Climate adaptation and mitigation should be led locally, UNDP workshop hears

The preparation for a comprehensive and inclusive National Adaptation Plan or NAP has been discussed in a virtual consultation workshop co-organised by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and UNDP.

Mirza Shawkat Ali, deputy national project director of NAP Formulation Project, said NAP was going to be one of the most important policy documents in combating the climate change impacts on economic sectors, lives and livelihoods of the affected population.

Hence, all the stakeholders from the vulnerable communities on the ground through the government to the development partners should be closely involved in the formulation process, he added.

Prof Ainun Nishat, lead consultant of the NAP Formulation team led by the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services or CEGIS, said the consultation process has been taking place in three tiers – the national, regional and local level.

NAP will analyse ongoing adaptation efforts, gaps and mainstreaming efforts undertaken by the government and other national entities, he said at the virtual event on Aug 31, according to a statement.

One of the discussants, Paula Schindeler, mentioned that the Netherlands, which is a partner in supporting the creation and implementation of the Delta Plan 2021, has been very active in the field of climate change adaptation

Considering different dimensions of the plan, she wanted to know how the Delta Plan could be an action path of NAP.

In response, Anna Balance, climate change and environment advisor, DFID-Bangladesh, said that the British government will closely work with Bangladesh in implementing the adaptation plan.

She pointed out that a programme had been proposed to the UK minister for consideration. The programme will look into adaptation and environmental management.

Cornie Henchoz Pignani from the Embassy of Switzerland said the country will spend around $400 million globally for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Climate change adaptation and mitigation of Bangladesh is a key area of engagement and Switzerland is working with the European Union and the United States to strategise ways of engagement on this critically important issue.

Commenting on the broad spectrum of climate change adaptation and mitigation, Dario Trombetta, programme manager of the Delegation of the European Union, said the bloc was now working on green energy transition from transmission to distribution and consumption at the mitigation level.

At the adaptation level, the EU is looking into scaling up through the Green Climate Fund.

The US will come up with a new climate change strategy before the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP 26 in November this year, said Keith Metzner, a foreign service officer at USAID. Adaptation will be one of the key priorities in that strategy.

Special Guest Sanjay Kumar Bhowmik, joint secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said Bangladesh was 'doing well' in adaptation.

He said that NAP was being formulated in alignment with all the existing climate-related policy and planning documents of the country to seamlessly incorporate with the national budget setting process.

Chief Guest Md Mizanul Hoque Chowdhury, additional secretary at the ministry’s Climate Change Wing and the national project director of the NAP Formulation project, added that NAP should be a vehicle for mainstreaming climate-smart development.

He expressed high hopes about Bangladesh being able to formulate NAP in time despite the fallouts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Considering NAP as a guiding document for mobilising internal and external resources for climate change adaptation, SM Mahbub Alam, deputy secretary to Economic

Relations Division and deputy national project director of NAP Formulation project, asked the development partners to persuade their governments and head offices in coming forward to finance NAP.

The moderator of the session Arif M Faisal, a programme specialist at the UNDP, said the NAP was necessary to sustain the economy and to achieve Bangl;adesh's aspiration of becoming a middle-income country. He added that the NAP should be an inclusive, participatory and country-driven process.

The NAP has been gathering and analysing data and information using scientific tools, developing risk scenarios, generating experience and science-based adaptation strategies in line with Bangladesh’s priorities outlined in the SDG, Delta Plan 2100, Perspective plan, five-year plans and its ambition to graduate from a Least Developed Country to a middle-income country.

It will allow Bangladesh to identify country-specific adaptation needs; develop and implement strategies to address the adaptation needs, as well as help the country decide on actions to protect the most vulnerable communities.

Participants of the consultation underscored the need for stronger integration of local governments into the NAP process, establish stronger mechanisms for smoother inter-ministry coordination, align multi-level policy at all levels of the government and enhanced knowledge on adaptation processes at the local and national levels.

More than fifty representatives from different government ministries, development partners including the EU, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the UK, Asian Development Bank, World Bank, The United States Agency for International Development, United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, German Corporation for International Cooperation or GIZ, Embassy of the Netherlands, Embassy of Switzerland, Japan International Cooperation Agency and UNDP attended the consultation.