Bangladesh hosts international conference on climate-change adaptation

Experts from around the world will meet in Bangladesh this month to identify ways poor communities can adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change.

The Third International Conference of Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change (on 18-24 February in Dhaka ) will show that many options for reducing vulnerability to climate change already exist. [Abstracts now available here]

It will bring together more than 100 scientists, development workers, disaster specialists and policymakers to share information on impacts of climate change — and ways to adapt to them — in sectors as diverse as water, agriculture, biodiversity, human health, infrastructure, coastal zones and cities.

"Adaptation is urgent as the impacts of climate change are already being felt in many places," says Dr Saleemul Huq, senior fellow in the climate change group at the International Institute for Environment and Development. "Adaptation can help build resilience to change but the challenge is knowing what strategies work and then implementing them in diverse settings around the world."

"Policymakers have failed to grasp the scale of the challenge and financial flows to support adaptation are grossly inadequate," says Huq. "The result is that millions of vulnerable people risk being left behind as climate change takes hold."

The conference is being organised by the International Institute for Environment and Development, the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies and the Ring Alliance of Policy Research Organisations.

Journalists are welcome to attend the final session of the conference, on 24 February at 11.30 am at the Sheraton Hotel in Dhaka . For more information, please contact Mozaharul Alam (mozaharul.alam@bcas.net).

Speakers at the conference include:

1. Prof. Ian Burton, University of Toronto, Canada
- IPCC Lead Author on Adaptation

2. Dr Ian Noble, World Bank, Washington DC, USA
- IPCC Lead Author

3. Dr Anna Taylor, Stockholm Environment Institute, Oxford, UK
- Expert on Adaptation

4. Dr Yvan Biot, DFID, UK
- Member, Adaptation Fund Board, UNFCCC

5. Dr Kris Ebi, Head, Technical Support Unit, Working Group II, IPCC
- Expert on Health Impacts

6. Mr Sherpard Zvigadza, ZERO, Zimbabwe
- Expert on Adaptation in Africa

7. Dr David Dodman, International Institute for Environment and Development, London, UK
- Expert on Cities and Climate Change

8. Dr George Kasali CEEZ, Zambia
- Expert on Adaptation in Africa

9. Dr Charles Ehrhant, CARE International
- Expert on Adaptation in Africa

10. Dr Stephan Baas, FAO, Rome
- Expert on Food Security and climate Change

11. Beth Marshall, WWF, UK
- Expert on Biodiversity and Climate Change

12. Mr Harjeet Singh, Action Aid, India
- Expert on Community Based Adaptation

13. Ms Tiffany Hodgson, UNFCCC, Germany
- Expert on International Climate Change Negotiations

14. Dr Terry Cannon, University of Greenwich, UK
- Expert on Disaster Management and Climate Change

15. Dr Youba Sokona, OSS, Tunisia
- Expert on Africa

16. Ms Rebecca McNaught, Red Cross, Netherlands
- Expert on Disaster Management and Climate Change

17. Dr Bob Pokrant, Curtin University, Australia
- Expert on Fisheries

18. Ms Boni Biagini, Global Environment Facility, Washington DC, USA
- Expert on Adaptation Funding