The effects of climate change will endanger the present world, particularly developing countries like Bangladesh, according to the organizers of a validation workshop on the Climate Fiscal Framework (CFF) held in the city on Wednesday.
The workshop was organised jointly by the Finance Division and the UNDP at the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.
State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan was present as chief guest at the workshop while General Economics Division (GED) member of the Planning Commission Prof Shamsul Alam and UNDP-Bangladesh Country Director Pauline Tamesis as special guests. Finance Division Secretary Fazle Kabir presided over the workshop.Bangladesh has considered the necessity of a Climate Fiscal Framework (CFF) to ensure transparency and accountability of climate related public expenditure in overcoming the adversities of climate change, and to continue the development process on a sustainable path, the organizers said.
The CPEIR report 2012 of the Ministry of Planning revealed that 6-7 percent of Bangladesh national budget is spent for activities related to climate change through different funding modalities (GO’s, NGO’s, DP’s).
Policies are not the only remedy, but an institutional framework is required for proper and effective utilisation of this expenditure.
CFF has been formulated in this context with two major objectives: to track all climate related expenditures incurred by the government at the present time, and to estimate potential costs of long term finance needs to combat harmful effects of CC.
This will also be helpful in identifying areas of institutional weakness and skills gap for further development.
The recommendations put forward in CFF, once implemented, are expected to help integrate all climate sensitive expenditures into the national budget. It will also help in risk assessment, adaptation and mitigation.
In the long run, it will play a crucial role in achieving better Public Finance Management (PFM) and sustainability of funding streams from national and international sources. – UNB
