International conference on climate change scheduled for Bangladesh

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, Africa (eTN) – South Africa and Mali are the African countries expected to participate in the Fifth International Conference on Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change to

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, Africa (eTN) – South Africa and Mali are the African countries expected to participate in the Fifth International Conference on Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change to be held Dhaka, Bangladesh, from Monday next week.

Reports from the conference organizers in Bangladesh and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) said that the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina will open the conference at which more than 250 delegates will share the latest knowledge on how vulnerable communities can adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Dr. Hasan Mahmud, Minister of Environment and Forests of Bangladesh, will also be a special guest in the inaugural session of the conference to be running from March 28-31.

Key speakers will include Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change; Eusuf Nassef, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC); Dr. Atiq Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies (BCAS); and Dr. Saleemul Huq, senior fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

This conference, which was organized by the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies and the IIED, will have four days of themed discussions after three days of visits to community-based adaptation projects in vulnerable areas of Bangladesh.

Rising seas, extreme weather, melting glaciers, and changing patterns of disease threatening human health, food supplies, livelihoods, and economies worldwide, have all brought an impact the worldโ€™s poorest communities.

โ€œWhile the worldโ€™s biggest polluters delay action on climate change, communities in the most vulnerable countries are already facing impacts,โ€ said Dr. Hannah Reid, a senior researcher in IIEDโ€™s climate change group.

โ€œGovernments there need to include plans to adapt to climate change in their national development strategies, but first they need to know what works best and how to finance effective actions,โ€ said Dr. Reid in a message to eTurboNews.

Speakers at the conference will share lessons from adaptation projects in settings as diverse as the highlands of Peru and Nepal; the coasts of Bangladesh, Fiji, and the Philippines; the small-scale farms of South Africa and Mali; and the urban centers of India and Vietnam.

โ€œThe conference will highlight the ways for governments, donors, and civil society organizations to help the poorest communities to increase their resilience to the changing climate,โ€ said Dr. Saleemul Huq, senior fellow in IIEDโ€™s climate change group.

โ€œPeople around the world are already adapting to climate change. We need to share knowledge and experience between policymakers, researchers, and development agencies so that communities worldwide can benefit,โ€ he added.

Taking the climate change and its impacts to the African continent, a conference on impacts of climate change on African tourism will be taking place in the Zambian capital of Lusaka from May 15-20 this year.

Organized by the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT), the conference participants will discuss the impacts of climate change on African tourism and challenges ahead to rectify the situation.

With a theme, โ€œMeeting the Challenges of Climate Change to Tourism in Africa and the Developing World,โ€ the 5th IIPT African Conference will bring together leading experts in tourism and climate change and presentations of models of best practice from diverse sectors of the tourist industry from more than 40 different countries.

Topics to be covered by the experts include management of greenhouse emissions, conservation practices, regional planning and infrastructure requirements, sustainable accommodations, coastal tourism strategies, water quality and quantity, forests and wildlife, the central role of national parks and protected areas, preserving bio-diversity, the human dimensions of climate change, promotion of public awareness, and disaster response, among other burning issues.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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