Professionals yesterday expressed the need for inclusion of local people’s knowledge and practices regarding adaptation measures to tackle the negative impacts of climate change and natural disasters including cyclone and salinity.
The views were presented at the regional symposium on coastal community resilience held at the city’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel organised with an aim to share experiences between Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Vietnam on how to build coastal community resilience using ecosystem-based approaches.
“The bridge between science and local people’s knowledge should be ensured while taking any kind of adaptation measures to reduce negative impacts of global warming,” said Dr Atiq Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS).
He cited an example of local practices where people are meeting their fresh water demand in the saline-prone region in Bangladesh by excavating small ponds inside villages.
“The people know how they have to survive. The government can play the role of a facilitator by providing them with scientific methods and resources.”
M Mokhlesur Rahman, executive director of Centre for Natural Resources Studies (CNRS), echoed him. “Like the fresh water, the local people in the coastal region in Bangladesh have been using their indigenous knowledge in all aspects of their life including creating livelihoods.”
The coastal people also make floating vegetable gardens on the stagnant waters, he said adding that their knowledge should be patronised and promoted by the government.
The two-day symposium was jointly organised by the forest department and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable nations facing the adverse impacts of climate change which includes saline water intrusion, more frequent cyclonic storm and drought in some areas, according to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The government’s initiative to build coastal green-belt through afforestation projects should be enhanced to tackle the upcoming more frequent cyclonic storms, Atiq Rahman said.
Damages from Cyclone Sidr in 2007 had been less due to the presence of the world’s single largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, in the region, he observed.
Regarding the use of local knowledge on the green belt, Mokhlesur Rahman cited an example of local practices when the local people of Moukhali village in Pirojpur usually collect the mangrove seed that comes inside the embankment with tidal water. Later they nurture the seeds for certain period which ultimately turns into a small scale homestead mangrove forest, he added.