AOSED at COP26

AOSED at COP26

DAY 1: 1 November 2021

Executive Director of AOSED Mr. Shamim Arfeen, Team Leader of AOSED’s Climate Change and Disaster Management Cell Mr. Himadree Shekhar Mondal, Panel Mayor-2 and 25 no. Ward Councillor of Khulna City Corporation Mr. Ali Akbar Tipu, and Head of Urban and Regional Planning (KUET) Prof. Dr. Mostafa Saroar is participating in this year’s COP as Team AOSED.

AOSED will jointly organize a side event with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Arab Network for Environment and Development (RAED), and Coastal Association for Social Transformation Trust (COAST Trust) titled ‘Effective practices & perspectives of actors across sectors in regions vulnerable to climate change’ on November 6, 2021. Besides, there will be an Audio-visual presentation on the vulnerabilities of seagoing traditional fishers of the coastal region of Bangladesh and AOSED’s initiative to enhance their resilience through software and hardware support and develop an early warning response mechanism during the event.

DAY 3: 3 November 2021

On day 3 of #COP26, the Executive Director of AOSED Mr. Shamim Arfeen, and Panel Mayor or KCC Mr. Ali Akber Tipu met Mr. Saber Hossain Chowdhury MP, Chairman of Parliamentary of MoEFCC, and Secretary of MoEFCC Mr. Ziaul Hasan NDC to discuss the stand of Bangladesh in financing to the zero-emission as well as the adaptation of climate displaced people.

DAY 5: 5 November 2021

On the 5th day of #COP26, AOSED have participated in a press conference titled ‘LDC’s & MVC Peoples’ expectations and COP26’ with other CSOs from India and Bangladesh where the speakers demanded to put an end to Carbon emission instead of the so-called “Net Zero target by 2050”

.Mr. Shamim Arfeen from AOSED, Mr. Soumya Datta of People’s Forum India, Md. Ziaul Haque Mukta from the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihood-Bangladesh, Md. Shamsuddoha from the Center for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD), Md. Ali Akbar Tipu (Panel Mayor, KCC), and Md. Jahangir Hossain Masum from Coastal Development Partnership (CDP) was among the speakers. Mr. Aminul Haque from Equity and Justice Working Group Bangladesh presented the keynote at the press conference.

Introducing the keynote, Aminul Haque said that the COP26 is being held at a critical time in the context of the failure of the unwavering commitment of the world leaders. Even though, he is optimistic as developed countries have at least pledged to co-operate with MVC countries in tackling climate change, as well as continuing their committed steps to reduce global warming. He made a number of specific demands on behalf of civil society at the press conference, which are:

Developed countries must change their ‘Net Zero Target’ theory, instead of revising their respective countries’ NDCs (Nationally Defined Contributions), with the goal to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2050.
Developed countries need to ensure adequate climate financing for LDCs and MVCs from the Green Climate Fund and their own sources,
Have separate funding arrangements for loss and damage and implement that financing process.

Mr. Soumya Datta said ‘Net Zero’ is a phrase that represents the magical thinking of our imaginary future technology. It simply speaks of a plan to take in carbon from the atmosphere. As a result, the plan reduces the carbon footprint of rich countries and creates opportunities to increase it at an increasing rate. This is why it is an ineffective proposal to solve the problem, and it is very important for all countries to stop talking about Net-Zero. Rather all should be vocal in reducing the use of fossil fuels and discussing the goal of ‘zero emissions.’

Mr. Shamim Arfeen said that as a result of climate change, millions of people are displaced every year and lose all means of livelihood. Human rights violations are a common occurrence. Developed countries have a responsibility to solve the problem and ensure financial and technical assistance accordingly. They should be supported to make the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage’s proposed process fully operational by financing it.

Mr. Ali Akbar Tipu said Khulna is one of the most vulnerable cities to climate change as the climate of the southwest coastal region is becoming more and more endangered under the pressure of displaced people. As natural disasters increase due to climate change, the pressure on displaced people may increase more severely in the future. As an elected representative, he believes that the wise use of resources, money, and technology, and our concerted efforts should be made to address the effects of climate change. Finally, I am confident that the Government of Bangladesh under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will successfully address the climate issues.

Md. Shamsuddoha said that the revised NDCs of developed countries and their full implementation will increase the global temperature by more than 2 degrees, which is unacceptable. In this context, developed countries need to embrace a broader ambition to reduce global carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030. For this, they have to revise their NDC and set new targets for 2030 and 2050. Action must be taken in accordance with the principle of common but different responsibilities and in the light of the national situation.

Mr. Jahangir Hossain Masum said that the position of rich countries in terms of adaptation financing is negative, with the current fundraising accounting for only 20% of this sector, which is negligible. The mainstay of the new joint climate financing will be the ‘climate justice’ approach, where financing is expected to be adequate and will certainly exceed the 100 billion targets. MVCs will have to pay for both adaptation and subsequent mitigation.

DAY 6: 6 November 2021

On day 6 of COP26 AOSED successfully participated and gave a speech on the climate displacement issues of the southwest coastal region of Bangladesh on the side event titled ‘Climate Displacement: Towards a Pragmatic Global Response’.

Along with the Executive Director of AOSED Mr. Shamim Arfeen, the honorable Deputy Minister of MoEFCC Ms. Habibun Nahar MP, Barrister Shamim Haider MP, and Professor Dr. Mostafa Saroar have also shared their opinion and knowledgeable speech.

The event was moderated by Dr. Emad Adly, General Coordinator of the Arab Network for Environment and Development (RAED)