Talks by S. M. Saify Iqbal
Newspaper Article, 2020
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Newspaper Article, 2019
Due to the funnel-shaped northern part of the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh experiences tropical cycl... more Due to the funnel-shaped northern part of the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh experiences tropical cyclone each year which results in the unbearable sufferings of the people living in the coastal region. This country has been experiencing deadly cyclones since the last century. From 1970 to1998, about 38 severe cyclones hit the coastal belt of the country of which 1971 Bhola cyclone and 1991 Gorky cyclone snatched away life of 500,000 and 138,000 people respectively and made million people homeless. In addition, the south-west coast of the country was stuck by a category 4 cyclone named SIDR on the 15th November in 2007, that took the life of 3,406 people aside over 55,882 physical injuries and destruction of 2.06 million households, death of 1.8 million livestock and poultry and damage to 1 million ha of crops that cumulatively caused total loss and damages worth of 1.7 billion USD. Back in 2017, the north-western part of this country was hit by flash flood due to excessive rainfall and sudden onrush of water from the upstream hills of Himalaya which destroyed around 1.58 million tons of nearly ready for harvesting Boro rice. Our country never experienced such type of devastating flash flood before. Whatever, the above-mentioned stats are basically climate induced economic losses which we can quantify or measure and which are widely reported but there are also such type of losses that can’t be expressed by any economic value or can’t be measured; it is called non-economic losses (NELs). Generally, it is possible to quantify how much crops have been destroyed and how many lives have been lost but what about psychological trauma a family have to go through after losing their dear ones, identical and cultural loss a fisherman or a farmer faces after being displaced away from their homesteads by involving them in other professions which they are not accustomed to do, and mental stress after losing ancestral land where their near and dear ones are buried forever. In this article, in order to better understand the concept of NELs, at first I will discuss how it got momentum in UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiation and then some ground realities.
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Newspaper Article, 2018
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Iqbal illustrates the state of climate migrants and challenges they face in the slums of Dhaka city.
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Papers by S. M. Saify Iqbal
Transferring Climate Induced Disaster Risks - Policy Practices and Readiness of Bangladesh, 2018
Globally, the weather related extreme events and associated loss and damages (L&D) have increased... more Globally, the weather related extreme events and associated loss and damages (L&D) have increased significantly. With of high confidence, the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5) published in 2014 stated that the risks associated with those extreme weather events will further increase, putting disproportionate burden of climate stress and associated losses to the most vulnerable poor countries and communities. In the face of growing weather extremes and associated L&Ds, the global policy stakeholders at the UNFCCC negotiation have long been in discussion for agreeing a comprehensive ‘multi-window mechanism’ for addressing L&D, however the differentiated political position on the demand for ‘loss compensation’ from the historical liability context of the developed countries made the process considerably delayed. It’s only in 2007, the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP 13) of the UNFCCC included L&D as an agenda item, roughly 16 years later since the issue was first raised in 1991 at the 46th General Assembly of the United Nations. Over the years, the developed country group denied any discussion despite the L&D had started to manifest; they also had long been able to hinder any progress in L&D negotiations as they feared to be held liable for causing L&Ds and compensate those. Despite strong opposition of the developed countries, the negotiation on L&D got significant momentum since COP 13; however, major progress achieved at COP 21 where the country Parties included a stand-alone article in the Paris Agreement (PA), with the provision of enhanced action and support, and approaches e.g. risk reduction, risk sharing, and risk transfer, and rehabilitation for addressing L&DS. Though, the pre-Paris COP negotiations emphasized for a comprehensive ‘all inclusive’ mechanism, the post-Paris COP negotiations provided utmost focus on a ‘all alone’ mechanism e.g. insurance for addressing L&D. For instance, among three different but interconnected approaches, climate risk sharing and risk transfer has become the priority concern with increased financial commitment and support primarily by the G7 and G20 country group who find ‘insurance’ apparently as an ultimate solution of addressing L&Ds. At COP 23 in 2017, the G20 countries launched their climate risk finance ‘the InsuResilience Global Partnership for Climate and Disaster Risk Finance’ also established a Multi-donor Trust Fund (MDTF) under the administering authority of the GFDRR/World Bank Group to implement the InsuResilience initiative. Despite the opportunities the climate risk insurance (CRI) provide, they are not appropriate for addressing longer-term foreseeable risks like sea-level rise and desertification, also the CRI may not cover the predictable L&Ds that the poor share-croppers and marginalized smallholders in the developing countries face almost in every year. There are less evidences that poor smallholders pay insurance premiums; it’s neither affordable by the smallholders, not justifiable to ask them to pay premiums. In many countries misconception on the risk transfer mechanisms exists, many of them still lack an appropriate regulatory framework for introducing CRI. In many places, people consider insurance as a mechanism that would deceive them, they also consider insurance too expensive. Therefore, CRI should not be considered as an ‘all alone’ solution as it has many structural limitations and setbacks. For instance, CRI could not be applied in transferring.
