Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP), 2009
The Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) was initially formulated in 2008 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests during the rule of a non-partisan caretaker government. It was then officially adopted in 2009 under Sheikh Hasina’s government, outlining a ten-year program (2009-2018) to enhance the country’s capacity and resilience against climate change. It is a comprehensive, cross-sectoral policy document designed as a ten-year framework and was created in response to growing awareness of climate change and the necessity for a structured approach to mitigate and adapt to its impacts.
The interesting aspect about its cross sectional approach is that it aligns with the Government’s Vision 2021, which aims to eliminate poverty, increase employment, ensure food security, provide access to energy, and improve the economic and social well-being of all citizens. To achieve these objectives, the strategy emphasizes pro-poor, climate-resilient, and low-carbon development.
The Action Plan includes 44 programs categorised as immediate, short, medium, and long-term, focusing on six key areas: 1. Food security, social protection, and health; 2. Comprehensive disaster management; 3. Infrastructure; 4. Research and knowledge management; 5. Mitigation and low-carbon development; and 6. Capacity building and institutional strengthening.
The BCCSAP was formulated and updated in 2009 from the 2008 version, reflecting the new government’s (at the time, Hasina’s new government) revised development priorities, which include significant poverty reduction by 2021. The Action Plan prioritises the needs of the poor and vulnerable, including women and children, with actions focused on protecting the livelihoods of vulnerable socio-economic groups and those in ecologically fragile areas. to address the severe impacts of climate change on Bangladesh, aligning with global frameworks such as the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Several factors influenced the creation of the BCCSAP, including the anticipation of significant climate change-related funding, the need to update the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) 2005, and increased political and stakeholder awareness of climate issues.
For comprehensive disaster management, the programs include improving disaster forecasting and early warning systems, raising public awareness and education on climate resilience, managing risks to income and property, adapting fisheries and livestock sectors, maintaining and repairing infrastructure, and revising sectoral policies for climate resilience, including reducing emissions from agricultural land.
The BCCSAP is funded through multiple channels. Initially, a Multi-Donor Trust Fund was established to attract donor funding, particularly from the UK. This fund later evolved into the Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund (BCCRF) in 2010. Additionally, the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF) was created through the Climate Change Trust Fund Act 2010, which is financed by internal resources. The government of Bangladesh allocated approximately 253 dollars million for the three-year period from 2009 to 2012 to support the implementation of the BCCSAP.
The Climate and Clean Air Coalition & Subsequent Policies
Bangladesh continues to suffer from abnormal levels of pollution. It is currently ranked as the world’s most polluted country, with the fine particulate air pollution of PM 2.5, shortening the average Bangladeshi individual’s life expectancy by 6.8 years. According to a report by the Air Quality Life Index, the whole of Bangladesh’s population of 164.8 million reside in areas where the pollution levels exceed both the national and World Health organisation’s standard and guidelines.
In this regard and due to the increasingly concerning levels of air pollution in all regions of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina introduced a policy that tackled this issue: the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), highlighting her commitment in addressing problems with air quality. In 2012, Bangladesh became one of the founding members of the CCAC, a partnership of 160+ governments, intergovernmental organisations, and non-governmental organisations assembled within the United Nations Environment Programme.
With an overarching aim of mitigating climate change and achieving the Paris Agreement goals from 2016, the CCAC’s main goals is to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) like HFCS, methane, tropospheric ozone, and black carbon. Through this, Bangladesh is committed to reducing emissions, particularly through a decrease of black carbon emissions by 72% and methane by 37% by 2040.
This coalition is particularly significant for Bangladesh as SLCPs have a direct impact on global warming, reducing the latter and by effect helping to prevent millions of premature deaths. The CCAC Trust Fund offers developing countries the chance to develop national policy and implement mitigation measures that align with delivering higher air quality. Within the CCAC, the development of the Global Methane Pledge was put in place, a pledge to collectively reduce methane emissions by more than 30% by 2030 in comparison to 2020. Hence, since 2012, Sheikh Hasina has actively pursued policies encompassing the areas of green tech investment and climate finance funds to move the green transition.
Bangladesh developed its National Action Plan to best adapt the goals to the country’s interests and climate landscape. Under the CCAC, funding allowed for the development of several projects to improve the air quality in Dhaka, and regions surrounding. These included the Low Emission Development for Bangladesh’s Dairy Sector (2020), National Planning on SLCP (2013-2019), Reducing Methane Emissions from Paddy Rice (2014), and Technical Assistance for Brick Kiln Financing (2017), among others. These are some micro policies that have been adopted in Bangladesh that are helping Bangladesh achieve the goals set in place.
Moreover, as a founding member of the CCAC, Bangladesh has to act accordingly to the vision promised in its inception and this brings forth the greater need to proactively address the problem of air pollution in the country. Therefore, to expand upon her role in the CCAC, Sheikh Hasina introduced a complementary policy named the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Master Plan (EECMP), a policy spanning until 2030 aimed at enhancing energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption levels by 20% compared to 2013, translating to saving approximately 95 million tons of oil equivalent (toe) or 113 billion cubic metres of gas.
