18 August 2005The Financial Express
The European Commission (EC) will provide a total of euro 48 million in response to the call for meeting the challenges of the global environmental protection, reports BDNEWS.
Proposals for which the EU's fund will be utilised will tackle climate change amongst a range of global environment issues.
Bangladesh will be affected more than any other country in the world by climate in the years ahead. Sea-levels are expected to rise along with temperatures. Total rainfall is likely to increase, but droughts in the dry season will become more severe.
Ambassador Esko Kentrschynskyj, head of European Countries (EC) delegation Wednesday announced this new initiative while launching the EC- funded project entitled "Environmental initiatives, waste management, and technology dissemination in Bangladesh".
The EC has made climate change adaptation a key development issue to be addressed under this new call for proposals under the global Environment and Tropical Forests programme.
The issues include: Trade and environments; Multilateral Environment Agreements on Biodiversity, Climate Change and Desertification; Forests and Governance; Small-scale and community-based forest enterprise; Forests, Wood and Energy; Sustainable use of forest biodiversity; Forests in economic planning and poverty reduction strategies.
Proposals can range in size from euro 250,000 to euro 3.5 million with a maximum 80 per cent funding from the EC, according to EC sources. The EC is currently supporting seven environmental projects in the country with their focus on urban environmental problems of water quality, effluent disposal, waste management, land planning and disaster preparedness. The emphasis is the impact on the poor, who suffer most from a polluted environment and are least able to protect themselves, while everyone benefits from a clean environment.
