Dhaka, 12th September 2008. EquityBD has organized a press conference in Dhaka Reporters Unity to present their position on the conference. They mentioned that Bangladesh has tried as scapegoat for climate business in London conference by World Bank and UK on behalf of G8 countries. Bangladesh has to welcome the G8 position which was declared in Japan summit, i.e., to reduce 50 % carbon by 2050. In fact which is contrary to the common position being pursued by all others especially G77 countries and LDCs. Common position which is being pursued is 20 – 40 % carbon reduction by 2020. In the joint communiqué Bangladesh has also been pursued to take low carbon technologies, but according to the UNFCCC and other UN charters Bangladesh has no obligation to take mitigation. The conference has also proposed a Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) which is a parallel arrangement, and where the Finance Advisor invited World Bank (WB) to manage the fund. Such a separate arrangement and inviting WB is contradictory to the spirit of Bali declaration and also against the spirit of Paris declaration on aid effectiveness. FA Azizul’s proposal on WB to manage fund and his statement against compensation, is against the popular public opinion, has no political legitimacy too, and also a manifestation of ignorance to the already available scientific basis as mentioned in the IPCC report.  

EquityBD reiterated her  some of the popular demands in relation, these are (i) UK should channel the fund through existing channel, and should reconsider its position to formulate MDTF, (ii) FA Azizul’s should reconsider his proposal to invite WB to manage fund, (iii) GoB should go for comprehensive climate change strategy and action plan with grass root and political ownership, (iv) Donor should come first to compensate cyclone SIDR damages, which is around $ 3 billions, (v) GoB should go to form a Public Commission on Ecological Debt Assessment and (vi) All government and non government organization who are engaged in  SIDR rehabilitation work  should follow GHP (Global Humanitarian Partnership) principles  in aiming to strengthen the accountability at grass root level. GHP is a joint and agreed initiative of UN, Red Crescent and INGOs who are involved in humanitarian principles.  Please down load the English position paper in clicking here. The joint communiqué of this UK Bangladesh conference are also available here, and for the news item on FA Azizul remarks are also available in clicking here. Major english news coverage as follows;

Online Print Media Coverage of press conference :		Details
	'People's opinion not reflected in finance adviser's speech'	Daily Star Click
	Climate change confce in London: Bangladesh’s interest squandered away	New Nation Click
	Bangladesh image tarnished in climate confce	New Age Click

For more details relevant information, ie., pre conference position paper, interview of Dr. Atique and Dr. Asaduzzaman.