Mega plan to tackle climate-change threats holistically

Bangladesh is preparing a mega-plan to deal with the climate-change threats “holistically”.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 27 August 2014, 01:16 PM
Updated : 27 August 2014, 02:19 PM

The planning commission says it will complete the ‘Delta Plan 2100’ by 2015.

Dutch experts will prepare the plan analysing 19 studies they will conduct within the time.

It will set strategies to address issues like climate change, water resources management, river dredging, and construction of embankment in a “coordinated” way.

“It’ll be a holistic plan,” planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said on Wednesday at a formal inauguration of the project.

“We are the ‘unfortunate victims’ of climate change,” he said pointing out industrial nations contribute mostly in carbon emission.

The project of developing the plan actually began in July last year, but Wednesday it was formally launched.

Bangladesh earlier in 2012 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Dutch government to formulate the nearly 100 year long plan.

Both countries are situated in large river delta and exposed to the threat of sea-level rise.

But Netherlands is known for its expertise in delta management.

In the beginning of the process, the Netherlands ambassador in Dhaka Gerben Sjoerd de Jong said Bangladesh recognised “there is need for holistic and long-term delta plan”.

Bangladesh had earlier adopted different plans including national water management plan, integrated costal management plan and national water resources management plan for flood management.

But the new plan would address all those issues in “a comprehensive way”, said its project director Md Mafidul Islam.

A large international consortium, led by the Dutch consultancy firm Twynstra Gudde, is leading the preparation of the crucial plan.

Ministers for Disaster Management and Relief Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya and Water Resources Anisul Islam Mahmud were also present at the launching.