Bangladesh's Efforts and Future Priorities for Climate Change Negotiations

1. ECBI Regional WorkshoponClimate Change: South and Southeast AsiaBANGLADESH COUNTRY PRESENTATION By Mirza Shawkat Ali Deputy Director Department of Environment

2. Outline of the Presentation • National Circumstances • National efforts • Institutional response to CC • On-going activities of CCC • How Bangladesh prepares for Negotiations • Problems we experience • Achievements • Future Priorities at Negotiations • Future Negotiations and what needs to be done • How developing countries should respond?

3. National Circumstances: Likely Impacts • Flood • Flash Flood • Drainage Congestion • Reduced flow in rivers (dry season) • Drought conditions • Salinity intrusion • Tidal wave and cyclones • Sea level rise

4. National Circumstances: Likely Impacts • Large floods affects almost two-thirds of the country. Bangladesh has experienced three major floods in recent years (1988, 1998, 2004) • Floods damage crops, settlements and infrastructure and disrupt production activities • Flash floods damage standing crops in northern and north-eastern part of the country.

6. National Circumstances: Likely Impacts • Reduced flow in rivers create water scarcity, and also increase in salinity intrusion • Tidal surges and cyclones are the extreme events which are likely to be increased in frequency and intensity over the years (e.g.1991) • Sea level rise and flooding during rainy season will create drainage congestion in the low lying areas (especially in the central part) of the country.

7. National Efforts • Emission inventory, vulnerability assessment done with assistance of US Climate Change Country Study Program in 1994. • Participated in Asia Least-cost Greenhouse Gas Abatement Strategy a project of GEF and ADB to develop least cost Mitigation Strategy. • Preparation of National Report (National communication) – UNFCCC

8. National Efforts • Preparation of National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA), Nov. 2005. • Establishment of a Climate Cell at Dept. of Environment • Establishment of DNA

9. Designated National Authority (DNA) for Bangladesh Structure of DNA National CDM Board National CDM Committee

10. National CDM Board Chairman of the Board Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister • Members • Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests • Member, Planning Commission • Secretary/Secretaries of the Relevant Ministry Member-Secretary DG, Department of Environment

11. National CDM Committee Chairman of the Committee Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests Members Members from Govt. Sectors Planning Commission, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Industries, Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, Communications, Science information and Communication Technology, Power, Energy & Mineral Resources, ERD, LGED, BOI, Bangladesh Bank, Department of Environment. Members from NGO Sectors FBCCI, BIDS, BUET, Waste Concern, BCAS. Member-Secretary Director (Tech.), Department of Environment

12. The Institutional Response to Climate Change: Role of CCC • Building the capacity of government to coordinate and integrate climate change issues in mainstream development activities across government; • Strengthening existing knowledge and availability of information on impact predication and adaptation to climate change;

13. The Institutional Response to Climate Change: Role of CCC • Awareness raising, advocacy and coordination with partners across government, NGOs, civil society, private sector and donor organizations; • Improving capacity to adapt livelihoods to climate change in the agriculture sector;

14. Ongoing Activities of CCC • Technical Advisory Group established • Focal Points identified; One training workshop held • Compendium of CC publications completed

15. Ongoing Activities of CCC • Knowledge network on CC (KNOCC) established • Providing REgional Climate Impact Studies (PRECIS) model is being used by BUET, SPARRSO and BMD under the guidance of the Climate Change Cell. • Data validation has been done as part of the modeling activities. Model run is underway

16. How we prepare for Negotiations • Systematic Approach • Through Partnerships with NGOs, civil society, researchers, etc. • Review current decisions of negotiations, draw opinions from consultations and prepare • Brief for national delegation • Brief for Minister (high level segment)

17. Problems and Constraints faced • Continuity of dedicated professionals; • Capacity building, utilization, retention; • Limited (in numbers) representation at negotiations; • Resource Limitation • to promote and enable awareness and understanding among ministries and development agencies

18. Achievements • Bangladesh was Elected as the LDC Chair during COP 10 • Under the able leadership of Bangladesh at the SB22 session in Bonn LDCs succeeded in reaching decision to operationalize the LDC Fund. • Bangladesh on behalf of LDCs has submitted SBSTA 5 year work programme. • Others

19. Future Negotiations and what needs to be done • Recognizing the scale of the problem with latest scientific findings • Deeper emissions cut in the second commitment period • Strict monitoring on the compliance. • Developing analytical and scientific capacity and knowledge • Participation of all NA-1 (big emitters) in the emission cut without compromising their right to development.

20. How developing countries should respond? • Creating a high level, multi-sectoral multi- stakeholder body to oversee climate change issues • Developing a high powered and well trained negotiating team • Strengthening professional capacity to address CDM issues • Focusing on building adaptive capacity • Developing appropriate projects for accessing adaptation funding

21. Conclusion • We don’t see any tangible or real outcome of the UNFCCC Negotiation Process. We have to raise our voice to ensure better commitments from the Industrialized countries in the second commitment period so that the Climate Change process could be slowed down and then may be reverse it for our future generation.

22. THANK YOU