Climate Finance in Bangladesh: Lessons for Development Cooperation and Climate Finance at National Level
By Merylyn Hedger, IDS and ODI
Working Paper No 12 - March 2011
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Climate change is accepted as a major issue for Bangladesh due its extreme environmental vulnerability to climate hazards irrespective of climate change. It has a well-established scientific community addressing the issue, and was an early mover in the National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) process. Since then (1995) there have been a series of policy and institutional changes undertaken by the Government. There is a widespread awareness about the inter-relationship of climate change and development, and the dangers that climate change poses for its economic growth, with a study recently completed about the costs for critical coastal infrastructure and other key developments. Bangladesh has increasingly become a significant player in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations as a Least Developed Country (LDC) with special status and with moral voice. It can expect additional funding as an LDC and has already received some EU fast start funds.
This report presents the findings of the case study on Bangladesh within the European Development Cooperation to 2020 (EDC 2020) project, which investigates the links between development cooperation and climate change strategies in developing countries up to 2020. The objective of the case studies (the other being in Indonesia) is to understand the existing and future evolution of climate finance at the national level, and to provide insights on the synergies and conflicts which have been examined at EU and international levels in the project. The provision of funding is a major issue for the post Kyoto climate deal with many countries active on the matter, including Bangladesh. However, policy analysis has been focusing on the international level, and there has been very little knowledge and understanding shared about the particular situations in individual countries. Further, at country level it is possible to examine carefully how climate funding interacts with longer established development efforts.
Two main sources of knowledge have been used to compile the detailed information base on Bangladesh: a review of existing information from written reports and other literature and web-based material, and primary information collected through individual meetings with key Government of Bangladesh (GoB) officials, donors, policy institutes and selected NGOs. Read the full publication.