Staff Reporter:
Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo yesterday said climate resil-ience and food security cannot be ensured without protecting land.
He said land must be treated as an economic and development priority rather than an environ-mental expense.
The minister made the remarks while delivering Bangladesh’s statement at a ministerial dialogue titled “Innovative Financial Mechanisms for Healthy Land and Drought Resilience,” held as part of Finance Day at the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, according to a message received yester-day.
Mintoo said Bangladesh is working to reduce land degradation.
To achieve this objective, national planning prioritizes soil fertility, forest coverage, and addressing water logging, hillside erosion, coastal salinity and riverbank erosion, he said.
He noted that Bangladesh is transforming agriculture into a technology-driven, climate-resilient sector while expanding access to credit and agricultural loan assistance for farmers.
The minister called upon multilateral development banks and development finance institutions to utilize guarantees, first-loss capital, and blended finance to ensure effective financing for small-holder farmers and land restoration.
Highlighting Bangladesh’s local initiatives, the minister said the country has financed climate and land resilience through its Climate Change Trust Fund since 2009.
The fund, one of the earliest mechanisms of its kind among developing countries, has mobilised more than USD 495 million to the date, he said.
He said this financing has supported the development of 12 new stress-tolerant crop varieties and the distribution of more than 19,400 metric tonnes of drought- and salt-tolerant seeds to farmers.
However, current demand exceeds the fund’s annual allocation, the minister pointed out.
He stressed that international financing should complement national initiatives by addressing ex-isting funding gaps rather than replacing them.
Mintoo proposed innovative mechanisms, including debt-for-nature and debt-for-climate swaps and green bonds for land restoration.
He added that such financing could support managed groundwater recharge in the northern re-gion, agriculture, afforestation, climate-smart farming, and coastal mangrove restoration under the National Green Mission, which aims to plant 25 crore saplings.
On regional cooperation, the minister observed that changes in upstream water flows increase sa-linity and drought risks in delta countries such as Bangladesh.
He, therefore, called for stronger trans-boundary water-sharing arrangements among countries within shared river basins, alongside joint initiatives to exchange information on water scarcity and land degradation.
“Bangladesh stands ready both to give and receive cooperation. We seek commitments that are specific, adequately financed, and time-bound, so that land finance moves from the margins to the center of decision-making,” the minister said.
Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa inaugurated the high-level segment of UNCCD COP17.
Mongolia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and COP17 President Battsetseg Batmunkh, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad, and ministers and heads of delegations from various countries were present.
