Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Abdul Awal Mintoo, MP, stated that blue carbon finance is highly essential to protect coastal communities and strengthen the delta economy.
The Environment Minister made this remark today, Thursday (2 July), during his opening speech at the international session titled ‘Accelerating Integrated Climate Action in Asia and the Pacific: Regional Cooperation for Blue Carbon Finance,’ jointly organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Landscape Alliance at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. During the session, he urged the global community to treat the blue carbon ecosystem as a climate asset, community asset, and development asset.
Highlighting World Bank statistics in his speech, the Minister stated that cyclones cause an average annual loss of about US$ 1 billion in Bangladesh. Furthermore, climate migration analysis projects that nearly 13.3 million (1 crore 33 lakh) people in Bangladesh could be internally displaced by 2050 due to the impacts of climate change. In this context, mangrove forests and coastal wetlands are not merely environmental assets for Bangladesh, but are highly critical national climate infrastructure.
Abdul Awal Mintoo said that under the visionary leadership of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Tareq Rahman, MP, the current government remains highly vigilant in tackling climate change risks and has set a target to plant 250 million trees nationwide over the next 5 years.
The Minister further added that the climate and ecosystems of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean regions are ecologically interconnected. Countries in this region, including Bangladesh, India, Thailand, and Indonesia, face common challenges such as cyclones, sea-level rise, and coastal erosion. Therefore, it is imperative to strengthen regional cooperation to develop blue carbon mapping, unified carbon measurement methods, and regional carbon markets, where the United Nations ESCAP can play a vital coordinating role.
The session was attended by Pakistan’s Environment Minister Shezra Mansab Ali Khan Kharal, Maldives’ Environment Minister Ali Shareef, and ESCAP Executive Secretary Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, along with environment ministers from various countries and international delegations.