Uttarakhand can provide an able leadership to Bangladesh on environment conservation and climate change, Dhaka”s High Commissioner to India Tariq Ahmed Karim said here today. “Bangladesh has lost nearly 40 per cent of its forest wealth during the last two decades and we would try for an agreement with Dehra Dun-based Forest Research Institute (FRI) [...]

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today urged the industrialised nations to invest adequate accessible fund for adaptation by vulnerable economies. “The fund, we envisage should be adequate, sustainable and easily accessible to meet the full cost of adaptation,” she said while speaking at the high-level segment of the 16th Congress of World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) at [...]

Bangladesh needs to invest more on research to introduce improved varieties of seed for meeting the rising demand for foods by withstanding the negative impact of climate change, agriculture experts said yesterday. They also suggested diversifying crops and focusing more on livestock and fishery sectors anticipating that people would consume less rice and spend more [...]

Figuring out how to raise the $100 billion a year in climate change assistance promised to poor nations is tough enough, but spending the money fairly and effectively may prove an even bigger challenge, climate finance experts warned this week. Early flows of money aimed at helping poor and vulnerable countries curb their emissions and [...]

Rivers origin and flow: Both the northern and southern basins of Himalayan Asia are fed by the rivers originating in the Himalaya, the abode of snow. The Himalayan Mountains are the source of life and livelihood for the people of South Asia and China. Whether it is Brahmputra (Yarlung Zangbo Jiang), Mahakali-Karnali-Koshi-Gandaki, rivers of Indus [...]

Several factors drive water disputes in South Asia. To solve the problems, it is critical to involve even China. Solutions must foster the sharing of water resources through increasing dialogue and building mutual trust. SOUTH ASIA is mired in disputes over water resources despite possessing three large rivers – the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Indus and [...]

Providing power without intensifying the effects of climate change is a priority for the people of Bangladesh, who know all too well what rising seas and more frequent storms can do to their coastal nation. The Government of Bangladesh has established a goal of providing electrical power to all its citizens. Renewable energy is a [...]

The global environmental threat is growing as the world is going to face another problem in near future alongside the global warming and climate change. The discovery of this emerging global problem is quite recent and it has received relatively little attention until now but within the next few decades it may turn out to [...]

Multi-billion pound spending on climate change and carbon markets could be wasted because of significant corruption and fraud, according to charity Transparency International. In a report to be released today the anti-corruption group will warn that all of the 20 countries most affected by climate change score badly on its corruption index. The industries likely [...]

VARANASI: At a time when weather experts and environmentalists around the world are worried about the repercussions of climate change due to global warming, a young scientist from National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi, contrarily believes that the world is gearing to face ice age conditions, may be after 500 years. And, he has strong [...]

Bangladesh and India are the two countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change over the next 30 years, according to calculations by the British global risks analysis company Maplecroft. The same study determined that the countries least at risk from climate change are the Scandinavian nations and Ireland. The U.S. and much of Europe [...]

Recently IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) published the Rural Poverty Report 2011. It provides a coherent and comprehensive look at rural poverty. The report urged that we need more food and need it now. To meet the food needs of the 21st century, the nations of the world must make it easy to live [...]

The women of Kunderpara village are used to having water all around them. They live on an island in the middle of one of Bangladesh’s many large rivers. The women are even used to the occasional seasonal flood. But lately when the river floods, it takes on new, terrifying meaning. The women do all they [...]

WE learn it from no less a person than the finance minister that forest coverage has come down to only nine percent. He emphasized on social afforestation and massive tree plantation in each village to face the climate change impacts. His observations came at the inaugural session of the first Bangladesh Forestry Congress 2011 held [...]

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday stressed on establishing an international regime, preferably under the United Nations to address climate change induced cross border migration and internal displacement. “Since Bangladesh is likely to have huge human displacement due to climate change, we want establishment of an international regime under the UN to tackle the situation,” [...]

