Climate change adaptation should be integrated into the national development planning process, said experts at a national dialogue on mainstreaming the National Adaptation Plan (NAP).
They also stressed the need for a climate change act to adapt to the changing climate.
The dialogue ‘National Level Dialogue for Mainstreaming National Adaptation Plan (NAP)’ was jointly organised by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Economic Relations Division (ERD) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Sunday in the Capital.
“A legislative framework will be developed through this act for mainstreaming NAP”, said Professor Ainun Nishat, team leader of NAP Consortium.
He mentioned that NAP has set out four stages to incorporate climate change adaptation – policy and planning, development planning cycle, resources allocation and implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.
He also stated the existing Disaster Impact Assessment (DIA) framework should be updated to include climate change, update of the log framework based on theory of change and inclusion of climate change risk-adjusted cost during development project proposal formulation.
Ms Fatima Yasmin, secretary, ERD of the Ministry of Finance, said, “We are hopeful that NAP will be a comprehensive strategy to adapt with the changing climate.”
She echoed the need for the climate change act.
Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) Executive Director and Consortium Lead Malik Fida Khan has shed light on the goals, visions and principles of NAP.
He said NAP includes 6 goals, 22 strategies, 109 interventions and more than thousands of adaptation measures.
He added that NAP considered 11 climate stress areas of Bangladesh according to different vulnerability factors and future risks. It identified 12 hazards that include riverine flood, drought, cyclone and storm surge, sea-level rise, extreme temperature, erratic rainfall, salinity intrusion, flash flood, landslide, cold snap, lightning and urban flood.
Addressing as chief guest Planning Minister MA Mannan, said, NAP is a landmark initiative to strengthen adaptation to future climate change.
Mentioning NAP will be implemented in an integrated way, he assured that the Planning Ministry will oversee and facilitate the implementation of mainstreaming NAP process.
Mr Sudipto Mukerjee, resident representative of UNDP was present as special guests at the event, chaired by Md Mostafa Kamal, secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Source: The Business Standard
