Environment and development activists have urged the government to revise the current environment policies in order to fight the adverse impacts of climate change more effectively.
“The government’s environment policies are not suitable to fight the adverse effects of climate change because they are self-contradictory,” said Abdul Matin, secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, while addressing a discussion in the capital’s CIRDAP auditorium yesterday. The experts said it was also time to introduce gender perspectives in the policies as women and children are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
The event, jointly organised by gender-equality advocate Steps Towards Development and children’s rights advocate World Vision Bangladesh, was followed by the presentation of a report titled “Gender Analysis of Economic and Social Cost of Local Climate Change in Bangladesh,” by Ranjan Karmaker, executive director of Steps Towards Development.
According to the report, unemployment is on the rise, especially in the rural areas, which is fuelling malnutrition.
Farming, which is the primary choice of profession in the rural areas, is becoming more and more difficult due to climate change effects, and local farmers are being forced to abandon the only profession they have experience in, the report said.
Presided over by Wilfred Sikukula, group director of World Vision Bangladesh, the discussion and presentation was also addressed by Dr A Atik Rahman, executive director at Bangladesh Center for Advance Studies, and Dr Mahbuba Nasreen, director at the Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerable Studies of Dhaka University addressed, among others.
