DHAKA, Dec 11, 2022 (BSS) - Foreign Minister Dr Abdul Momen today said the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war cannot be a reason to divert global climate change financing to other causes. 
 
"The ongoing Ukraine war and the resulting cost-of-living crisis around the world, aggravated by sanctions and counter-sanctions, cannot be a pretext for diminishing or diverting much needed financing for tackling the climate crisis in order to save this planet earth," he said. 
 
The foreign minister was addressing the opening ceremony of the Global Hub on Locally Led Adaptation at Foreign Service Academy in the capital. 
 
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the hub joining virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.
 
In his speech, the foreign minister urged the international community to scale up financial and technological support for the developing countries to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change. 
 
He said Bangladesh has been experiencing erratic changes in climate, devastating floods, rainfalls, cyclones, heat waves, landslides, and droughts in recent years with unprecedented pace and scale. 
 
Each year, he said, more than 6,50,000 people of Bangladesh are being uprooted from their home and traditional jobs due to erratic climate changes, global warming and river erosion while the government has responsibility to rehabilitate although government has no role in contributing to their uprooting. 
 
"We must also give increased focus on climate induced human mobility as an adaptive measure," Momen said. 
 
The minister said there are varieties of estimates that tell that around 20 percent of the coastal areas of Bangladesh will be flooded then there could be millions of people, they will be uprooted from their homes. 
 
"If millions of people are uprooted from their homes it will create a global security problem," he said. 
 
Therefore before such a situation happens, the foreign minister requested to global leaders to come forward to share the burden of their rehabilitation and also take corrective action so that that situation never happens. 
 
 
"While we welcome the initiative of a new funding mechanism for 'loss and damage' in COP27, we would urge the international community to operationalise this fund as early as possible for creating additional financing mechanisms to address climate-induced migration," he said. 
 
Momen also urged the Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) to give additional attention to the climate-induced migration issue, including through this Global Hub on Locally Led Adaptation.
 
The foreign minister said Bangladesh believes that community-driven efforts are more effective to respond to climate risks as they are targeted to local needs and priorities. 
 
Despite being one of the most climate vulnerable countries, he said, Bangladesh stands atop in pioneering climate adaptation efforts. 
 
He said, over the last few years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has emerged as a global leader in locally led actions. 
 
"In consonance with our Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision, we are shifting from climate vulnerability to resilience and prosperity," the minister observed. 
 
GCA Chair and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, GCA Chief Executive Officer Dr Patrick Verkooijen, Bangladesh Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin and British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Chatterton Dickson spoke.