UNB, Dhaka :
Simon Maxwell, a leading international development policy expert, here on Saturday stressed the need for a bold leadership, designing right policies and implementing those for climate compatible development in Bangladesh and other countries.
“It [a country] has to include mitigation and adaptation to climate changes, and global transformation and at the same time it has to include Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)… leadership is absolutely key, and policy design and implementation are needed (to deal all these things),” he said while delivering a lecture at a city hotel.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a civil society think tank, arranged the CPD Anniversary Lecture 2015 on ‘Climate Compatible Development: Pathway or Pipedream?’
Presided over by CPD chairman Prof Rehman Sobhan, the programme was moderated by CPD distinguished fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya.
Maxwell, also a senior research associate at the UK’s leading independent think tank Oversees Development Institute (ODI), lauded the socio-economic development of Bangladesh and its leadership role in the international climate forum, including the climate vulnerable forum.
Talking about the SDGs, he suggested taking take SDGs seriously but not taking it absolutely and literally. But, he said, the poverty reduction and social inclusion goals of the agenda are non-negotiable ones.
He said, climate compatible development offers a framework for thinking about the pathway for dealing with changes, while simultaneously achieving the poverty reduction and other targets embedded in the SDGs.
Maxwell said climate compatible development emphasises not only mitigation and adaptation within countries, but also the impact on individual countries of transformation in the wider global economy. In this context, innovation becomes a key concept and competitiveness is an essential tool, he added.
Prof Rehman Sobhan praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her decision to construct the Padma Bridge with the country’s own resources.
“The fund was allocated in the budget for Padma Bridge, when the World Bank withdrew its finance. The political challenge was made by the Prime Minister. They committed Tk 28000 crore to construct Padma Bridge,” he said.
Rehman Sobhan, however, doubted whether Bangladesh would be able to do the same if the global community withdraws all assistances and does not invest any significant money in mitigation and adaptation to climate change impacts.
Prof Sobhan found solving the problem of environmental pollution as a challenge for Bangladesh and added that the whole nation wants something to be done here, ‘but it’s a serious problem why nothing could be done’.
Simon Maxwell, a leading international development policy expert, here on Saturday stressed the need for a bold leadership, designing right policies and implementing those for climate compatible development in Bangladesh and other countries.
“It [a country] has to include mitigation and adaptation to climate changes, and global transformation and at the same time it has to include Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)… leadership is absolutely key, and policy design and implementation are needed (to deal all these things),” he said while delivering a lecture at a city hotel.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a civil society think tank, arranged the CPD Anniversary Lecture 2015 on ‘Climate Compatible Development: Pathway or Pipedream?’
Presided over by CPD chairman Prof Rehman Sobhan, the programme was moderated by CPD distinguished fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya.
Maxwell, also a senior research associate at the UK’s leading independent think tank Oversees Development Institute (ODI), lauded the socio-economic development of Bangladesh and its leadership role in the international climate forum, including the climate vulnerable forum.
Talking about the SDGs, he suggested taking take SDGs seriously but not taking it absolutely and literally. But, he said, the poverty reduction and social inclusion goals of the agenda are non-negotiable ones.
He said, climate compatible development offers a framework for thinking about the pathway for dealing with changes, while simultaneously achieving the poverty reduction and other targets embedded in the SDGs.
Maxwell said climate compatible development emphasises not only mitigation and adaptation within countries, but also the impact on individual countries of transformation in the wider global economy. In this context, innovation becomes a key concept and competitiveness is an essential tool, he added.
Prof Rehman Sobhan praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her decision to construct the Padma Bridge with the country’s own resources.
“The fund was allocated in the budget for Padma Bridge, when the World Bank withdrew its finance. The political challenge was made by the Prime Minister. They committed Tk 28000 crore to construct Padma Bridge,” he said.
Rehman Sobhan, however, doubted whether Bangladesh would be able to do the same if the global community withdraws all assistances and does not invest any significant money in mitigation and adaptation to climate change impacts.
Prof Sobhan found solving the problem of environmental pollution as a challenge for Bangladesh and added that the whole nation wants something to be done here, ‘but it’s a serious problem why nothing could be done’.
