Bangladesh has also been selected to be a member of a number of important bodies set up by the UNFCCC over the years, such as the Adaptation Fund Board, the Green Climate Fund Board and the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage. This is another recognition of Bangladesh’s expertise and importance in this area by the other counties.
In addition to the officials from government who attend the COPs, there are also many NGOs who hold side events on different topics as well as a number of reporters from both TV and print media in Bangladesh who report back to their news outlets every day. There are also a number of Bangladeshi experts who attend these programmes as part of other institutions, including UN agencies.
Hence, Bangladesh is certainly recognised in the UNFCCC talks as an important country both due to its actions at home as well as its negotiators and other representatives at the COPs.
One of the perennial misconceptions of what Bangladesh achieves by attending and participating in these annual meetings, is perpetuated by the need to ask what Bangladesh got out of the meeting. This is often the first question asked by every journalist to the head of the delegation after each meeting. The misconception is that Bangladesh is not attending these events to get something for itself but rather for the vulnerable counties as a whole and in that capacity I must rate Bangladesh’s negotiators and other participants at the COPs as second to none!
Source: The Daily Star
