Seek climate assistance from dev partners

As the release of the UN climate change fund for vulnerable countries is being delayed, Bangladesh should implement adaptation programmes with assistances from its development partners through bilateral arrangements, according to experts.
At the same time, it should continue to play a leading role at the negotiation table during the global climate conferences, they told a discussion on "Post COP (Conference of Parties) Output Analysis: Bangladesh Expectations and Achievement" yesterday. The experts viewed that climate issues should dominate the development agendas in the coming decades.
So, it is necessary to groom a whole young group of negotiators for future climate conferences that many of the senior ones would not able to attend, said Qazi Kholiquzzaman, chairman of Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), who was present as chief guest.
Every year, the COP makes some progress on some issues, adaptation or financial or carbon trade, but the pace of the progress is too slow, he said.
He also urged the government not to put anyone on the government's delegation for climate conferences because sometimes it created humiliating situation.
Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad arranged the programme at Dhaka Reporters Unity where Fazle Rabbi Sadeque Masud, a climate expert from PKSF, presented the keynote paper.
Dr Abdul Matin, general secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa), laid stress on training activists working on climate change issues, as it is a technical issue.
Dr Nurul Qadir, a joint secretary of PKSF, was present as a special guest, while MA Jalil, chairman of Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad, chaired the programme.