The Arctic Council should have representation from the global south!

 

Bangladesh has not been among the observer countries to the Arctic Council - an inter-governmental forum of the eight Arctic states. However, it has a lot to share with the Arctic Council. While located far away from the Arctic, the impacts of climate change in the Arctic cause consequences for Bangladesh, linking the two rather closely, prompting consideration of their interrelationship. Prof. Kamrul Hossain examined why Bangladesh should seek an observer seat on the Arctic Council in an article published in the Polar Connection - a think tank organization based in London. The entire article can be accessed from this link: https://polarconnection.org/bangladesh-observer-arctic-council/?fbclid=IwAR3JNJ8SMtoHn-akkNxAgglgofu0SpfPMQwNFVJlR0pCu1tl_6RgVDAO_PM 

Bangladesh will be one of the hardest-hit victims of climate change, with current assessments projecting that it will lose 20 per cent of its territory by 2080, if not earlier. Studies suggest that over 20 million people will become environmental refugees due to the rise in sea level. This will not only threaten existence of a large part of the country’s territory, but will also destroy the largest contiguous mangrove forests in the world, the sundarban. The interlinkage between the impacts of climate change on Bangladesh, the Arctic and other regions in the cryosphere, such as the Antarctic and Himalayas, would serve global interests if Bangladesh became a part of the institutional mechanisms available in the Arctic. Such an engagement would help address related issues more systematically and coherently. Admission of Bangladesh as an observer would offer the Council a broader understanding of the Arctic’s links with the rest of the world and reinforce a global approach to Arctic governance. Furthermore, given that Bangladesh in its diplomacy has exercised its soft-power capacity meaningfully to further a forward-looking, global purpose – the climate change agenda – the country is in an appropriate position to engage in the Arctic governance framework. Being one of the potentially hardest-hit victims of climate change, Bangladesh can present the agenda before the Arctic Council on behalf of itself, the regional actors, and other countries to be affected alike, including small island countries. Moreover, Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, almost regularly facing natural calamities such as cyclones and floods, often considered a consequence of climate change. With the Arctic also facing such natural disasters more often than before, the experiences of Bangladesh in adaptation, preparedness and response and in enhancement of community resilience form another area of expertise which it has to share.