Bangladesh ready to face climate change

Speakers tell discussion
Speakers at a discussion yesterday said Bangladesh is one of the few countries in the world to have devised a climate change adaptation and mitigation plan.
The cabinet-approved Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 is a proof that the country is prepared to face the challenges of climate change, they added.
They said this at the discussion of National Model Youth Parliamentary Session 2010 on ‘Climate Change Copenhagen and Aftermath: Bangladesh Context’ jointly organised by United International University (UIU) Debate Club and the United Nations of Youth and Students Association of Bangladesh (UNYSAB) at UIU auditorium in the city.
At the discussion, the speakers said the widely held view that the Copenhagen conference was a failure is not right.
“We have to remember that this is an ongoing process,” said noted conservationist and climate expert Dr Ainun Nishat.
Pointing to consensus among majority of the countries at the conference that temperature rise should be limited below 2.0 degrees Celsius as a major achievement, he said how the countries offer to play their part in this agreement would be a major step forward in the climate issue.
He said the countries are supposed to submit reports on how they would play their role in keeping the temperature under control by January 31 this year, which would be a major success in the issue.
Noted economist Prof Muzaffer Ahmad said environment should not be taken as a compromise and afterthought of personal gains.
“When we harm the environment, we harm the world of the future generation. When we resort to over consumption, we borrow from the future generation,” he said, adding that this sort of perspectives needs to be changed.
Speaking as the chief guest, Industries Minister Dilip Barua called on the industrialists to come forward and carry out more CSR activities to give something back to the society as well as environment.
“The businessmen and industrialists should convert to green technology,” he said, adding that mass awareness and a social revolution should be created in this connection.
The speakers said the term ‘compensation’ for environmental degradation is wrong, and the correct term would be ‘adaptation and mitigation fund’.
The country needs to actively participate in the upcoming environment conferences, they added.
Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association (Bela) Executive Director Syeda Rizwana Hasan moderated the discussion where Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd Managing Director Munawar Misbah Moin, UN Information Centre Officer-in-Charge Kazi Ali Reza and UIU Vice Chancellor M Rezwan Khan also spoke.
Before the discussion, a youth parliamentary debate between UIU Debate Club and Dhaka University Debating Society was held on the topic ‘Environmental harmony would not be possible without regional cooperation’.

Courtesy of The Daily Star