Experts called to make climate data accessible as it is crucial for resilience development and to create a path for transformative and integrated collaboration in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region.
They made the call when they met at a two-day regional conference titled “Climate data: Opportunities for resilient development” held in Dhaka on Wednesday.
The Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region covers the area of mountains in the eight countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Department of Agricultural Extension and the Programming Division of the Bangladesh Planning Commission, organised the event.
Habibun Nahar, Deputy Minister of the environment ministry addressed the conference as the Chief Guest.
Sanjay Kumar Bhowmik, Additional Secretary of the environment ministry chaired the inaugural session and Nusrat Noman, Joint Secretary, Programming Division, Bangladesh Planning Commission spoke as Special Guest.
She said that the government has taken a number of initiatives to address the climate challenge.
Bangladesh -one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change impacts - has formulated policies and plans to combat these impacts as reflected in the National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA), the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan, she added.
Speakers, however, it is crucial to have access to climate data and climate risk information to implement these plans.
The two-day conference would give various stakeholders a chance to deliberate on barriers and opportunities in accessing climate risk information.
Speakers explored technical solutions to issues pertaining to the lack of up-to-date, reliable, and accessible climate data, and allowed practitioners to network in finding innovative solutions.
Malik Fida A Khan, Executive Director, Centre for Environment and Geographical Information Services (CEGIS), presented the keynote paper in the opening session, offering the status of climate data and accessibility in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region.
Over the course of the conference, participants also got the chance to browse through existing good practices in terms of research, good practices, communications, government initiatives, youth movements, and the German technical cooperation’s support in climate change adaptation efforts.
The first day ended with a screening of the award-winning documentary “Once You Know”. Participants at the conference were also able to attend an art exhibition held over the course of the conference.
