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Solution-focused efforts needed to tackle climate change

Speakers say at seminar

Staff Correspondent
Climate change experts yesterday said the government should take an umbrella policy and form a separate ministry to deal with global climate change adversities in Bangladesh.
Programmes identifying problems and building awareness have been conducted over the years. Now, more solution-oriented efforts are required for climate change adaptation, they said at a seminar.
Dhaka Ahsania Mission arranged the seminar, on "Climate Change: Its Impacts on Forest and Water Resources", at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) in the capital. Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation Chairperson Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad chaired the session.
Saleemul Huq, executive director of
International Centre for Climate Change and Development, said many programmes have been implemented over the years focusing on building awareness about the impact of global climate change. As a result, people now understand the problems of climate change.
"From here, we have to focus on doing more solution-oriented research," he said.
He added that the government has taken steps to upgrade the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, which has created new opportunities to "analyse and take lessons from previous mistakes."
Presenting a paper, A Atiq Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Centre for Advance Studies, said failing to mitigate climate change will put the country's effort in ensuring food security in question.The government has taken initiatives to create a separate unit for climate change. Establishing a ministry in this regard will be vital in next few years, he said.
Farid Uddin Ahmed, executive director of Aranyak Foundation, said about 8,000 traditional brick kilns are operational in the country which burn wood logs. "These have to be renovated," he added.
For climate change adaptation, efforts have to be taken to conserve natural forests rather than prioritising tree plantation, he said, adding people have to be accustomed with using renovated cooking stoves to reduce log burning.
Presenting a separate paper, Prof Mashfiqus Salehin of Institute of Water and Flood Management of Buet, emphasised an effective management policy and more investment in capacity building for climate change resilience.
Ex-chief conservator of forests Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmad said the country's reserve
forests have been encroached upon "institutionally" over the years.
Fourteen percent of the total forest land has been grabbed by influential quarters while many more applications are waiting at the environment and forest ministry, he said.
He also said the Rohingya influx has brought a geomorphic change in Teknaf and adjacent areas, because the “top soil has gone". There is uncertainty whether the Rohingyas will be repatriated in near future. Even if they are repatriated, it will take many more years for the area to get back its previous shape, he said.
Speaking as chief guest, Environment and Forest Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud said they have built protection embankments in the coastal regions to tackle climate change adversity.
The ministry has been encouraging locals to participate in social forestry and taken steps to renovate age-old polders in the southern region, he said, adding they are also working to rehabilitate people affected by river bank erosion.