The Department for International Development (DFID) will spend £1 billion in Bangladesh until 2015, in efforts to encourage private investment, help the government deliver and finance social services and get more children into better schools. The UK-based development organisation will spend an average of £250 million per year in Bangladesh, from £150 million earlier, in [...]

Charting a course among the long, narrow fishing boats that plied back and forth across the river, the ferryboat pulled in to Chila market. Election posters fluttered in the breeze. A young man pedaled past on a rickshaw, his distorted voice blaring out campaign slogans from a large megaphone. Flashes of electric blue caught the [...]

THE government should make ‘everything’ about the climate trust fund public, Saleemul Huq, senior fellow of the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development, said in an interview with New Age. If Bangladesh ‘does not spend the money well, it will spoil its reputation,’ he said in Dhaka on Monday. Saleemul Huq, a Bangladeshi scientist, [...]

Faiz Rahman and Rinku Roy Chowdhury of the Indiana University Bloomington Department of Geography are receiving $637,000 from NASA to study the vulnerability of extensive mangrove forests in Bangladesh to climate change. The project is a collaboration by scientists from IU and the U.S. Forest Service. “There’s been a limited amount of research on the [...]

The Iroquois people have a well-known saying: In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation. Sadly, generations of policy makers in industrialized nations have failed to heed this simple wisdom. The world’s youth have the responsibility of fixing the mistakes made in the past. The more we do to prepare them [...]

Climate change experts meeting in Dhaka travel across Bangladesh to learn how vulnerable communities are rising to the challenge of coping with drought and flood While the world warms and negotiators representing nearly 200 governments gather this week in flood-stricken Thailand to argue over what to do about it, some of the world’s poorest communities [...]

DHAKA, April 1 (BSS) – A major international conference ended this week in the city has strong recommendations to focus on better science analysis and communications to help communities in developing countries to adapt to climate change. More than 300 participants from 60 countries attended the 5th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation to Climate [...]

The government was planning to introduce new varieties of food crops and cultivation methods to fight global climate change, officials said yesterday.  The new range of food crops would include the cultivation of several new paddy varieties, short term crops, inter seasonal crops, green house cultivation methods etc. Approximately 157,000 hectares of paddy, out of [...]

The British government will double its aid to Bangladesh over the next four years. The decision came following a major review of UK’s global aid programmes, said a British High Commission press release on Wednesday. It said, “By 2015, it will increase its aid to Bangladesh to an average of 250 million pound sterling per [...]

Bangladesh is one of the world’s most densely populated countries, and for the first-time visitor, the most immediate and striking impression of its capital city is often made by the traffic, Associate Professor of Political Science Jeremy Elkins told an audience in Bryn Mawr’s Campus Center on Wednesday, Feb. 23. Elkins was explaining the presence [...]

The World Bank would provide Tk 250 crore to Bangladesh as a grant for financing the strengthening of regional cooperation for wildlife conservation project. Supported by the World Bank, the project, which is awaiting the nod of the Planning Commission, will be implemented by four countries including Bangladesh. The three other countries are India, Nepal [...]

South Korea on Tuesday offered Bangladesh to provide with necessary know-how for river training and management in the light of its experience of restoring four major river system- Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan, reports BSS. South Korean Environment Minister Lee Maanee extended the offer at a bilateral luncheon meeting with State Minister for Environment and [...]

BANGLADESH has been identified as one of the countries to be worst affected by climate change for globally polluting activities of the rich and developed countries . From this recognition – and actions in fulfillment of those promises are entirely different things here — promises have come from such countries that they would be “willing” [...]

SATELLITE images dating back to 1973 and old maps earlier than that showed some 1,000 square kilometres of land rose in the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh has, otherwise, been reportedly increasing in size. This somewhat contradicts forecasts — made in recent years — that parts of this country would disappear under water due to global [...]

According to the 4th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (2007), world temperatures could rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 ºC (2.0 and 11.5 ºF) during the 21st century. Sea levels will probably rise by 18 to 59 cm (7.08 to 23.22 in). There will be more frequent warm spells, heat waves, and heavy [...]

