South Asian meet raises pitch against climate change
Civil society members and parliamentarians from South Asia have urged the least developed countries (LDC) in the region affected by climate change to raise their voices louder ahead of the Paris Climate Conference. The call came at a three-day meeting on sustainable development goals (SDG) and climate change, jointly organised by Beyond Copenhagen Collective and Pairvi (Public Advocacy Initiatives for Rights and Values in India) at the Transnational Justice Institute in Kathmandu, said a press release yesterday.
The meetings inaugural session was chaired by Dr Hasan Mahmud, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the environment and forests ministry of Bangladesh. Mahmud said civil society across South Asia have to work with politicians to make the LDC and South Asian voice louder at the Conference of Parities (CoP) 21, the Climate Conference in Paris. Mahmud gave examples of how good inter-governmental cooperation in South Asia can solve energy scarcity in the subcontinent. He particularly mentioned how Bhutan has increased its per capita income to USD 4,000 by using hydro power and exporting it to India. He also mentioned how Bangladesh, as an LDC, could be affected by climate change.
Bijoy Prothap of South Asia Dialogue on Ecological Democracy (SADED), India, moderated the inaugural session. Prothap emphasised mobilising South Asian leaders to place their own issues to be discussed during the global summit on SDG and climate change in Paris. Almost all the LDCs would become most vulnerable countries (MVCs) due to climate change, he noted.
Soumya Dutta of Beyond Copenhagen Collective from India said SDG was going to be adopted in the next UN General Assembly, but there were hardly any debates on the issue in South Asia.
