Faced with the unkept climate promises of rich countries, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina is impatient.
“Rich countries just want to get richer and even richer. They don’t bother with others,” Hasina said in an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. "They are responsible for the damage but do nothing, it’s a tragedy,”
Bangladesh has one of the largest and most disaster-prone populous deltas in the world, making it particularly vulnerable to the impacts of rising sea levels and flooding as a result of climate change. However, like much of the developing world, it is not responsible for global warming, which has risen nearly 1.2°C on average since the pre-industrial era.
Faced with growing climate change threats, governments in the South-East Asia regularly denounce the empty promises of developed countries, in particular the broken commitment to increase their aid to $100 billion a year in 2020 so that the poorest countries can reduce their emissions and prepare themselves ahead.
“We have requested this fund. We want this money to be raised but, unfortunately, we have not had a positive response from developed countries,” the Hasina says.
The topic will again be on the agenda at the COP27 climate conference held in Egypt in November. Pakistan which is experiencing devastating flooding that has triggered a humanitarian emergency, is another country growing frustrated with the lack of commitment.
Flooded street in Hyderabad, Pakistan
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that much of his country's territory is “still underwater, submerged in an ocean of human suffering.”
“One thing is very clear, what happened in Pakistan will not stay in Pakistan,” he said.
For now countries vulnerable to the impact of climate change such as Pakistan and Bangladesh have simply obtained a “dialogue” on this subject until 2024.
However, Prime Minister Hasina says “it is the responsibility of the developed countries, it is their duty to help the victims.” Despite everything, she assures that she will do “the best she can, on her own”, even without international aid.
