Govt focuses on people at risk

Bangladesh will lose 8 percent of its rice and 32 percent of wheat production by 2050 if the sea level rises by one metre engulfing 20 percent of its land and displacing 20 million people.
Fahmida Khatun, additional director of research of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said this yesterday citing an Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report published in 2007.
State Minister for Environment and Forest Hasan Mahmud said Bangladesh would demand a deal in Copenhagen that would ensure compensation measuring its vulnerability and number of people exposed to the impact of climate change.
"If we negotiate over the vulnerability due to climate change and people exposed to the risk, we will be the most benefited," he said while speaking as the chief guest of the dialogue on "Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change Advancing Bangladesh's Interests" organised by CPD.
The state minister said population of many island countries would not be as many as the population of one coastal district in Bangladesh. So we should bargain on the basis of people exposed to the impact of climate change.
Members of Bangladesh negotiation team, climate experts and other development workers working on climate change were present. Osman Farruk, former education minister, was present at the dialogue as special guest.
Fahmida Khatun made a presentation on "Policy Agenda for Addressing Climate Change in Bangladesh: Copenhagen and Beyond".
In her concluding remarks she said the country should develop adequate human and organisational capacity in terms of adequate technical, business, management and regulatory skills.
She also emphasised establishing effective mechanism for improving transparency of project approvals and public procurement procedures to reduce corruption.
M Asaduzzaman, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and Ainun Nishat, senior adviser on climate change, IUCN Asia spoke there as designated speakers.
Ainun Nishat said Bangladesh has a strong voice at the climate change negotiations as it leads the Least Developed Countries (LCDs) forum. It has already prepared a climate change strategy, which is now a model to other countries, he added.
Sohrab Ali Sana, MP of Koira in Satkhira, said a total of seven unions in his constituency are still under saline water.
It is important to deal with the climate change impact locally rather than waiting for what developed countries would do for us, he said.
Mirza Azizul Islam, former adviser to the last caretaker government, Parvin Talukder MP, Atik Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Centre of Advanced Studies (BCAS), Mizan Rahman of North South University, Z Karim and Taufik Ali, former ambassador to Geneva also spoke at the dialogue.
M Syeduzzaman, member of CPD Board of Trustees, chaired the session.