ISDE Organized Big Gathering Demanding “No To Fossil Gas as Transition Fuel, Stop Coal Power Plants Now” at Chittagong, Bangladesh

09 Nov 2021 | 10: 29 am

The United Nations Climate Conference is being held in Glasgow, the capital of Scotland, from 31 October to 12 November 2021. At this conference, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh has raised four main demands. The demands are: (1) to adopt ambitious plans to reduce carbon emissions to zero, (2) to compensate the developed countries 100 billion annually as promised, and (3) to assist climate-risk countries with renewable and clean energy technologies and (4) taking responsibility for climate refugees and the damage and destruction caused by climate change. At every conference of the world, a solidarity rally was held demanding the implementation of this demand of the Prime Minister.

Non-governmental social development organizations ISDE Bangladesh, ADAB Chittagong, CAB-Chittagong, CAB Youth Group, Coastal Living and Environmental Action Alliance (Clean) and Asian People’s Movement Development (APMDD) jointly organized a solidarity rally and cultural program on November 8, 2021 at the historic CRB premises in Chittagong. The event was chaired by S M Nazer Hossain, Executive Director, ISDE Bangladesh and Vice President, CAB Central Committee, CAB Chittagong Divisional General Secretary Kazi Iqbal Bahar Sabery moderated solidarity rally while freedom fighter and environmentalist, Dr. Idris Ali, Freedom fighter & Secretary General of Vijay Mela Parishad and Co-Chairman of CRB Raksha Andolan Mohammad Eunus, Dr. Mahfuzur Rahman, President of JSD and Co-Chairman of CRB Raksha Andolan, Advocate Ibrahim Hossain Babul, General Secretary of CRB Raksha Andolan and former President of District Bar Association, prominent women leaders and ADAB Chittagong President Jasmine Sultana Paru, Chittagong University Professor of Public Administration Hossain Kabir, Proshika Deputy Director Ajay Mitra Shanku, Shahadat Hossain, Environment activist  Imtiaz Hossain, SDG Youth Forum President Noman Ullah Bahar, Cab Youth Group President Chowdhury KNM Riyad, Program Coordinator, YPSA, Mohammad Ali Shahin, Ghasful Coordinator Jubaidur Rahman, Chief Executive, Projanma Chittagong Chowdhury Jasimul Haque spoke on the occasion.

Speakers demand at the rally, the number of disasters around the world has increased due to the adverse effects of climate change. And the victims are the coastal and developing countries like Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the top five countries affected by climate disaster in the last 20 years. Due to adverse effects of climate, salinity, drought, floods, erratic rainfall, river erosion, cyclones and tidal surges in the coastal and northern parts of the country, more than five lakh people are losing their livelihood and becoming climate-refugees every year.

The speakers demanded immediate cessation of investment in fossil fuels including coal, ensuring adequate compensation for climate-vulnerable as promised, assisting Bangladesh in ensuring renewable energy, taking steps to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2050 and ensuring sustainable development.

The speakers further said that the main cause of climate change is excess carbon emissions in the air and consequently global warming. In 2015, UN member states signed an agreement in Paris aimed at limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

To achieve the Paris Agreement, carbon emissions must be reduced to zero by 2050. While most countries in the world have promised to meet this target, major emitting countries such as China, Russia, Brazil and India have not. As a result, many initiatives to protect mankind will fail. These countries should be ashamed to take a stand against the human race.

Hassan Mehedi, Chief Executive of CLEAN, said 82 percent of carbon emissions come from the energy sector. Therefore, in order to reduce carbon emissions, the developed countries should stop investing in coal, gas and energy. Forty countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have already pledged not to invest in fossil fuels. But big investors like Germany, Japan, China, Austria, Australia, South Korea, Belgium have not promised to stop investing in fossil fuels. These countries need to stop investing in fossil fuels immediately. Later, Natyadhar Shilpa Gosthi performed dramas and cultural programs for the protection of life and nature.