At the first Panel Discussion of the 3rd Antaliya Diplomacy Forum held in Antalya, Türkiye, today (02 March 2024) Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr. Hasan Mahmoud spoke on Global Climate Change and Climate Migrants and Climate Refugees issues. In panel 4 discussants (the Foreign Minister of Malaysia and Bangladesh, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, and the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Vietnam discussed various aspects of the theme, “Building Asia-Pacific Regional Architecture: The Challenge of Unlatching Interests”.
The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, mentioning about the very pristine nature of life in our universe and where life thrives only on our planet amongst two trillion galaxies in the observable universe, focusing on the importance of caring for the protection of our environment and the adverse effects of the global warming that amongst others negatively contributing factors towards the rise of Climate Migrants and Refugees. He mentioned that like many small and island nations Bangladesh has become one of the worst sufferers of Global Climate Change and Global Warming. Along with it, the sea level rise what is happening now for the last 3 decades mostly because of the increasing rise of greenhouse gases, the entire coastal area of Bangladesh is at the risk of inundation. This phenomenon is constantly causing the rise of climate migrations in Bangladesh and many places abroad. The issue is now so real that Bangladesh urgently urges the world community to change the definition of climate migrants and refugees to bring it in line with the UN definition of Migrants and Refugees.
The Foreign Minister further mentioned that while his country and many environmental scientists have been focusing on the issue for many long years, many world leaders did not believe in it until lately, it has become evident to all. Yet the rich countries, the major contributors to global warming, are doing very little to address the issue and protect our environment. Their local issues make a impact global.
Bangladesh as one of the worst sufferers of this harsh reality urges all activists and global leaders to accept the importance of changing the definition of climate migrants and refugees and devise an acceptable definition of it and protect the victims and the future generations.
The Panel Discussion was moderated by Mr. Lawrence Anderson, an academic and fellow of the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore.