<i>The action beyond a day</i>
Only one day is not sufficient to unite people to combat climate change but it should be sufficient to give a message -- "Your planet needs you: Unite to combat climate change." Bearing this theme, the whole world is celebrating today the World Environment Day (WED) 2009 with a view to raising worldwide awareness of the environment as well as enhancing political attention and action. The world observes WED, which was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972, on June 5 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. This year's WED falls on the eve of 15th Conference of the Parties (COP), which will be held in Copenhagen in December. The parties will meet to conclude an agreement that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol. In 1992, the United Nations adopted the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the Rio Summit, which entered into force in 1994 with a key provision aimed at stabilising climate change to a safe level. Without the participation of the USA, the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol, containing binding emission reduction commitments for 37 developed countries, was adopted in 1997 and came into force in 2005. While the protocol aims to achieve a 5.2% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, to below the 1990 level by 2012, the 13th COP in Bali in December 2007 recognised that the most recent scientific findings required far more wide ranging activity. This new approach should ensure that deep emissions cuts are made by 2050 to levels compatible with limiting the rise in global temperature above the pre-industrial level so as to avoid huge and unmanageable changes in climate. The Bali plan of action is the basis for ongoing UNFCCC negotiations, aimed at achieving an agreement at the 15th COP. The USA and other developed countries are the biggest carbon emitters while the impacts of climate change will fall unreasonably upon poor and developing countries, even though they are the smallest carbon emitters. Bangladesh, a low-lying country, as per UNFCCC report, is one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change. So, Bangladesh and other vulnerable countries should get prepared to combat climate change and seek technical support as well as compensation from the countries contributing most to climate change. The upcoming COP 15 could be the platform for the vulnerable to raise their voice. Rise in sea level, changes in rainfall and temperature, frequency of floods, droughts, soil erosion etc are the generally identified impacts of climate change, and some countries, including Bangladesh, are already experiencing some of them. According to the United Nations, an estimated 200,000 deaths each year in the world's low income countries can be linked to the impact of climate change on health -- through crop failure and malnutrition, diarrhoeal diseases, malaria and flooding. The impacts will also be felt in the economy, which will be an obstacle in achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs). Kamalesh Sharma, the secretary general of the intergovernmental organisation said: "Climate change could reverse progress made towards achieving the MDGs in human development. Tomorrow will be too late to regain the progress we have lost today." There is no way to wait for tomorrow, and we should start acting from today's WED to combat climate change. We should remember that everyone's actions, individually or collectively, have impacts on climate change. We should try to reduce carbon emissions and find out the alternatives for our lovely planet. A range of practices in our diverse physical, social, economic and political environment can help us to adapt to climate change. The illiterate people, especially the women who are more vulnerable, are unaware about climate change and conscious people should take action to raise awareness on the issue. The government also has the responsibility of taking effective measures to adapt to climate change. It is praiseworthy that the Bangladesh government declared a climate change Strategy and Action Plan in 2008, and the cabinet approved in principle the Climate Change Trust Policy (CCTP) to help face the adverse impacts of global warming. In addition, the government has created a climate change fund from the current fiscal year. Besides, a number of national and international development agencies working in Bangladesh are concentrating seriously on the issue and taking various actions. So, it requires effective coordination between the government and other agencies, and involvement of the vulnerable groups, in planning, designing and implementing climate change mitigation programs. We hope we will concentrate not only on observing the day, meetings, seminars, workshops, researches etc. on climate change, but also on real actions if we truly wish to change the situation. Remember the words of Mohandas Gandhi: "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
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