Set up adaptation center in Dhaka

The Daily Star: Bangladesh on the second day of UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland, demanded that an International Adaptation Centre under UN framework be set up in Dhaka. The centre would research on how to adapt to climate change. Bangladesh placed its demands at the vision sharing meeting of G-77 on behalf of the least developed countries (LDCs) yesterday.

The Bangladesh delegation said climate change funding, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), must be in addition to the existing official development assistant (ODA) commitments of 0.7 percent of gross national product (GNP). Bangladesh's proposal also stated that current arrangement of responsibility-based mechanism must be revised to make contributions of developed countries mandatory.

The Bangladesh delegation also asked for developing a mechanism, with the help of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to create an index on the vulnerability of people in each country to climate change. Bangladesh demanded creation of an effective environment for climate-change adaptation, nationally, regionally and internationally with the support of appropriate institutions.

"We proposed the setting up of the head office of the International Adaptation Centre in Dhaka," said a government official representing Bangladesh. However, all parties attending the conference have to agree on this….

The Ganges River delta, ecompassing Bangladesh and India, shot by NASA