Asia-Pacific

Bangladesh seeks $10 bln to battle climate change

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-04 14:05

DHAKA: Disaster-prone Bangladesh will need $10 billion from big polluting nations to help it adapt to powerful storms, floods and rising seas, chief of the parliamentary standing committee on environment and forests said.

Bangladesh, one of the world's most densely populated and poorest countries, is highly vulnerable to cyclones, droughts and floods, which often hit millions of people.

"We shall demand 700 billion taka ($10 billion) to deal with the impacts of climate change including 380 billion taka for dredging the rivers," Abdul Momin Talukder told reporters late on Thursday.

Bangladesh's recommendations would be heard at UN climate talks being held in Copenhagen from Dec 7-18.

The UN Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that low-lying Bangladesh could lose nearly one-fifth of its land by 2050 because of rising sea levels due to global warming, displacing at least 20 million people.