A round table yesterday demanded more budgetary allocations to overcome the impact of climate change on food production and livelihood and for the protection of environment.
“Because of global climate change, last year we had to face two major floods and Sidr, simultaneously causing significant food shortage in the country,” said Professor Muzaffer Ahmad, chairman of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).
He said in recent years the country has been badly suffering from the effect of climate change on agriculture, a situation that demands long term government planning.
Professor Muzaffer was addressing the roundtable on National Budget in Overcoming the Effect of Climate Change, arranged by Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) at WVA auditorium in Dhaka.
As an agro-based economy, the government needs to do adequate research on the effect of climate change on our agriculture and the remedy, he said, suggesting that the government should have a proper planning for the development of agro-based sectors and a proper policy on land management to ensure food security.
Prof Muzaffer blamed the shrimp farming for increasing salinity of the agricultural land in the southern part of the country and suggested the government develop an alternative source of export revenue other than shrimp.
In his keynote paper, Professor Atiur Rahman, an eminent economist, said Bangladesh is not generally responsible for the global climate change but one of its victims, and needs more budgetary allocations for overcoming the natural disaster and creating safeguard for environmental protections.
The roundtable stressed river dredging to lessen the possibilities and the extent of floods in the country.
Mahbuba Nasrin, professor of Sociology at the University of Dhaka, and Arifur Rahman, member secretary of BAPA, were also present at the roundtable.