Turning the climate change problem into opportunity As this month of December is both the end of the calendar year as well as the month when we commemorate the 47th year of Bangladesh’s existence as an independent country, I am going to write this column with a look into the future over where Bangladesh can go over next few decades. These thoughts may sound visionary or perhaps … Read More
Two years of the Paris Agreement Moving from words to action in tackling climate change On December 12, 2015 at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris, France, under the leadership of the then President Hollande, the historic Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted. It was a historic agreement for a number of important … Read More
Fiji and Poland launch Talanoa Dialogue at COP23 Fiji and Poland launch Talanoa Dialogue at COP23 The 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ended in Bonn, Germany, on Saturday morning, as negotiations ran overtime by a day. While the event was held in Germany, the official host of COP23 was in fact Fiji, and the President of the COP … Read More
State of climate change discourse in the United States State of climate change discourse in the United States I have just returned from a three-week lecture tour of universities in the United States which took me to New York (Columbia University), Washington, DC (George Washington University), Maryland (University of Maryland) and Nashville (Vanderbilt University). I also participated in the weeklong annual Resilience Academy at the Woodrow Wilson Centre and … Read More
From donors to partners From donors to partners Our relationship with developed countries needs to change so that we can become an active partner from a passive recipient of aid In my column last week, I wrote about the prospects of Bangladesh graduating from Least Developed Country (LDC) status in the next few years and the need to anticipate the consequent loss of access … Read More
Trump’s flip-flop on climate change While he was still running to become President, Trump Tweeted that climate change was a Chinese hoax. Then after he was elected there was speculation that he might change his mind. This became especially acute when his daughter Ivanka held a high profile meeting with former Vice President Al Gore in which Trump also dropped in. Then the Whitehouse held … Read More
Equity, justice, fairness and climate change The principles of equity, justice and fairness are fundamental to understanding and addressing the challenges of global climate change. This is because the problem has been caused by the emissions of the rich countries for several centuries but will primarily impact the poorest people and poorest countries. Hence, when countries came together to discuss and agree to take actions under … Read More
The many faces of adaptation I recently took a group of international young researchers from a number of countries on a field visit from Dhaka to the south coast around Khulna to demonstrate to them how Bangladeshis have adapted over the centuries and more recent decades to changes in the ecosystems in which the people live. However, it came to light that adaptation was not … Read More
CBA conference in Uganda shows the way Photo:Abu Siddique At CBA11 in Uganda, there were a number of participants from Bangladesh including from BRAC, Transparency International Bangladesh, and Practical Action The series of international conferences on community based adaptation (CBA) was started in Bangladesh over a decade ago with the first few conferences held in Bangladesh and then they started being held in different countries including Tanzania, … Read More
