Climate
Action
13.1 Global Perspective on SDG 13
With rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally, the current rate of climate change is much faster than anticipated and its effects are clearly felt across the world. Despite positive steps in terms of climate finance flows and development of national targets, far more ambitious plans and accelerated action are needed on mitigation and adaptation. Access to finance and strengthened capacities need much faster scaling up, particularly for the less developed and more climate change impact countries.
At present, increasing GHG emissions are driving climate change. In 2017, GHG concentrations reached new highs, with globally averaged mole fractions of CO2 at 405.5 parts per million (ppm), up from 400.1 ppm in 2015. Moving towards 2030 emission objectives compatible with the 2°C and 1.5°C pathways requires a peak to be achieved as soon as possible, followed by rapid reductions.
During the period 1998–2017, direct economic losses from disasters are estimated at almost
$3 trillion. Climate-related and geophysical disasters claimed an estimated 1.3 million lives. Until 2019, 185 parties have ratified the Paris Agreement. Parties to the Paris Agreement are required to prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions, and 183 parties have communicated their first nationally determined contributions to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Under the Agreement, all parties are required to submit new nationally determined contributions, containing revised and much more ambitious targets, by 2020.
In South Asia, all countries are experiencing the drastic effects of climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions are higher than ever, and global warming is causing long-lasting changes to the climate system, which threatens irreversible consequences if no action is taken. The annual average economic losses from climate-related disasters are rising sharply; along with the human impact of geo-physical disasters, which are mostly climate-related. As one of the most climate vulnerable region, countries in South Asia urgently need both to adapt to climate change and invest in low-carbon development.
Supporting vulnerable regions will directly contribute not only to Goal 13 but also to the other SDGs.
These actions must also go hand in hand with efforts to integrate disaster risk measures, sustainable natural resource management, and human security into national development strategies. It is still possible, with strong political will, increased investment, and using existing technology, to limit the increase in global mean temperature to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, aiming at 1.5°C, but this requires urgent and ambitious collective action.
The global climate finance flows increased by 17 per cent in the period 2015–2016 compared with the period 2013–2014. Till the first half of 2019, 28 countries have accessed Green Climate Fund grant financing for the formulation of national adaptation plans and other adaptation planning processes, with a value of $75 million. In total, 75 countries are seeking support from the Green Climate Fund for national adaptation plans and other adaptation planning processes, with a combined value of $191 million.
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13.2 Assessment of Progress
Indicator 13.1.1 Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population
Bangladesh’s flat topography, low-lying and climatic features combined with its population density and socioeconomic environment, make it highly vulnerable to many natural hazards, including unpredictable rainfalls and increased number of intensified floods, droughts and extreme temperature. The Bangladesh Disaster-related Statistics 2015 shows that about 13 per cent households and 12.65 per cent population live in disaster prone areas. The number of persons affected by disaster per 100,000 people is counted as 12,881 in 2014. The Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP 2100) suggests that “with the intensification of climate change and other delta related environmental risks, total loss would be the highest in river estuary, but in terms of magnitude of loss, coastal area would be affected more relative to its economic size due to the climate change impact”. As the disasters are likely to increase with intensification of global temperature rise, the government has set a target to reduce the number of persons affected by disaster to 1,500 per 100,000 population by 2030.
Table 13.1: Deaths and Damages due to Disasters
Year Affected person per 100,000 Death per 100,000
2016 12881 0.2045
2017 7656 0.4427
2018 22 0.2375
2019 4318 0.316
Source: Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, GOB.
The main disasters affecting Bangladesh are floods, cyclones, tornadoes and earthquakes among others. Figure 13.1 shows that nearly 70 per cent of the land mass of Bangladesh is prone to flooding.
As climate change is expected to bring in changes in precipitation and also the risk of GLOF (glacier lake outbursts flooding) in the Himalayan region increases, Bangladesh is likely to face increased risk of flooding in future. This, combined with forecasts of SLR (sea level rise) due to climate change will further aggravate the situation. In addition there are risks of increased cyclones and droughts in coastal regions and in the northwestern regions
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Figure 13.1: Flood Prone Areas of BangladeshFigure 13.1: Flood Prone Areas of Bangladesh