Climate-hit businesses pin hopes on Bangladesh's new plan to adapt
What’s the context?
The ambitious plan aims to devote $230 billion to buffering the country against rising seas, cyclones, floods and droughts, but small business owners worry they will be overlooked
- Plan includes over 110 measures estimated to cost $230 billion
- Small and rural businesses say they get little state support
- Climate-resilient infrastructure could shield productivity, jobs
Khaleda Sultana's small workshop in Dhaka, where she makes homeware and handicrafts from jute and other plant fibres, is far from the coastal areas of Bangladesh that are struggling to cope with rising seas and powerful storms.
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"Bangladesh has been a pioneer in climate strategy among the developing countries," said Ahmmed Zulfiqar Rahaman, a climate expert with the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) who helped draft the plan.
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A study by the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development, published in May, showed rural families in Bangladesh use a large chunk of their budgets to protect themselves from climate change, especially households led by women, who allocate up to 30% of their spending for that purpose.
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Bangladesh's new plan identifies more than 110 adaptation measures to tackle climate stresses such as cyclones, floods, droughts, sea level rise and saltwater intrusion, said Rahaman of the CEGIS.
It requires an estimated investment of $230 billion between 2023 and 2050 - seven times more than the country is spending on its national climate change strategy now, according to Rahaman.
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