Experts at a divisional seminar have stressed for innovation and adoption of the community-based mechanisms, ways, strategies and technologies to adapt with changing climate in vulnerable areas including inland chars.
The put special emphasis on comprehensive GO-NGO approaches involving local government bodies and community people in addressing issues like
food security, poverty alleviation, disaster management etc through climate change adaptation.They were addressing the fifth divisional conference on community based adaptation (CBA) to climate change styled to Climate Change: Experiences from Inland Chars’ at the conference room of RDRS
Bangladesh here in the city on Wednesday.Action Research for Community Adaptation in Bangladesh (ARCAB), Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) jointly organised the seminar.CARE Bangladesh, RDRS Bangladesh, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur (BRUR) and Islamic Relief Bangladesh (IRB) were the co-organisers of the seminar that continued from 9 am to 6 pm.
A total of 160 participants including academicians, researchers, students and teachers of different universities, experts, GO-NGO executives and officials, public representatives, community leaders and journalists from all over Rangpur division participated.Vice-chancellor of BRUR and renowned population scientist Professor Dr AKM Nurun Nabi inaugurated the seminar as the chief guest in the launching ceremony with Head of the Department of Geography & Environmental Science of BRUR Dr. Masum A. Patwary in the chair.Programme Director of ARCAB Syed Iqbal Ali delivered welcome speech while Head of Livelihoods & Community Development of Islamic Relief Worldwide Bangladesh Sharif Ahmed overviewed to Climate Change:
Experiences from Inland Chars.Experts and resource persons presented eleven papers narrating the CBA mechanisms developed in the disaster-prone inland chars in two technical sessions with Director-Programme Quality of CARE Bangladesh Dr. Mehrul Islam and Dr. Masum A. Patwary in the chair respectively.Rangpur Divisional Commissioner Muhammad Dilwar Bakht addressed the concluding ceremony as the chief guest with Fellow of BCAS and Climate Change Adaptation Expert in Bangladesh Sarder Shafiqul Alam in the chair.Director-Programme Quality of CARE Bangladesh Dr. Mehrul Islam
summarised the day’s proceedings while Head of Programme Coordination of RDRS Bangladesh Monjusree Saha proposed vote of thanks in the
concluding ceremony.The speakers put maximum emphasis on bringing the actors and stakeholders of the community based CBA together, capturing the latest CBA learning and disseminate the learnt lessons for building climate resilient community in the disaster-prone areas. They narrated as how the changing climate has adversely been affecting the seasonal rainfall, floods, erosion, silting up of riverbeds, and dry seasons, winters, periods for sowing or planting seeds, seedlings and harvest creating concern to the agriculture sector.They presented the success achieved by different development organisations in cultivation of short duration, drought-, flood-and saline-tolerant rice and other crops to increase food production in
the inland chars in recent years under adverse situations.The speakers put special importance on strengthening and enhancing local community based initiatives, innovations and adoption of comprehensive strategies and need-based policies to face and adapt with the changing climate in vulnerable areas. -BSS, Rangpur
