreed definition under the climate regime. Loss and damage is not yet considered as a third strategy by developed countries. But developing countries don’t agree. Under the Paris Agreement, …

As Bangladesh aims to graduate out of Least Developed Country (LDC) status over the next few years and become more intimately involved in various international activities and issues, we need to make tackling climate change a national and diplomatic priority as well. This means that every new Bangladeshi diplomat should have a basic understanding of what climate change is, how …

One of the positive outcomes of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change back in 2015 was a pledge from the rich countries to provide USD 100 billion a year, starting from 2020, to help the poorer countries tackle climate change through both mitigation and adaptation actions. However, the year 2020 has come and gone, but this pledge was not delivered. …

COVID-19 has changed our world. To mark Earth Day 2020, and the global call to act on climate change, we ask: what lessons can we apply from the pandemic response to help tackle other global crises, including the climate emergency? Both Sheela and I have collaborated with others for many years on how to support the most vulnerable communities in …

The world community already lives in a climate changed world. However, the need to adapt to its increasing impact is extremely urgent for the particularly vulnerable countries, such as the least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS) and Africa. Of all these countries, Bangladesh stands unique in terms of climate impacts on a huge population of 160 million …

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will define the priorities of the UN’s development agenda beyond 2015. But the reality of climate change impacts will render these aspirational goals almost impossibly challenging for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) unless the current level of ambition in development and climate action is urgently increased. This briefing summarises our analysis of the projected impacts …