The Saarc Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC) has decided to shut down most of its regional centres, including the one in Bangladesh.
The decision was taken to cut down expenses, said Md Shah Alam, director of the Bangladesh office. The Bangladesh chapter of the SMRC is expected to be closed by the end of this year.
Closing of the regional SMRC is a huge setback for Bangladesh as the country will lose the facility to conduct research and educational activities on meteorology on a large scale, which is a necessity especially in the country’s agriculture sector, he said.
In addition, it is the only comprehensive platform in Bangladesh that can conduct extensive research on meteorology and weather issues.
Currently, there are 11 small and large regional meteorological research centres in the eight member countries of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc).
Last year, Saarc decided to combine the four centres in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and India to form a separate body named Saarc Environment and Risk Management Centre.
The Saarc Meteorological Research Centre was inaugurated on January 2, 1995 in Bangladesh with the aim to conduct researches on meteorological situation in the country.
As the Saarc member countries are prone to various natural disasters, leaders of the member countries believed that having a collaborative platform which facilitated research work would help minimise the loss of lives and properties.
They also believed that it would contribute to the economic, agricultural and environmental sustainability in the member countries.
The SMRC has seen 65 scientific researches conducted on different issues including sea-level rise, climate change, cyclone, thunder storm, hailstorm and agriculture.