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Foreword
he Government of the People’s Republic of
Bangladesh has recognised climate change
as an important issue and attempts are being
made to incorporate potential response measures
for reducing impacts of climate change into
overall development planning process. It is being
increasingly recognized that the adverse impacts
of climate change in an already vulnerable
country such as Bangladesh will put additional
stress on overall development of the country. The
issue has also been recognised at the higher
political level of the country. The Prime Minister
Begum Khaleda Zia in her speech at the
Workshop on Capacity Building for Preparation
of National Adaptation Programme of Action
(NAPA) held in Dhaka in September 2002 stated
that “while for countries, the impacts might be
lifestyle threatening, for others it is life
threatening”. It has been emphasised that as a
natural disaster prone country, Bangladesh has
developed a variety of coping mechanisms at
formal and informal levels. This has greatly
reduced loss of life and property from such
disasters. However, in recent years, the frequency
of extreme climatic events, such as floods and
cyclones has increased worldwide. This is
causing havoc to many vulnerable countries and
communities particularly in the Least Developed
Countries.
The National Adaptation Programme of Action
(NAPA) for Bangladesh has been prepared by the
Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF),
Government of the People’s Republic of
Bangladesh as a response to the decision of the
Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties
(COP7) of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The
preparation process has followed the generic
guiding principles outlined in the NAPA
Annotated Guideline. The whole preparation
process was guided by the a high powered Project
Steering Committee headed by the Secretary,
Ministry of Environment and Forests and member
from other key ministries, department and
agencies including Ministry of Finance and
Planning. The basic approach to NAPA
preparation was along with the sustainable
development goals and objectives of the country
where it has recognized necessity of addressing
environmental issue and natural resource
management with the participation of
stakeholders. Policy makers of Government, local
representatives of the Government (Union
Parishad Chairman and Members), scientific
community members of the various research
institutes, researchers, academicians, teachers
(ranging from primary to tertiary levels), lawyers,
doctors, ethnic groups, media, NGO and CBO
representatives and indigenous women
contributed to the development of the NAPA for
Bangladesh.
The NAPA of Bangladesh draws upon the
understanding gathered through discussion with
relevant stakeholders in four sub-national
workshops and one national workshop, prior
research, background papers prepared by Six
Sectoral Working Groups (SWG) i.e. a)
Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock coordinated
by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council
(BARC), b) Forestry, Biodiversity and Land-use
coordinated by IUCN, Bangladesh, c) Water,
Coastal Zone, Natural Disaster and Health
coordinated by Water Resources Planning
organization (WARPO), d) Livelihood, Gender,
Local Governance and Food Security coordinated
by Bangladesh Institute for Development Studies
(BIDS), e) Industry and Infrastructure
coordinated by Department of Environment
(DoE), and f) Policies and Institutes coordinated
by Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies
(BCAS), and expert judgments.
In the course of the preparation of the report it
has become clearer that climate change will
exacerbate many of the existing problems and
natural hazards that the country faces. But there
are various coping mechanisms, formal and
informal, already in place. What is new is the
urgency of the matter to be integrated within the
development process so that when the Climate
Change impacts become more clearly discernible,
the nation shall be ready to handle that as almost
a routine affair in its development process. The
strategic goals and objectives of future coping
mechanisms are to reduce adverse effects of
climate change including variability and extreme
events and promote sustainable development.
Future coping strategies and mechanisms are
suggested based on existing process and practices
keeping main essence of adaptation science which is a process to adjust with adverse situation
of climate change.
The NAPA is the beginning of a long journey to
address adverse impacts of climate stimuli
including variability and extreme events and to
promote sustainable development of the country.
The Government of the People’s Republic of
Bangladesh expects that the implementation of
the projects suggested in the NAPA will begin
soon and urges global community to play their
role and comply with commitments under the
United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Kyoto Protocol
(KP). The Government of the People’s Republic
of Bangladesh also expects that the Least
Development Countries Fund (LDCF) will be
replenished immediately with adequate fund for
implementation of the NAPA.