New techs, knowledge transfer urgent to face climatic events

Experts tell conference
Developing new technologies and sharing of knowledge among the countries vulnerable to climate change are an urgent need to face the impacts of today’s climatic phenomena, experts from home and abroad said yesterday.
“In Bangladesh, half of the farmers are not literate, but they are wise. They produce food for us. But today, their knowledge is not enough in a changing climate. So, they should have new knowledge, technologies to produce food,” said Dr Atiq Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS).
The remarks came at the two-day conference titled ‘Climate change and extreme cyclones: Regional conference on disaster risk reduction and emergency response in a rapidly changing world’.
Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), Bangladesh Disaster Preparedness Centre (BDPC) and the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management organised the programme at a city hotel with support from the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and USAID.
Representatives from India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh are participating in the conference where experts will present 43 articles mainly on new tropical cyclone surge patterns, their potential impacts, and models to increase public awareness.
Dr Atiq, also a member of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said climate change, which is impacting the world faster than what was forecasted earlier, would continue for decades.
The velocity of climatic events like cyclones is going up, he said, adding that theoretically the cyclones like Sidr, Aila and Nargis were supposed to happen once in 20 years, but today’s scenario is much different from that.
With preparedness programmes, the rate of mortality could be reduced, but not the morbidity, he said, adding that mainstreaming the climate change into all development programmes, therefore, is very important.
Dr Atiq said, “We must look at pro-poor policies and smart development…strong local government is a must.”
Dr Bichit Rattakul, executive director of Bangkok-based regional organisation ADPC, said Bangladesh, which faced a number of cyclones and developed a strong mechanism to fight the disasters, could be a school for others in disaster management.
Similarly, Bangladesh can learn from other countries, he added.
Speaking as the chief guest, Food and Disaster Management Minister Abdur Razzaque said extreme weather events like cyclones could trigger on human society if early warning system and disaster reduction measures are not in place.
Sharing new ideas and existing good practices on disaster management and extreme events and the latest developments in climate change are of great importance to face the future challenges, he said.
Mokhlesur Rahman, secretary of Disaster Management Division, said Bangladesh can get information of cyclones 72 hours prior to the event, but with exchange of more information with other Asian countries, the information could be learnt much earlier than 72 hours.
“We want to share how to make resilient communities, increase efficiency in disaster management and reduce loss of lives and assets.”
Dr Stefan Frowein, ambassador and head of delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh, Norwegian scientist Dr Tore Furevik and BDPC Director Saidur Rahman also spoke.

Courtesy of The Daily Star