Experts on Sunday recommended formulation of a national policy on climate change to implement the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 and to strengthen the action plan for withstanding the impact of climate change.
They urged the government to revise the action plan in line with the recommendations made by civil society experts and the inhabitants of disaster-prone areas of the country who expressed their opinions in a seminar titled 'Climate Victims and Civil Society Opinions from Six Divisions, Bangladesh Climate Action Plan 2009, Participation and Coordination', held at National Press Club.
They also demanded transparency and social auditing of the climate action plan in implementation of the BCCSAP.
They said that the government should focus on funding research to find out how to enable the people to withstand the numerous impacts of climate change.
The seminar was jointly organised by the Campaign for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods and Equity and Justice Working Group (EquityBD).
EquityBD's secretary Rezaul Karim Chowdhury moderated the seminar which was also addressed by Dr Hasan Mahmud, the state minister for environment and forests, and Dr Qazi Khaliquzzaman, convener of the national climate change negotiation team.
Dr Khaliquzzaman said that the BCCSAP has been prepared without the participation of the grassroots-level people who could have made valuable inputs.
But Mahmud said BCCSAP was a 'living document' and can be revised anytime in response to the recommendations of knowledgeable members of the civil society.
He said that the BCCSAP is a guideline to cope with climate change and the government is making constant efforts to prepare and implement various projects according to that guideline.
Syed Aminul Haque of EquityBD presented the keynote paper in which he made five recommendations which include need of high-level political coordination, integration of the 6th Five Year Plan, institutional reforms of different government agencies, decentralized implementation and preparation of a regional version of the climate action plan.
Source : New Age
