Page - 452 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

452 M.Haqueet al. WIM,signallingBangladesh’scommitments to theParisAgreement.Fora resource constrainedLDCcountry, theeffortsmadebyresearchers, thedevelopmentcommu- nity andpolicymakers show resourcefulness, proactiveness and agency that can be replicated incountries facingsimilarvulnerabilities and resourceconstraints. Keywords LossandDamage ·Sea level rise ·Cyclones ·Flooding ·National policy ·Disaster risk reduction ·Adaptation ·Technical committee 19.1 Introduction Despite beingheavily impactedby climate change,Bangladeshhasmade laudable stridesinenactinglaws,policiesandprocedurestodealwithclimaterelatedhazards. Thegeographicallysmallnationhasbeenhistoricallypronetoheavyrainfall,floods, cyclonesandrivererosionduetoitsgeographicallocation,low-lyingtopographyand tropical climate.Bangladeshnowranksas the6thmost affectedbyhuman induced climatechangeaccording toKreftetal. (2017).Giventhecountry’shighpopulation densityandmultidimensionalpoverty, thisriskisfurtherexacerbated(Wright2014). Hijoka et al. (2014)finds foodproductivity and food security especially threatened by climatic stressors such as heavy rainfall leading to floods, sea level rise and heatwaves.Floodscausehighhumanandmaterial losses, sea level rise threatens the coastal region’s ability to produce rice, and heat stress has already reached critical levelsunsuitableforriceproduction.Increasedfrequencyandintensityofheatwaves increases the spreadof infectious diseases such as cholera, increasesmortality and morbidityamongpoorandvulnerablepopulations. Facedwiththeincreasingimpactsofclimatechangeandrecognisingthatgainsin developmentandpovertyalleviationcouldbeseverelyhamperedbyclimatechange, alllevelsoftheBangladeshigovernmentarecommittedtoreducingvulnerabilityand building the resilienceof its people.Disaster risk reduction falls under thepurview of theMinistryofDisasterManagement andRelief (MODMR)andclimatechange adaptationunder theMinistryofEnvironment andForests (MOEF).Responding to disastersandimplementingadaptationprogramsalsoinvolverelatedministriessuch asAgriculture,Health andFinance.TheMODMRand theMOEFhaveestablished policies and procedures to deal with their respective portfolio and responsibilities and bothministries have committed significant domestic resources. Civil society, NGOs,communityorganisations,researchers,academics,developmentpractitioners are active contributors in generating knowledge and implementing adaptation and disaster risk reductionstrategies. However, despite the success and competencies in dealingwith climate-related risks,lossesanddamagesfromclimatechangeareprojectedtoincreaseandgapsexist in thecurrentpolicyandresponseframeworkthatneeds tobeaddressedproactively. Thischapter isacasestudyof theeffortsof theBangladeshgovernmentandexperts collaborating to address losses anddamages fromclimate changebyestablishinga newmechanismfromcurrentdomesticinstitutionalarrangementsandresources.The