Bangladesh to launch real-time flood data collaboration with UK Met Office 

Bangladesh is set to begin a real-time weather data collaboration with the UK Met Office to improve early warning systems for floods and other water-related disasters, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan said today (18 October).

Speaking on the opening day of Climate Week 2025, hosted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in Dhaka, she said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) had already been signed with the UK Met Office, and the programme would likely be launched officially tomorrow (19 October).

"We approached the UK Met Office, and they promptly agreed and signed an MoU. We will probably launch that programme officially tomorrow," she said.

"Once we get access to the real-time data of the UK Met Office, learning how to translate that information before a disaster happens is also something they're going to support us with."

Rizwana Hasan pointed out the irony that a country frequently hit by water-related disasters has not yet developed its own real-time data collection mechanism.

The four-day programme, running from 18 to 21 October under the theme "Transforming Ambition into Action," has brought together policymakers, researchers, youth representatives, civil society members, and private sector leaders.

Rizwana also highlighted several domestic efforts to strengthen climate action.

She said the country's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) was prepared inclusively, with participation from multiple sectors.

"This time everybody participated… It is an NDC owned by all of us," she said, adding that while the Department of Environment alone cannot reduce emissions, other sectors such as energy, road transport, and agriculture have been asked to prepare their own work plans for emission reduction.

She also mentioned domestic initiatives to reduce carbon impact, including using dredged material for brick production to protect hills and farmland. She noted that the Bangladesh Climate Development Partnership (BCDP) now includes civil society and academia in its four working groups.

"So that when the government is too busy following the process, civil society members and academics will be able to help the government with substantive points and ideas," the adviser said.

Other speakers at the event addressed challenges in climate finance and adaptation.

Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, a Pakistani economist and executive director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), who joined virtually, said, "Finance in addressing the climate crisis continues to be an issue… In 2022, we had $10.8 billion pledged for disaster assistance, but today only 25% of those pledges were materialized. Again, of that $10.8 billion, only half a billion was grant, and the rest were commercial loans."

Md Shamsuddoha, chief executive of the Center for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD), stressed the need to balance grants and loans and highlighted the gap in loss and damage funding. "We demanded trillions but found only around $760 million," he said.

He warned that failure to limit global warming to 1.5°C would be disastrous for Bangladesh.

"The push to end fossil fuel use should come from industrialised countries, not from Bangladesh. Yet, instead of phasing out fossil fuels, global investments in them have doubled," he said, calling for loss and damage to be established as a key agenda item for vulnerable nations.

Ainun Nishat, adviser at the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER), said mitigation was a global responsibility rather than Bangladesh's primary concern.

"Bangladesh produces less than 0.5% of global carbon emissions. Even if we triple our NDC, it will not matter. Mitigation is not Bangladesh's headache. Bangladesh has to go for adaptation," he said.