In a roundtable today (June 1) at Daily Sun, experts put emphasis on effective plans, internal funds and capacity building to address climate change.

They placed the recommendations at a roundtable titled ‘Adapting to Climate Change: Bangladesh’s Progress’ at EWMGL conference room in Bashundhara Residential Area in the capital.

The programme was organised by the daily sun in association with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) ahead of the International Environment Day slated for June 5.

Editor of the daily sun Enamul Hoque Chowdhury chaired the programme while Executive Editor Rezaul Karim Lotus moderated the event.

Environment experts from various government and private organisations also took part in the event.

Speaking as the chief guest, former environment minister barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud said Bangladesh has no hand in ecological imbalance and thus the country should go ahead with its own initiatives to face the challenge.

Although the developed countries contribute lion share to emission of greenhouse gas, those are not serious about mitigating impacts, he said.

About the resolution to the problem, he spoke of the need for making embankments higher and

Water from Himalayan due to melting of ice and sea level rise have teamed up to aggravate situation and wreck havoc.

“We have live with ice melting sea level rise. The issue is not in our hand. So, we have to make and implement own agendas with internal resources,” he said.

Dr Md Rezaul Haque, additional secretary, Bangladesh Climate Change Trust, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, presented keynote paper.

Referring to a latest report, Dr Md Rezaul Haque said Bangladesh is the 7th worst victim to the climate change

Salinity, coastal erosion and untimely rain and flood are characteristics of the climate change badly affecting Bangladesh. The government has taken adequate long-term and short-term steps to mitigate impact of the environment degradation, he said.

Bangladesh Climate Change Action Plan is being modified and drafted to cater to the present context.

Emphasis is laid on sustainable agricultural industrial and important sectors.

A number of 475 projects under 19 ministries have already been implemented to address climate change, he informed.

Prof Mahbuba Nasreen, pro-vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Open University, spoke of the need for enhancing adaptation and mitigation.

Government officials, private organisations and journalists have to be trained to boost capacity to work in environment, she said.

A comprehensive plan is needed to safeguard the people with disability from ecological imbalance, she added.

Prof Dr Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder, chairman of Department of Environmental Science at Stamford University Bangladesh, held pollution mainly responsible for the environment degradation.

The pollution level in Dhaka in winter is eight times high where the situation in rainy season is also high, he said.

He mentioned that the temperature is high due to ecological imbalance.

“To make a knowledge based society, climate change subject has to be taught in all universities. But unfortunately, out of 150 universities in the country, only a few offer such course right now,” he said.

Sahadat Hossain Shakil, environmental specialist, Economic Growth Office, USAID Bangladesh, said thousands of cyclone centres have been prepared, advance information shared with 30,000 farmers ahead of last cyclone to protect crops.

“Bangladesh is the first in South Asia to make modern forest inventory. We have turned forest destroyers into preservers in several areas,” he said.

Focus is being given on application of green energy in industries, especially textile and RMG, he added.

Md Shamsuddoha, chief executive of the Center for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD), laid emphasis on secondary impacts of the climate change.

“The country is currently focusing on the primary impacts and working to mitigate those showing indifference towards the secondary problems. For example, people are losing work ability due to environment degradation and the issue is not being taken consideration,” he said.

He advocated for more research to detect all primary and secondary impacts and capacity building to address the climate change.

Earlier, the programme started with welcome address delivered by Daily Sun Executive Editor Rezaul Karim Lotus.

He termed the roundtable important to discuss the ills of environment degradation, Bangladesh position and the steps needed to mitigate it ahead of the global environment day.

The roundtable will produce safe guidelines to be recommended by the environ experts during their address.

BDST: 1524 HRS, June 1 2022
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