UN urged to set up climate research institute in Dhaka
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
From Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, Oct 28: International Farakka Committee in adjunct with Dr. Ferdousi Begum, an environment activist and a Plant Biotechnologist, in letters addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, made strong pleas for setting up the International Climate Change Research and Training Institute in Bangladesh which, according to all available data, is dangerously vulnerable to the vagaries of nature.
The UN secretary general will visit Bangladesh, Nepal and India beginning Nov 1. They appealed to the secretary general to seize the opportunity of his presence in three countries through which many common rivers flow to exert his influence in binding them into an agreement for equitable sharing and training of the rivers.
They said if US, Canada and Mexico can share the waters of the common rivers, if the co-riparians of the Mekong river can share the water, if India and Pakistan can share the water of the Indus why cant India, Bangladesh and Nepal do the same. The International Strategy for Disaster Management, the Geneva-based organisation has issued warning, saying coastal belts of Bangladesh are susceptible to the fury of nature.
The International Farakka Committee and Dr. Ferdousi Begum have appealed for UN's active participation in mitigating the dangers resulting from global warming and resolve the crisis keeping in view a regional perspective.
Dr. Fedousi Begum who has been barnstorming Europe enlisting the support of the people rushed to New York from Spain in her letter to the secretary general, said, 'we are not responsible for global warming but we are victim of nature's fury and the devastations wrought by them'. She said, 'we do not demand pity, we demand compensation for the loss of lives and resources for which the rich and affluent nations are responsible.' Bangladesh being a sub- tropical country is vulnerable to global warming and its effects on crops, soil, insects, weeds and diseases have been alarming. The agriculture is taking a major brunt. The pernicious impact of the global change is evident in the agro-ecosystem of Bangladesh.
The sea level in Bangladesh is rising at about three millimeters a year and the sea surface temperature is also showing arising trend, Dr. Ferdousi contended.
Dr. Ferdousi who teaches at the Oxford University said large portion of Bangladesh and the Maldives will be submerged under sea water, rendering millions of people homeless and destitudes. She called upon the world leaders to pay urgent attention to this alarming problem, saying ' we are threatened by absence of food security and spread of contagion diseases particularly water borne diseases.
NEW YORK, Oct 28: International Farakka Committee in adjunct with Dr. Ferdousi Begum, an environment activist and a Plant Biotechnologist, in letters addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, made strong pleas for setting up the International Climate Change Research and Training Institute in Bangladesh which, according to all available data, is dangerously vulnerable to the vagaries of nature.
The UN secretary general will visit Bangladesh, Nepal and India beginning Nov 1. They appealed to the secretary general to seize the opportunity of his presence in three countries through which many common rivers flow to exert his influence in binding them into an agreement for equitable sharing and training of the rivers.
They said if US, Canada and Mexico can share the waters of the common rivers, if the co-riparians of the Mekong river can share the water, if India and Pakistan can share the water of the Indus why cant India, Bangladesh and Nepal do the same. The International Strategy for Disaster Management, the Geneva-based organisation has issued warning, saying coastal belts of Bangladesh are susceptible to the fury of nature.
The International Farakka Committee and Dr. Ferdousi Begum have appealed for UN's active participation in mitigating the dangers resulting from global warming and resolve the crisis keeping in view a regional perspective.
Dr. Fedousi Begum who has been barnstorming Europe enlisting the support of the people rushed to New York from Spain in her letter to the secretary general, said, 'we are not responsible for global warming but we are victim of nature's fury and the devastations wrought by them'. She said, 'we do not demand pity, we demand compensation for the loss of lives and resources for which the rich and affluent nations are responsible.' Bangladesh being a sub- tropical country is vulnerable to global warming and its effects on crops, soil, insects, weeds and diseases have been alarming. The agriculture is taking a major brunt. The pernicious impact of the global change is evident in the agro-ecosystem of Bangladesh.
The sea level in Bangladesh is rising at about three millimeters a year and the sea surface temperature is also showing arising trend, Dr. Ferdousi contended.
Dr. Ferdousi who teaches at the Oxford University said large portion of Bangladesh and the Maldives will be submerged under sea water, rendering millions of people homeless and destitudes. She called upon the world leaders to pay urgent attention to this alarming problem, saying ' we are threatened by absence of food security and spread of contagion diseases particularly water borne diseases.