New year’s message from
Prof Saleemul Huq
As the terrible year 2020 ends and we look forward to a better 2021, I would like to share some thoughts and wish all my friends and colleagues a happy new year.
I believe that the year 2020 will be remembered in future not only because of the COVID19 pandemic but also as the year when the planet entered the new climate changed world and we will no longer mark years as the warmest but rather as the coolest compared to future years.
So we will begin 2021 as the beginning of the new decade where we will embark on a collective global journey towards Adaptation and Resilience in the face of human induced climate change.
My colleagues and I, at ICCCAD will be initiating our own journey towards Resilience and we would like to invite all our friends around the world to join us on that journey.
I am sharing below some information on the upcoming Gobeshona Global Conference on Locally Led Adaptation in January 2021 as well as the December issue of Climate Tribune which is on the theme of Climate Finance also a link to a documentary film on how the 1.5 Degree Centigrade global temperature goal was achieved in the Paris Agreement in 2015 called ” Guardians of the Earth” and finally my last Op Ed Column in the Daily Star newspaper for 2020.
I wish you and your loved ones a safe and joyous happy new year.
With my best wishes,
Prof. Saleemul Huq
Director
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)
Rebranding the annual Gobeshona conference
Over the last six years ICCCAD and IUB have hosted the annual Gobeshona conference at IUB as an in-person Conference over five days with several hundred participants each year.
The focus of the Conference was on Research into Action and it was primarily on Bangladesh as well as the Least Developed Countries through the LDC Universities Consortium on Climate Change (LUCCC).
However, starting from January 2021 the annual Gobeshona conference is going to become a global online event on the theme of Locally Led Adaptation to Climate Change.
It will be run over seven days with sessions being held over 24 Hours each day aimed at audiences in Australia, Pacific, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
See the Gobeshona conference website to join- http://conference.gobeshona.net/
Dhaka Tribune Special Issue on Climate Finance
Over the last few years ICCCAD has been proud to produce the monthly Climate Tribune magazine with the Dhaka Tribune newspaper. The issue for December 2020 is a bumper special issue on the theme of Climate Finance.
Here are the articles in the issue:
- Climate finance in Bangladesh: A critical review by Sirazoom Munira, Saleemul Huq, and Mizan R Khan
- Enhanced direct access under the Green Climate Fund can be an effective vehicle for Locally-led adaptation by Mizan R Khan and Saleemul Huq
- Protecting people from losing their homes and assets due to climatic hazards should be a top priority for the government when it comes to financing climate action by Prodip Kumar Roy
- Importance of monitoring and evaluation in accessing climate finance by Istiak Ibne Rouf
- Unlocking the potential of microfinance for facilitating climate change adaptation at the local level by Tasfia Tasnim and Riadadh Hossain
- Financing climate change induced loss and damage in Bangladesh-The scope for public-private partnerships by Riadadh Hossain and Saleemul Huq
- Covid crisis echoes the need for improved access, mobilization and utilization of financial resources to tackle the climate crisis and biodiversity loss by Soburun Nessa Chowdhury and Farah Anzum
- The need to invest in small-scale climatic disturbances by Sakib Rahman Siddique Shuvo and Adiba Bintey Kamal
- Effective coastal embankment management needs collaborative actions from government, local people, and local leaders by Md Zahidul Islam
Guardians of the Earth
Documentary on the Paris Agreement
Five years ago in December 2015, the historic Paris Agreement was achieved at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). One of the major achievements from the perspective of the Vulnerable developing countries was the acknowledgement of 1.5 Degrees Centigrade as the long term temperature goal which was achieved against great opposition going into COP21.
An Austrian documentary film maker named Filip Antoni Malinowski made a film by following and interviewing some of the players including the COP21 President and Foreign Minister of France Laurent Fabius, as well as the General Secretary of the UNFCCC Christiana Figueres and Ambassador of the Seychelles .
He also filmed me in my capacity as Adviser to the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) under President Aquino of the Philippines as well as to the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group of Negotiators.
The Documentary called “Guardians of the Earth” follows the progress of the Negotiations around the 1.5 Degrees Centigrade goal and won several awards at film festivals since then.
It is now available for general viewing at Vimeo and this YouTube link- https://youtu.be/UVIBiNRtkq4