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sought support of developed and developing countries, including South Korea, to help implement the 134-point action plan adopted by her government to combat the adverse impacts of climate change caused by global warming. The Prime Minister sought the support when visiting South Korean Environment Minister Maanee Lee paid a courtesy call [...]

Bangladeshis should not portray themselves as victims, but rather should demand compensation for adaptation to climate change as their right”, said Mary Robinson, visiting former President of Ireland at a round table meeting hosted by BRAC and BRAC University on Climate Justice.  The meeting was chaired by Dr. Mahabub Hossain, Executive Director of BRAC, with [...]

Staff Correspondent  -Environment and Forest state minister Hasan Mahmud on Wednesday said the countries responsible for high rate of carbon emission should compensate countries like Bangladesh for mitigation and adaptation to climate change. ‘We want compensation from the responsible parties… we do not want assistance,’ Mahmud said, adding that Bangladesh needs at least $ 5 billion [...]

To carry out climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, Switzerland is immediately providing 3.40 million Swiss Francs by 2012 to the Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund (BCCRF) as part of its global commitment to fight climate change. The Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Dr. Urs Herren informed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina when he called on [...]

It is already established that climate change is happening in the Himalayas. Rapid melting of glaciers, erratic and unpredictable weather, changing rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures impinge on the ability of mountain populace to sustain their livelihoods. The consequences of such changes on food, water and energy security increasingly feature as the most important concerns [...]

Civil society members, academia, and development and women rights activists from South Asian countries participated in the conference. People’s Saarc organised it at the Jatiya Press Club in the city marking the two-day international seminar “Envisioning new South Asia: People’s perspective” held on January 18-19 in Dhaka. The speakers said regional unity can be a [...]

Bangladesh is in the firing line of climate change, and the Bangladeshi government have called for action to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Low lying land will be the first, and worst, hit by climate change and at an International Symposium on Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia Bangladesh put forward a 12-point [...]

About 30-50 per cent of cultivable land in the country’s coastal region remains fallow in rabi and Kharif-I seasons due to climate change, according to a recent study, reports UNB. The study pinpointed the main reasons as soil wetness, water stagnancy, tidal surges, drought and increased salinity triggered by climate change as well as expansion [...]

Climate finance aid to poor countries is a sideshow to the main event, which is for rich nations to stop screwing the planet up. Commentators are almost unanimous that the most positive outcome of the Cancún summit on climate change was the vague procedural notion that multilateral action on global warming is “back on track”. [...]

Some of our VIPs, political leaders, bureaucrats and economists have predicted that by the year 2030 Bangladesh will become one of the 30 rich countries in the world and our per capita income will be US$4000 , which was US$925 in 2009. Well, let our dream come true. For the last few years, local and [...]

At the global level, on the issue of tackling climate change, the year 2010 started disastrously with the failure of the negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the fifteenth Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2009, with the recriminations of that failure continuing well into 2010. [...]

In the face of Climate Change, there is urgent need for Himalayan nations to build resilience to buffer the impacts of Climate Change and generate resources for adaptation, capacity building, and technology transfer. Such actions can no longer wait for a global agreement. In the Himalayas where the impacts of global climate are manifesting at [...]

Climate change the ultimate global warming impact due to green house effect is changing most of our traditional agricultural practices as the seasonal cycle and rainfall pattern have changed, droughts have become more frequent, violent stresses of natural disasters like cyclones, earth quakes, prolonged floods, salt water intrusions are increasing day by day. The average [...]

If one looks at the pattern of continuity and change in Bhutan’s foreign policy in 2010, perhaps not much has changed. India–Bhutan relations continue to follow a positive trajectory and over the past few years bilateral relations have evolved into a comprehensive partnership encompassing a wide range of issue areas. While hydro-power tops the list [...]

Climate and agriculture experts stressed the need for improving water-use efficiency in irrigation and inventing new varieties of crops to cope with the global climate change and ensure food security. At a workshop, they also suggested enhancing the capacity of the government machinery for developing and implementing agricultural projects to encourage donors for quick disbursement [...]

