Experts urge sevenfold hike in climate adaptation budget

Climate change experts and economists highlight a strong link between climate vulnerability and poverty, stressing that poverty eradication and climate action must go hand in hand for meaningful progress in Bangladesh.

They also termed the current climate change adaptation spending-around 6.0 to 7.0 per cent of the national budget-negligible, recommending a sevenfold increase along with proper prioritisation and effective utilisation.

The recommendation came on Wednesday during the launch of the "Bangladesh Poverty Watch Report 2024" jointly organised by the Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM) and the Center for Inclusive Development Dialogue (CIDD) at a conference room in the capital.

Dr Mustafa K Mujeri, chairman of CIDD and Executive Director of InM, Dr A K Enamul Haque, executive director at BIDS, Dr M Asaduzzaman, former research director at BIDS, and Dr Fazle Rabbi Sadeque Ahmed, deputy managing director of PKSF, spoke at the event, which was chaired by Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed, chairman of InM.

In his speech, Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed said that while global discussions initially focused on climate mitigation, the need for adaptation and climate finance gained prominence from COP 13 in 2007, as effective mitigation alone proved insufficient.

Slamming the lack of government priority on climate action, he remarked, "You're a minister, you'll get a project-whether it's climate-related or not." He argued that this lack of focus is why the country is not reaping the expected benefits from the annual $5 billion in domestic and $1 billion in foreign climate spending.

He also highlighted the complexity of securing foreign funding, particularly from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), saying, "It takes them five years just to say yes or no to a project."

On poverty measurement, he pointed out that Bangladesh still relies on income-based metrics, ignoring multidimensional indicators. If deprivations in areas like education and health were considered, he said, the true extent of poverty would be far greater.

Dr Farhana Nargis, research fellow at the InM, presented the keynote titled "Highlights of Bangladesh Poverty Watch Report 2024: Climate Change and Poverty Nexus."

The keynote reveals that currently, the government spends around 6-7 per cent of its annual budget on adaptation, about 75 per cent of which comes from domestic sources. However, scaling up adaptation measures as outlined in the National Adaptation Plan (2023-2050) would require at least seven times the current spending.

"Thus climate change places immense pressure on limited budgetary resources and challenges the government's capacity to respond effectively and provide relief and rehabilitation to climate change affected populations.

Highlighting the correlation between the climate vulnerability and extreme poverty, she said that 67 per cent of the most poverty-stricken 30 upazilas experience moderate climate vulnerability while the remaining 33 per cent of these upazilas face high climate vulnerability. None of the most poverty-affected upazilas fall into the low climate vulnerability category.

With over 30 million people still in poverty, the report highlights how climate change disproportionately affects the poor, worsening their vulnerability and pushing them deeper into poverty.

Covering seven climate-affected districts, the study finds regional variations in vulnerability and emphasises the need for region-specific disaster management.

"While past efforts focused on environmental damage, the report stresses the often-overlooked social impacts-especially on health, food, water, education, and livelihoods," said Dr Farhana Nargis.

She also recommended five strategic directions including inclusive, poverty-sensitive adaptation, climate-aware poverty reduction, cross-sectoral synergy, institutional coherence and local empowerment.

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