The Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) is a knowledge strategy built upon the National Adaptation Programme of Action (2005). It sets out 44 programmes to be taken by Bangladesh over the short, medium and long term within six strategic areas – food security, social protection and health; comprehensive disaster management; infrastructure; research and knowledge management; mitigation and low carbon development; and capacity building and institutional strengthening.

This is intended as the government’s quick-start domestic response to climate change adaptation activities, which are planned through the BCCSAP. As such this Act is closely linked to the BCCSAP. It stipulates allocating an initial budget of USD100m per year for three years between 2009 and 2011. It stipulates that 66% of its budget will be spent on the implementation of projects/programmes prioritised in the BCCSAP. The remaining 34% will be maintained as a deposit for emergencies. Interest accrued on the deposit will be spent on project implementation. Funds from the BCCTF can be used to finance public sector and non-government projects. It is not mandatory to spend the total grant within a given financial year.

The Bangladesh Country Investment Plan for Environment, Forestry and Climate Change (EFCC CIP) is a cross-sectoral and whole-of-government investment framework for mobilizing and delivering effective, coordinated, sustainable and country-driven investment programmes in environmental protection; sustainable forest management; climate-change adaptation and mitigation; and environmental governance. It is a tool to translate of government policies into investment programmes and projects. The EFCC CIP responds to the urgent need to address environmental degradation in Bangladesh and to improve the country’s ability to meet the threats posed by climate change.

The EFCC CIP lays out priority investment areas organized in four pillars, 14 programmes and 43 sub-programmes. At least 77 Government of Bangladesh (GoB) agencies (ministries/ divisions/departments) will implement various EFCC investment programmes.

In line with the country’s intention to empower and respond to the needs of the often invisible ‘other half’ of the population in the context of climate change, the national Climate Change and Gender Action Plan for Bangladesh (ccGAP: Bangladesh) has been prepared with an aim to ensure gender equality into climate change related policies, strategies and interventions. The underlying principle of the ccGAPs is the transformative nature of gender interventions. ccGAPs also have the potential to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of climate change and socioeconomic development responses.

The development of ccGAP followed a participatory process that included in-country meetings, stakeholder consultations involving the representatives from several ministries/government departments, civil society, academia, research institutions, local NGOs and international organizations, a desk review of several key reports, publications, websites, surveys and in-person interviews. A critical step in the implementation process is anchoring global agreements within national contexts-through the development of ccGAPs.

The ccGAP integrates gender considerations into four of the six main pillars as identified in the BCCSAP: (i) food security, social protection and health; (ii) comprehensive disaster management; (iii) infrastructure and (iv) mitigation and low carbon development. The remaining two pillars of the BCCSAP, those of research and knowledge management and capacity building and institutional strengthening, were main streamed within the above four pillars throughout the document as crosscutting topics.

The ccGAP establishes clear objectives, outlines substantive activities that are accompanied by reachable indicators within the ambit of the four pillars as identified and highlights the specific contribution women do and can make within each of these as well as the required interventions necessary to incorporate the role of women effectively over a timeframe of five years, from 2013/14-2018/19.

CLIMATE PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT: BUDGET REPORT 2017-18

The report is intended to bring to light the share of climate spending subsumed in total public expenditure and draw the attention of wider stakeholders to the Government’s commitment to address the issues arising from the adverse impacts of climate change. The analyses presented in the report are also meant to give them a fair idea about the distribution of climate spending across six thematic areas set out in Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP). The present report with its limited coverage will pave the way for presenting a comprehensive report using more robust methodology in the next fiscal year.

The report extends its coverage to five big spending ministries which include the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and Local Government Division of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, and climate relevant lead ministry, the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The report provides analysis on climate relevant budget data during the period from FY 2014-15 to FY 2017-18.

The Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (CPEIR) aims to inform the development of the national response to climate change. The CPEIR examines the linkages between the three spheres of: national climate change policy; the institutional structures through which policy is channelled; and the resource allocation processes whereby public funding is made available for the implementation of relevant projects, programmes and policies.

The purpose of the NAPA formulation project for Bangladesh is the development of a countrywide program that encompasses the immediate and urgent adaptation activities that address the current and anticipated adverse effects of climate change, including extreme events. The goal of the NAPA formulation for Bangladesh is the provision of a framework to guide the coordination and implementation of adaptation initiatives in the country, through a participatory approach and building synergies with related programs.

The Climate Fiscal Framework (CFF), published by the Ministry of Finance, provides principles and tools for climate fiscal policy-making (CFP), helping to identify the demand and supply sides of climate fiscal funds (expenditures vis-à-vis revenue or finance, respectively), and to ensure that CFP is transparent and sustainable in the longer term.

The CFF determines:

• The equitable division of climate funds and their allocation to relevant sectors
• The division of services, identification of the demand for climate fund, and expenditure areas of financial authority for raising revenue, for national and international financing options, and for fiscal tools
• A governance framework for climate change funds under national fiscal policy

The CFF also recommends a set of climate codes designed to (i) track climate change expenditures for policy analysis and reporting, and (ii) estimate long-term climate finance needs by identifying potential climate-related public expenditures across government ministries.