Bangladesh should concentrate on building capacity to utilise the climate-change fund as it will start to receive the money soon, said speakers at a roundtable yesterday. The speakers also said the money would start flowing in as soon as the necessary process to receive the fund is completed. The roundtable was organised by the United [...]

AS the latest UN climate change summit comes to an end in Cancun, Mexico, there is a feeling of optimism towards an agreement of a new fair climate fund to help poorer countries deal with a changing climate. However progress is still desperately needed to ensure that crucial decisions are made on how to raise [...]

Bangladesh’s extreme vulnerability to climate change has been well recognized by the developed nations and especially by the relevant international forums. So, it is only expected that Bangladesh is a strong candidate to draw the Green Climate Fund pledged by the rich countries at the recently held Cancun Climate Summit. But once the country begins [...]

People in the Himalayas and other mountain areas must prepare for a tough and unpredictable future due to the rapid melting of glaciers caused by climate change, according to a new UN report. Glaciers in Patagonia and in Alaska have been losing mass faster and for longer than glaciers in other parts of the world, [...]

PAKISTAN: The torrential rains that began in July of this year, during monsoon season, caused massive flooding, submerging one-fifth of the country’s land mass and forcing large-scale population movement. According to the United Nations, the flooding caused the greatest humanitarian crisis in recent history, affecting more people than the 2004 Asian tsunami and the recent [...]

Anne Main (St Albans, Conservative) Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has spent on climate change adaptation for smallholder farmers in Bangladesh in each of the last five years; and what proportion of his Department’s expenditure on (a) climate change measures overseas, (b) climate change adaptation overseas, [...]

What are countries doing to prepare for climate change? A World Resources Report side event in Cancun highlights pioneering case studies from the developing world Adapting to climate change presents a monumental task for national governments, especially those in the developing world. Last week at the UNFCCC climate meeting in Cancun, our side event highlighted [...]

Criticised for doing little for years now, a regional bloc of South Asian countries has shown signs of trying to become active at the Cancun summit. But will it mean anything for the region that many scientists believe hosts some of the most vulnerable countries to climate change with one of the poorest populations? The [...]

Experts from leading institutions and government organisations working in the field of climate change in the Himalayan region called attention to mountain issues and challenges in the light of climate change. They linked these issues to the debate on how to mainstream the sustainable development agenda while planning adaptation and mitigation activities, including the management [...]

LONDON (AlertNet) – Around two thirds of countries will become highly vulnerable to climate change by 2030, unless efforts to tackle global warming are stepped up fast, according to an international index launched on Friday. The “Climate Vulnerability Monitor“, backed by leading climate experts, assesses 184 countries according to the estimated effects of climate change [...]

CANCUN: The 16th Conference of 194 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change kicked off here today with a plea to commit and compromise for tackling climate change. As in the past, the speakers urged the countries to come up with specific and clear solutions to check degradation of the environment. However, [...]

Climate change is becoming one of the most influential environmental pressures on the sustainability of human life. A discussion started by a small group of people in the 1960s about increasing CO2 emissions, is now the centre of global attention. Serious action has to be taken to curb emission of substances causing climate change, mitigate [...]

Continued poverty reduction in Asia and the Pacific will not be possible without proactive efforts to mitigate the causes of global warming and help the region—especially its most vulnerable citizens in both rural and urban settings, the poor, women, children, and the elderly—adapt to the impacts of climate change. In response to the dire social [...]

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday lamented slow progress of climate negotiation, and the delay in disbursement of $30 billion pledged by the developed countries for the poor countries to combat climate change fallouts. “Unfortunately, the provisions and mechanisms in the existing framework have failed to secure resources required for financing adaptation actions on the ground,” [...]

4.9.2010 9:37 AM, By Dan Shapley 6 Common Misunderstandings About Global Warming. Or is that Climate Change? Myth or fact? There are a lot of misconceptions about global warming that have cropped up in recent months. Here’s a look at some of them: Fact or Myth? “Snowmageddon” and all those other weird U.S. snowstorms this [...]