Rule of law must for adaptation

The rule of law must be brought in climate change adaptation and in compensation payment processes at international, national and local levels to empower and protect rights of every person vulnerable to climate change, said speakers at a conference session yesterday.
The compensation, allocated for adaptation, climate financing and capacity building, must be provided on equity basis and not merely targeting climate change mitigation, they said.
The session, “Human rights, equity and the legal aspects of climate change adaptation”, was held on the last day of a four-day “Seventh International Conference on Community-based Adaptation (CBA)”.
International Institute for Environment and Development and Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) jointly organised the conference in the capital's Ruposhi Bangla hotel.
International human rights advocate and former Irish president Mary Robinson moderated the session.
The conference hosted a few parallel sessions centring population and climate change, ecosystem-based approach to adaptation and mainstreaming CBA into the local governments.
“The ecosystem-based approach is where the community protects the local ecosystem and gets paid for it,” said BCAS Executive Director Atiq Rahman.
He stressed increasing the local governments' capacity to provide communities with adaptation knowledge as required.
The conference brought scientists, policymakers and practitioners to share knowledge on how Bangladesh faces extreme climatic events like cyclones.