S Asian grouping key to get climate fund

Observe regional experts at economic summit

23 October 2011, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

South Asian countries need an effective regional grouping for speedy disbursement of the pledged climate fund, speakers said at a session of the South Asia Economic Summit in the capital yesterday. Climate change effects are already being felt in the region with 1.64 billion people mostly plunged into widespread poverty, they said, adding these people constitute about one-fourth of the world population. Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), an independent civil society think-tank, organised the two-day summit at a city hotel with a session dedicated to addressing the implications of climate change in the regional context. The development challenges in the region in the wake of climate change are poverty alleviation for 3 billion people, ensuring food security for 800 million malnourished people and providing clean water for 1.3 billions, said Priyangi Jayasinghe, research manager of Munasinghe Institute for Development Studies, Sri Lanka. Recourse required for mitigation and adaptation to climate change has to be mobilised at both global and bilateral levels, said Dr Fahmida Khatun, head of research of CPD. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) should be made an effective forum to mount pressure on the international communities for speedy and appropriate disbursement of the pledged climate fund, she observed. The fund must be new, additional, directly accessible, beneficial for the affected country and adequate in amount, she said adding that there is a big gap between the pledge for fund and desired disbursement. Dr Ainun Nishat, vice-chancellor of Brac University, said that the oil-producing countries will be a stumbling block against easy fund release mechanism at the ensuing Conference of the Parties in Durban. People in the region are exposed to climate change challenges like, temperature rise, decline in irrigation and drinking water, sea level rise, glacier melt, floods, droughts, erratic rainfall, salinity intrusion and water-logging, speakers said. All these threat climate-induced displacement, food security, and also put development, human health and environment at risk, said Dr Jagadish Chandra Pokharel, former vice-chairman of Nepal's National Planning Commission. Saline water from the Bay of Bengal is reported to have intruded into 100 kilometres of the inland through tributaries during dry season, said Golam Rabbani, research fellow of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies. Dr Posh Raj Pandey, executive chairman of South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment, Nepal, chaired the session.