Make best use of climate funds
UK minister Alistair Burt urges Bangladesh
Visiting British Foreign Office Minister for South Asia Alistair Burt yesterday urged Bangladesh to make the best use of available funds to fight climate change.
“We are very conscious about tracking the money wherever it goes. We have greater transparency. It's good for society,” he said during an interaction with teachers and students of Brac University in the capital.
The private university organised a dialogue on UK-Bangladesh relations and challenges.
The British minister said climate change was one of the biggest threats to the wellbeing of people, and Bangladesh's geographical location made it particularly vulnerable to flooding on one hand and water shortage on the other.
The UK is a close partner of Bangladesh in international forums in funding and helping the country on climate change, he added.
At present, the UK is supporting the construction of 56 multi-purpose cyclone shelters in Bangladesh and helping over 15 million Bangladeshis get better prepared for floods.
Burt said his country had been working tirelessly to cut carbon emissions worldwide and pressing for a legally binding agreement in 2015. “We want to help all the countries to do their bit to make growth green.”
Asked if the climate-induced migrants should be provided with compensation by high carbon emitters through relocating them to those countries, the minister said the situation should not lead to mass migration of climate refugees.
It is not only governments, but also individuals and communities which have important roles to play in tackling climate change, which is an idea central to the notion of a “big society,” he observed.
Referring to a survey by the British Council in Bangladesh, he said youths believed they should be involved in social work, but only 30 percent of them actually got involved in it.
So, the challenge was not to get young people engaged in social issues, but to empower them to get involved in them, pointed out Burt.
It is vital the citizens had confidence in the democratic processes; confidence that they can vote freely, their votes would be counted fairly, and could make a difference, he maintained.
“Providing citizens with the means of expressing their views and shaping their futures is at the heart of democracy,” he said, adding that governments must pay heed to the warnings sounded by civil society.
When a teacher asked Burt about his country's stance on the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir in the UK when Bangladesh had banned it, he said the UK believed in freedom of ideas and thoughts, and that it could not prosecute anyone unless there was evidence of violence or terrorist activities.
Brac University Vice-Chancellor Dr Ainun Nishat and British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Gibson spoke at the programme.
The UK minister arrived in Dhaka on Monday on a three-day visit.
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