Experts and stakeholders at a dialogue have called for removing inefficiency and ensuring transparency in formulation of the National Adaptation Plan (NPA) to mitigate the climate change impacts.
Without incorporating the local adaptation practices and the region-specific realities, both formulation of NAP and its implementation will face obstructions, they observed.
The call and observation were made at a national level stakeholders’ dialogue on identification of the regional challenges to tackle the negative impacts of climate change and inclusion thereof in the National Adaptation Plan at a city hotel on Wednesday.
Center for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD) with support of AOSED, Bread for the World, CCBVO, Diakonia, and SDS arranged the function.
At the dialogue, suggestions, proposals, and data were presented that had been obtained from the local level consultation carried out by CPRD and other partner organisations in three individual regions (coastal region, river-bank erosion prone region, and drought prone region) with special attributes.
Saber Hossain Chowdhury, MP, chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee, MoEFCC was present as the chief guest at the meeting.
Dr Atiq Rahman, executive director, BCAS was present as the special guest.
The keynote speech was delivered by Md Shamsuddoha, chief executive of CPRD.
Speeches were also delivered by Dhareetree Kumar Sarker, deputy secretary, MoFECC, Fazle Rabbi Sadeque Ahmed, deputy managing director, PKSF, Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, president, FEJB, AKM Azad Rahman, programme specialist-UNDP, Dilruba Haider, programme specialist-UN WOMEN, Khodeja Sultana Lopa, country director, Diakonia Bangladesh,and Gowhar Nayeem Wara, expert disaster management .
Alongside the representatives of the communities affected by climate change in different areas of the country, representatives of civil society, government and non-government officers and employees, researchers, and policymakers took part in the meeting.
On behalf of the organisers,Shameem Arefin, executive director of AOSED, made a presentation on the climate change vulnerabilities and adaptation requirements in the South-west Coastal Region of Bangladesh.
Prodip Mardi, reporting and documentation officer, CCBVO also presented about the climate change vulnerabilities and adaptation requirements in north-west barind region of Bangladesh.
Rabeya Begum, executive director of SDS, discussed the climate change vulnerabilities and adaptation requirements in river eroded areas of Bangladesh.
Saber Hossain Chowdhury said Bangladesh needs to ensure sustainable development and there is no alternative to formulating and implementing a good NAP.
He expected that the NAP formulation process would follow a ‘bottom-up’ approach.
Our country fervently wants a participatory and precise NAP, and all the arrangements have made me optimistic that it is on the right track, he added.
Dr Atiq Rahman said the governance is not merely perceived as reducing corruption, formulation of the right plan at the right time and implementation thereof are also, at the same time, part of good governance.
As the keynote speaker, Mr Shamsuddoha said Bangladesh has already started its activities for formulating the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) aiming at tackling climate change and enhancing the capacity of adaptation actions.
He stressed that, in coherence with the UNFCCC guidelines, the process of formulating the NAP must be participatory and transparent, and the plan must be formulated taking into consideration the special risks of the women, indigenous peoples, and communities falling behind, and alongside the risks at local level and the actions required for reducing those risks.
Dharitri Kumar Sarkar pointed that challenges of the people of three regions have been brought to the light through the presentations, and all the three regions have distinct attributes.
Kamrul Islam Chowdhury said there is no scope for Bangladesh to survive without formulating a precise National Adaptation Plan in the light of its geographical realities.
He also said that special attention must be put on whether the NAP document is apt and well-developed.