Lawmakers of 30 nations meet in city today

A three-day conference of parliamentarians from 30 countries most vulnerable to climate change begins in the city today, aiming to craft a collective voice on climate change mitigation strategy and disaster risk reduction.
At the conference, the lawmakers will also work to identify the issues to advocate with their respective governments in preparation for the upcoming RIO+20 United Nations conference on sustainable development and green economy.
The parliamentary standing committee on the environment and forest ministry, which is organising the lawmakers' meet, yesterday briefed the press about the event.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the conference, which will end with adoption of Dhaka declaration.
BNP lawmaker Abdul Momin Talukder, chief of the standing committee, said, “This platform will seek to give lawmakers from the most vulnerable nations a more prominent and strategic role in climate change talks and policy processes.”
Participants in the meeting will debate and discuss the follow-up to the COP 17 climate change meet held in Durban in December last year, he added.
As a low-lying deltaic country, Bangladesh is especially vulnerable to climate change and migration induced by environmental events. The challenges it faces because of climate change include rising sea level, floods, drought, cyclones, saline inoculation, riverbank and coastal erosion, and waterlogging.