Civil society leaders at a press conference on Sunday demanded allocation of at least one per cent of GDP in the national budget to weather the impacts of climate change.

Network on Climate Change in Bangladesh (NCC,B), a platform of 19 non-governmental organisations, held the press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU).

In a written statement, read out by 
NCC,B Research and Advocacy Officer Md Mahbubur Rahman, recommended increasing the development budget to 10 per cent in crusading the climate change and reduction in the operational costs.

Member secretary of Unnayandhara Trust Aminur Rosul Babul, DRU President Rafiqul Islam Azad, journalist Nikhil Chandra Bhadra and Al Imran, among others, spoke on the occasion.

Their five-point demands include formation of a climate change commission comprising the prime minister and civil society people to ensure transparency and accountability of climate funds, levying of green tax on transports and air trips to create climate funds and launching of local climate fiscal framework at district levels in line with Bangladesh Climate Fiscal Framework introduced by the Ministry of Finance.

The speakers put emphasis on the necessity of carrying out activities to reduce risk of climate vulnerability.

HM/BK