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Loss and damage (L&D) associated with the adverse impacts of climate change has now become a hars... more Loss and damage (L&D) associated with the adverse impacts of climate change has now become a harsh reality in many parts of the world, especially in the low income developing countries. The consistent rise of global average temperature and inadequate mitigation pledges to limit Earth’s average temperature rise well below 2 degree Centigrade from the pre-industrial era would further aggravate the situation causing L&D inevitable and irreversible. There are already many evidences of irreversible L&D resulting from the localized and unusual extreme and slow onset events. Back in 1991 the Alliance of the Small Island States (AOSIS)-who feared to be drowned by the rise of sea levels-argued for addressing climate change induced L&D; however the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted in 1992 didn’t formally recognize this. Over the years, the developed country group denied any discussion despite the L&D has started to manifest given the context of feeble mitigation effort and inadequate adaptation support to the developing countries. Against the persistent demand of the AOSIS and the developing country groups for addressing climate change induced L&D, the developed country group has long been able to hinder any progress in L&D negotiations as they feared to be liable for causing L&D and compensate those. Over the years, the developed country group not only hindered L&D negotiations but also distracted the entire UNFCCC negotiation process with their structured policy shifting, which caused proliferation of ‘manifest climate injustice’ to the developing counties. It is only in 2007, the COP 13 (Conference of the Parties) held in Bali in 2007 included L&D as an issue for further negotiations, and the COP 16 held in Cancun in 2010 decided to establish a ‘Work Programme’ for addressing L&D. However, the major progress in L&D negotiations achieved at COP 21 held in Paris in 2015 that included a stand-alone article in the Paris Agreement with the provision of enhanced action and support for addressing L&D on the ground. While inclusion of a standalone ‘loss and damage’ Article (Article 8) in the Paris Agreement is being considered a big step forward of correcting ‘manifest climate injustice’, yet there are major disagreements among the Parties on the key L&D issues, which might cause proliferation of ‘manifest climate injustice’ putting the climate vulnerable countries under more aggravated L&D situation. To correct ‘manifest climate injustice’ this paper analyses the policy shifts of the climate change negotiations, provides an overview how L&D evolved in negotiation process, discusses the current debate and disagreement on L&D emerged in the post Paris COP negotiations, and finally concludes with five policy recommendations directed to the COP and to the national stakeholders. The recommendations are: a) a standalone L&D agenda item under the SBI, b) a standalone L&D financing mechanism with multiple windows, c) strengthened institutional arrangement-global to national, d) new and additional L&D financingnot blending with the humanitarian assistance, e) separate governance and fund management mechanism under the COP. The recommended policy positions may also guide the border policy stakeholders and CSOs to advocate for a justice-based response for addressing L&D on the ground.
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Talks by S. M. Saify Iqbal
Papers by S. M. Saify Iqbal