Regional co-operation in energy emphasised
Monday, 19 April 2010
FE Report
The upcoming 16th SAARC Summit must focus on regional co-operation in energy sector, water for sustainable rural livelihoods of millions of South Asian poor and to tackle the climate change, speakers said Sunday.
They said the SAARC summit is going to be held in Bhutan on April 28 and 29 that should reflect political goodwill in sharing common resources like water and energy, to ensure food security and livelihood of rural people who mainly depends on agriculture.
They made the remarks at a dialogue titled "Pre-SAARC summit dialogue with Journalists" jointly organised by the Campaign for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods (CSRL) in collaboration with the Diplomatic Correspondents Association Bangladesh (DCAB), Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), Imagine a New South Asia (INSA), Unnayan Onneshan (UO) and Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP) at a city hotel.
They warned that millions of South Asian poor people will be displaced due to the impact of climate change and a chaotic situation will be created in the region.
Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed, chairman of the BUP chaired the dialogue while Vice Principal Abdus Shahid, MP, also chief whip of Treasury Bench, attended as guest of honour.
Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, Chairman, Unnayan Onnesha, associate professor, Department of Development Studies, Dhaka University, presented the keynote paper.
He said, "As per the impact of climate change in South Asia 23 per cent to 33 per cent coastal zones could be inundated while crop yields could decrease by 30 per cent in South Asia by the mid-century."
"Storm surges could increase by more than 38.0 per cent and Bangladesh will be worst affected."
He said, "Our approach should be -- regional equitable water management across the basin for water security and ensuring food production and food availability for regional food security."
He said, "Access to energy and energy cooperation for energy security, regional approach to address agriculture for livelihood security and regional disaster management and preparedness approach have to be ensured."
Sabihuddin Ahmed, former secretary and high commissioner to UK, Zahirul Alam, president of the Diplomatic Correspondents Associa-tion Bangladesh (DCAB) and Palash Kanti Das, South Asia Economic Justice Campaign Coordinator, among others, spoke in the dialogue.
The upcoming 16th SAARC Summit must focus on regional co-operation in energy sector, water for sustainable rural livelihoods of millions of South Asian poor and to tackle the climate change, speakers said Sunday.
They said the SAARC summit is going to be held in Bhutan on April 28 and 29 that should reflect political goodwill in sharing common resources like water and energy, to ensure food security and livelihood of rural people who mainly depends on agriculture.
They made the remarks at a dialogue titled "Pre-SAARC summit dialogue with Journalists" jointly organised by the Campaign for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods (CSRL) in collaboration with the Diplomatic Correspondents Association Bangladesh (DCAB), Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), Imagine a New South Asia (INSA), Unnayan Onneshan (UO) and Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP) at a city hotel.
They warned that millions of South Asian poor people will be displaced due to the impact of climate change and a chaotic situation will be created in the region.
Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed, chairman of the BUP chaired the dialogue while Vice Principal Abdus Shahid, MP, also chief whip of Treasury Bench, attended as guest of honour.
Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, Chairman, Unnayan Onnesha, associate professor, Department of Development Studies, Dhaka University, presented the keynote paper.
He said, "As per the impact of climate change in South Asia 23 per cent to 33 per cent coastal zones could be inundated while crop yields could decrease by 30 per cent in South Asia by the mid-century."
"Storm surges could increase by more than 38.0 per cent and Bangladesh will be worst affected."
He said, "Our approach should be -- regional equitable water management across the basin for water security and ensuring food production and food availability for regional food security."
He said, "Access to energy and energy cooperation for energy security, regional approach to address agriculture for livelihood security and regional disaster management and preparedness approach have to be ensured."
Sabihuddin Ahmed, former secretary and high commissioner to UK, Zahirul Alam, president of the Diplomatic Correspondents Associa-tion Bangladesh (DCAB) and Palash Kanti Das, South Asia Economic Justice Campaign Coordinator, among others, spoke in the dialogue.