English references

As we mark 100 days until the COP28 UN climate summit, the urgency of addressing the climate crisis has never been more palpable. Global failures to mitigate emissions and adapt to the impacts continue to wreak havoc on the planet, and we’re seeing this in a range of ways. Unprecedented extreme weather events have occurred with frightening regularity in 2023. In March, over 500 people lost their lives when Cyclone Freddy struck Malawi. Last month, flooding in the Philippines caused by Typhoons Doksuri and Khanun displaced more than 300,000 people, and the recent wildfires that ravaged Hawaii – in part exacerbated by climate change – continue to make for distressing headlines. This list is likely to become even longer by the end of the year, when COP28 gets underway in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A violent bomb cyclone affecting Iceland on February 7 and 8, 2022, produced hurricane-force winds and record-breaking waves at the southern coast of the country. One of the waves reached 40 m (131 feet) and blew off the scale, making it by far the highest measured wave off the coast of Iceland and among the highest ever measured in the world.

One can safely say that Bangladesh is a country of rivers, cyclones and floods which in years past would have caused huge numbers of deaths at times. However, over the years Bangladesh has invested in making sure that we no longer lose lives when such disasters strike us.