SAARC action plan and Dhaka declaration on climate change adopted

DHAKA,Bangladesh, July 4 (BSS) - Environment ministers of the South Asian countries today adopted a declaration and a SAARC action
plan to collectively minimise the adverse impact on climate
change.

"We have decided to adopt the action plan for climate change
to raise our voice unitedly against the climate change at all
types of international forums to strengthen our negation capacity
with the major carbon emitters," Special Assistant to the Chief
Adviser for Environment and Forest Raja Devasish Roy said at a
press conference this evening.

The press briefing was held just after the end of the
daylong first SAARC ministerial meeting on climate change at a
city hotel. Raja Devasish led the Bangladesh delegation and
chaired the meeting.

The SAARC action plan has six priority actions including
capacity building for clean development mechanism (CDM) projects,
exchange of information about disaster preparedness, exchange of
meteorological data, exchange of information about climate change
impacts, mutual consultation in international negotiation process
and media briefing as and when required.

In the declaration, it has been clearly stated that every
member country has the right to food, water and energy security.
Also it has been agreed that mutual consultation will take place
among the SAARC member states for taking national positions in
international negotiation forums.

At the press briefing, the special assistant said, "We have
already initiated a fund for climate change worth Taka 300 crore
in the new budget for our own to show the international arena
that we are firmly committed to adopt climate change."

At the meeting, Bangladesh has proposed for creating a
specific SAARC fund for climate change, which would be decided at
the next meeting, he said.

Members of the Bangladesh delegation Environment and Forest
Secretary AHM Rezaul Kabir, Director General of the Department of
Environment Dr Khandaker Rashedul Haque, Executive Director of
the BCAS DR A Atiq Rahman and Country Representative of the IUCN
Dr Ainun Nishat also spoke on the occasion.

The other members of the delegation Joint Secretaries of the
Environment and Forest Ministry Rabindranath Roy Chowdhury, M
Qumar Munir and Martuza Ahmed, Director (SAARC) Kazi Imtiaz
Hossain and Director (SAARC) Faisal Ahmed of the Foreign
Ministry, Conservator of the Forest Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmed, Director
(technical) of the Environment Department M Reazuddin, Research
Director of the BIDS M Asaduzzaman, environmentalist M Reaazul
Karim, Chairman of the FEJB M Quamrul Islam Chowdhury and Deputy
Secretary of the Environment and Forest Ministry M Nasir Uddin
were also present.

Raja Devasish Roy said the objective of the SAARC action
plan is to identify and create opportunities for activities
achievable through regional cooperation and south-south support
in terms of technology and knowledge transfer on adaptation of
climate change.

The SAARC action plan would provide impetus for the regional
level action plan on climate change through national level
activities, he said.

Rezaul Kabir said, "We are now trying to create a regional
fund and looking for a global climate change fund, which was
planned to float after the Bali conference. To mobilise the fund,
we need global move," he said adding, "to expedite the move we
need a common regional stand and through today's meeting we have
succeeded in creating such kind of stand."

At the 29th session of the SAARC council of ministers held
in last December in New Delhi, the ministers of the member states
felt that a focus was needed to chart out a course of action on
the issue and unanimously accepted the Bangladesh's offer to hold
a SAARC ministerial meeting as well as an expert group meeting on
climate change in Dhaka.

A two-day expert group meeting on climate change was held
ahead of the today's ministerial meeting where environment
experts from eight SAARC member countries India, Pakistan, Nepal,
Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, the Maldives, Bhutan and host Bangladesh
attended.

Replying to a query on relocating people from the coastal
region against the threat of sea level rise, Dr Atiq said the sea
level rise is not yet an emergency issue as it would take time to
be happened.

Now, the increasing trend of salinity and frequent cyclone
are the most important concerns for the country to save the
livelihoods of the coastal poor people, he said.

Praising the outputs of the ministerial meeting, Dr Ainun
Nishat said, "We definitely need such kind of unity on the
climate change issue among the South Asian countries which was
already strong among the Caribbean, African and European
countries.