Bangladesh is developing a standardized, evidence-based national framework to assess climate change-related loss and damage, including both economic and non-economic impacts. An interim workshop on the initiative was held Tuesday at the Department of Environment auditorium in Agargaon, Dhaka, under a project to formulate a National Framework for Loss and Damage of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund is financing the project, while the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services is providing technical support.

The proposed framework will measure losses affecting livelihoods, health, education, culture and displacement alongside financial damage. Officials said Bangladesh previously had no standardized national method for assessing climate-related losses, leaving major non-economic impacts outside formal calculations. The government will own the framework, which is being designed using existing knowledge, data and institutional capacity.

Speakers stressed reliable data, institutional coordination, local participation and a strategy for climate finance. They said the framework could support evidence-based national planning and budget allocations, as well as post-disaster recovery. It is also expected to provide a reliable basis for Bangladesh to seek its fair share of international climate funding, including the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage.