Thursday, 27 May 2021
Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary) of Bangladesh Ambassador Masud Bin Momen has delivered the concluding remarks today on the final day of the 3-day long IORA Blue Carbon Hub think tank meeting on “Nature-based solutions for coastal risk reduction.
In his speech, Senior Secretary Masud appreciated the Government of Australia for becoming co-host with Bangladesh for arranging this meeting amid the trying times of pandemic. Also, he conveyed his heartfelt gratitude to all the speakers, trainers, participants, the officials of IORA Secretariat, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization for their wholehearted cooperation in arranging this successful meeting.
Ambassador Masud expressed his hope that the knowledge we gathered from this 3-day meeting will be instrumental in creating a sustainable and resilient post-pandemic cooperation especially to develop regional model to generate required science for the science-policy interface associated to the nature-based solutions for coastal protection and risk reduction; ecosystem-based adaptation and also aid the Member States with required knowledge even to commit UN with their “Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)”.
Senior Secretary Masud underscored the need to do modeling to understand the wave surges, its inundation and also the vulnerability of the coastal population including the socioeconomic impact of adverse events due to climate change; to create a coastal green belt as part of a nature-based solution; and to conduct research to explore the possibilities of Blue Carbon finance in the region.
Ambassador Masud also highlighted the need for a long-term strategic plan on risk assessment and reduction considering nature-based solutions; and to promote ‘Blue Finance’ in the region so that the LDCs and Developing Countries receive support from the Developed Nations to maintain their afforestation for keeping balance in the ecosystem by mitigating the impact of carbon emission.
On the final day, three sessions on solutions and way forward were conducted. The 3-day meeting successfully concluded with the participation of around hundred representatives and number of future programmes/projects related to nature-based solutions for coastal risk reduction were recommended.