It also set a target to achieve a 15% improvement in energy efficiency and primary energy consumption per GDP by 2021. Estimates suggest that in 2030, the total primary energy consumption of Bangladesh is estimated to triple the size of 2013. With a change in the energy composition landscape and a shift from a labour-intensive to energy intensive industrial sector, the government understood the opportunity to promote a policy in this domain. Moreover, Bangladesh at the time experienced significant energy inefficiency in production, transmission, and distribution.
This policy is quite extensive, ranging from agriculture, infrastructure, energy, economy-wide applications, to the transportation sector. The master plan was developed along 7 main domains, including adoption an energy management program, a labelling program, an energy efficiency building program, a finance program for private companies, energy consumption data collection (by fuel, sector, and energy intensity data), as well as other diverse government initiatives centred on capacity development and awareness raisin. By focusing on energy efficiency, this plan is envisioned to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, lowering GHG emissions, and hence mitigate the adverse effects of air pollution.
According to A. Das et al., ´the process of urbanisation in Bangladesh has been taking place at an unparalleled pace… [which has] resulted in significant environmental strain, characterised by heightened levels of energy utilisation, transportation-related emissions, and waste production. These complementary policies are paramount to address the issue of air quality in the most feasible manner.
National Adaptation Plan 2023-2050 & Delta Plan 2100
The introduction of the National Adaptation Plan (NAP, 2023-2050), which is highly synergistic to the Delta Plan (2100), was proposed by Sheikh Hasina’s administration in 2018. The NAP is a comprehensive plan on how Bangladesh aims to implement long-term integrated adaptation projects to tackle climate change, with climate resilience at the core of the strategy. The NAP encompasses eight distinct sectors, namely: water resources, agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and livestock, urban areas, ecosystem, wetlands and biodiversity, policies and institutions, and capacity development. This policy is particularly relevant due to the common occurrence of water-related disasters in Bangladesh and the severe repercussions they have on the population.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change suggested that by 2050 the number of internal climate migrants may reach upwards of 19.9 million, almost half of those in the South Asia region, and that annual loss of GDP may rise to 2% by 2020 due to climate disasters. The implementation of the plan is predicted to be costly, with a total investment of USD $230 billion. The Government of Bangladesh will rely on the support of various climate funds, including the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund, the Annual Development Programme, as well as the Bangladesh Climate Development Platform.
This plan is ambitious, with a proposed total of 113 interventions, 90 labelled as high priority matters, and 23 as medium priority. Additionally, more than half of the total budget will be assigned to the correct management of water resources. Specifically, this plan aims to protect 1.1 million hectares of croplands from flood inundation, storm surges, seal-level rise, and salinity. This will ensure increased food security and production of agriculture, with an increase of 10.3 million additional tonnes of rice.
Moreover, thirty million individuals living in urban areas will profit from more secure critical infrastructure due to improved drainage systems and fewer problems with heat islands, ultimately caused by climate-induced disasters. It is also expected that tree coverage will increase by five percent and that carbon sequestration will increase significantly as well. These interventions under the NAP are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and 52 of the climate adaptation projects of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100.
The Delta Plan 2100 (2018) is a comprehensive plan to integrate and develop coordinated policies of delta-related sectors across Bangladesh. This will entail the management of the marine ecosystem and water resources within the Ganges-Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) delta. The main goals are to ensure safety from climate-induced disasters, enhance water security and integrated river systems, conserve wetlands and ecosystems, and develop effective governance for in-country and transboundary water resources. This plan was devised as a joint venture with Dutch experts, and mirrored the Dutch Delta Approach, a framework that ensured practicality and feasibility. Its total capital investment cost is USD $37 billion.
Both long-term policies, the NAP and Delta Plan exemplify a multi-sectoral vision on the adaptive path that Bangladesh is taking to secure a more sustainable future for the country. Through these policies, Sheikh Hasina has recognized the need for international investment and strategic partnerships for the successful realisation of her projects (such as with the tight expert union with the Netherlands ).
The substantial investment made by the Bangladeshi government towards these policies alludes to the urgent need of Sheikh Hasina to address current vulnerabilities that stem from water resources, including deltas, seas, and rivers, as the mismanagement of the former result in increased susceptibility to floods, cyclones etc. Without the proper adaptation to these, Bangladesh expands its disposition to the loss of human life, agricultural capability, and the overall livelihood of the Bangladeshi population.
IExRAIA Summer Research Program:
This article is an excerpt from a report about Sheikh Hasina produced as part of an RAIA research program on climate leaders. For a full picture of Hasina’s climate leadership, read the full report. This project was fully financed by IE University’s IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs.
Authors: Mariana Gamez and Aimee Wolff
Editor: Ruby Hawari
Project Lead: Francia Morales
Disclaimer:
The RAIA Team would like to inform the reader that this report was researched and written between May and July 2024, preceding the zenith of Bangladesh’s student protests and ultimate exile of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. This report is additionally not written as an assessment of Hasina’s democratic legitimacy, and makes an objective assessment of the climate change-related policies that she promoted during her time as prime minister of Bangladesh.
For this reason, therefore, the research heretofore does not include information or analysis regarding the student protests, the eventual transition of power to the current interim government, nor of any ongoing political events within the country. As a consequence, the evaluated impacts of the policies may not reflect their future, now possibly impacted by the current developments in Bangladesh.
Table of Contents