Int\\\'l talks kick off in Khulna tomorrow

Government and non-government representatives, academicians and civil society members will sit in a dialogue beginning in Khulna city on Friday to address issues including displacement of people caused by disasters and other climate change effects in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.
The regional consultation of the Nansen Initiative is to understand the challenges for human mobility taking place within countries and across borders aiming to protect them from displacement.
These were disclosed at a press conference on Wednesday ahead of commencement of the three-day dialogue.
Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque, Swiss Ambassador Christian Fotsch and Chief of Mission of International Organisation of Migration (IOM) Sarat Dash spoke among others at the press conference. Atle Solberg also spoke on behalf of the secretariat of the Nansen Initiative.
Government representatives from 10 countries, experts and civil society members from 15 other countries will attend the regional consultations titled 'climate change, disasters and human mobility in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.'
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is organising the event, fifth of its kind since the initiative was launched in 2012, in association with the Nansen Initiative and the IOM.
During the briefing, the foreign secretary said in most of the cases the displacement of people linked with disaster and climate change is not recorded but it can be assumed that displacement of 50 million people in the country took place during a period of five years due to natural disasters including the cyclones Aila and Sidr.
"Aila itself displaced 300,000 people," he said. The dynamics of mobility of people are linked with natural calamities that become challenging when they take place across the border.
Answering a question whether a guideline in the case of handling cross-border displacement is expected from the dialogue, the secretary said it is a difficult part of the event.
Chair of the Nansen Steering Group, the foreign secretary, however, said a collaborative effort of the government, civil society members and NGOs could find good practices in that area.
He also expressed hope that the regional consultation would identify good practices at the regional, national and community levels establishing a mechanism for climate change adaptation, disaster preparedness and building resilience to manage displacement risk.
The Swiss Ambassador quoted the data of Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and said over 33 million people were displaced by conflicts in 2014.
He, however, said conflict-related displacement was outnumbered by over 166 million people displaced by sudden onset of disasters between 2008 and 2013 (IDMC).
This number is likely to increase in the context of global warming, the ambassador said adding that national and international responses to meet their protection and assistance needs are currently insufficient
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