Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdur Razzaque said that the present government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has undertaken comprehensive programmes including formulation of climate change strategic plan and action plan to address the adverse effects of climate change.
“Their implementation is progressing successfully. We can tackle the damage of climate change on our own, without foreign aid,” he said.
The minister made the statement while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar titled ‘World Climate Conference 2021: Bangladesh's Expectations’ at the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) auditorium in Dhaka on Friday morning.
The event was organized by the sub-committee on forest and environment affairs of the Bangladesh Awami League on the occasion of COP-26 scheduled to be held from October 31 in Glasgow, UK.
The minister said that the country's agricultural sector would suffer the most as a result of climate change.
“We are giving special importance to protect agriculture from this loss. Our scientists and officials are working on the innovation and expansion of various crop varieties including rice, wheat and maize, which are suitable for cultivation in various adverse environments including salinity tolerant, drought tolerant, submersion tolerant, high temperature tolerant environment; and production of technologies,” he said.
Chairman of the sub-committee on Forests and Environment Prof Khandaker Bazlul Haque presided over the event while Forest and Environment Secretary Delwar Hossain moderated it.
Dhaka University pro-vice-chancellor Prof ASM Maksud Kamal, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Prof Sadeka Halim and Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies Atiq Rahman participated in the discussion, along with others.