It is time to move into action to prevent the worst from happening, not just sit around wringing our hands as we realize what the effects of global warming might be in Bangladesh and Southeast Asia. Perhaps sitting with International Experts and heeding their suggestions might help us.
The struggle the government has after any conference like this, is that it all makes sense, but as NGOs and other organizations line up with their varied project-style solutions the government sits and analyzes, reviews each one, sets up unending TORs, sends them around from one ministry to another for more review and approvals and by the time they finally come to a conclusion Bangladesh is in an even more dire situation at which point none of the projects will be effective enough to overcome the threat facing Bangladesh.
Isn't that what happened with the electricity problem we are currently facing and suffering from? So take the proposals and take action. As Julius Caesar said, "Seize the Day!"
Himalayan council proposed to address Asian climate issues
The visiting Iceland president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson proposed formation of a Himalayan council with nations across the Himalayan region to address the regional concerns over climate changes.
‘It could initially serve as a forum for promotion of the necessary researches and play a role in developing a constructive dialogue on how to address the challenges,’ Grímsson said as he addressed the concluding ceremony of a week-long international symposium on climate change and food security in South Asia at the Sonargaon Hotel on Saturday.
His proposal came in replication to the Arctic Council formed after the end of the cold war era in early 1990s by eight countries, including the United States and Russia, to address climate issues.
The economic and food security of more than a billion people around the Himalayas will be affected with the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, he pointed out, urging politicians, scientists, businessmen and civic organisations to face the future challenges together.
Grímsson, who visited Bangladesh for the first time, was re-elected president of Iceland for the fourth time in 2008.
Bangladesh is bound to be affected by the melting of the ice in the Himalayas, often called the water tower of Asia, through its effects on the major rivers that run through the Ganges delta, he said.
An academic-turned-politician who studied economics and political science, Grímsson advocated a unified global strategy to prevent the impending disaster from climate change and global warming.
Food and energy production for about 800 million people in South Asia depends on the Himalayan water resources which could beget conflicts across the already sensitive borders, said Grímsson.
The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, who addressed the programme as chief guest, stressed the need for working jointly by South Asian nations to face the challenge and properly address the issue in international negotiations.
The chief adviser listed the Bangladesh government’s measures to address climate change issues.
After discussions on a number of aspects of climate by scientists, academics, officials and civil society actors from home and abroad, the organisers came up with six broader suggestions that included formation of a regional network for climate change and food security, and multi-disciplinary researches on the matter.
Fakhruddin said Bangladesh had just completed the preparation for a national climate change management strategy and action plan taking into consideration all the sectors.
He informed the audience of the formation of a $45m climate change endowment fund and the setting up of five working groups on adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer, financial flows and creating awareness.
Fakhruddin observed the world was now united to face the threats of the climate change.
‘We must take integrated steps to combat adverse effects of global warming on food security,’ Fakhruddin said, hoping for a global response from greenhouse gas emitters to address the concerns. He put out a call, saying, ‘This is time for action without delay.’
Presided over by the Dhaka University vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, the concluding session was addressed, among others, by the education and commerce adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, the chief adviser’s special assistant in charge of environment and forest, Devashish Roy, the director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Centre at Ohio University, Rattan Lal, FAO regional representative for Asia and the Pacific Changchui He and World Meteorological Organisation representative MVK Sivakumar.
The University of Dhaka, Ohio State University, World Meteorological Organisation, and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific organised the symposium, inaugurated by the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, on August 25 in Dhaka.
Dhaka Declaration of Symposium S Asian climate change network a must to combat challenges
The International Symposium on Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia in its Dhaka Declaration has recommended creating South Asian Network on Climate Change and Food Security and establishing South Asia Climate Outlook Forum to combat challenges of climatic changes in the region collectively.
The five-day symposium that concluded at Hotel Sonargaon in the capital yesterday also emphasised the need for stimulating multi-disciplinary research on the burning issue and identifying effective mitigation and adaptation options, including carbon sequestration in different ecosystems.
The programme was jointly sponsored by Ohio State University, World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Food and Agriculture Organisation, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Dhaka University and the Bangladesh government. Around 250 participants from 17 countries attended the event.
Prof Rattan Lal, director of Carbon Management and Sequestration Centre of Ohio State University, presented the Dhaka Declaration.
Experts at the programme observed that climate change will increase temperature, decrease availability of fresh water, contribute to the rise in sea level, glacial melting in the Himalayas, increased frequency and intensity of extreme events, and shifting of cropping zones in South Asia affecting agriculture and food sector, economy, societies and environment.
Prof Lal said, "The serious problems of soil degradation and desertification are likely to be exacerbated by climate change through accelerated erosion, fertility depletion, salinisation and acidification and that subsistence agriculture, characterised by low productivity and extractive farming, is extremely vulnerable to such climatic change."
In the wake of such threats, the symposium urged the development partners and the private sector to fund implementation of programmes that reflect the recommendations.
The other recommendations include initiating and strengthening cooperation among academic and research institutions, international organisations, and NGOs to provide opportunities for strengthening institutions, human resource development and capacity building.
The symposium also suggested developing innovative financial mechanisms to scale up technical and financial support for the adaptation efforts of the South Asian countries and strengthening regional institutional and policy mechanisms to promote and facilitate implementation of location-specific adaptation and mitigation practices.
The Declaration says, "Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia Network and South Asia Climate Outlook Forum both to be maintained by the WMO will share information on management of climate change and related science, data, tools and methodologies in South Asia."
They will also generate data on solar heating as it relates to the effects of soot, aerosols and particulate material emissions on radiation balance, rainfall patterns and regional climate change.
The proposed network and the forum will develop seasonal climate predictions to assist farmers to optimally adjust their planting dates, crop varieties and management practices to reduce agricultural vulnerability to hydro-meteorological hazards, it notes.
These will promote adoption of proven sustainable technologies related to better soil, crop, livestock and fishery and water management in order to increase food productivity by enhancing efficiency of inputs such as fertiliser, water, energy and labour, it adds.
They will create mechanisms to pay farmers for ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration in soils and reductions of gaseous emissions related to deforestation, degradation of agricultural soils, grasslands and water quality improvement, and reduced emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from agricultural and forestry land uses.
The experts at the symposium said these two bodies would also establish regional early warning system of climatic risks and improve collection and dissemination of weather-related information by improving weather station networks to strengthen monitoring of extreme events and their impacts on food production and availability. |
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