Experts for addressing WASH climate impacts

Experts have urged to take proper action immediately to address climate impacts on water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services.

They told a roundtable on Tuesday the world needs to act now to protect communities from the impacts of climate change but the progress is too slow.

The discussion titled “The road to COP27: Building Climate Resilience through the Lens of Water” was organised at a hotel in the capital.   

The low-regrets adaptation solutions proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Chang will make vulnerable communities more resilient, they said.   

WaterAid Bangladesh Country Director Hasin Jahan said the country has stressed the need for bold and ambitious action to address climate change.

“We have played our part. We request everyone to pay dedicated attention to address the hard-to-reach people towards achieving climate justice for all.”

Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation Deputy Managing Director Dr Fazle Rabbi Sadeque Ahmed said water has to get the highest priority and future project needs to be aligned with national strategies.

He said priority must be given to governance while framework and infrastructure need to be changed in such a manner that caters to drinking water. “Climate finance is becoming a debt burden for countries and we must focus on grant-based finance.”

Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services Managing Director Malik Fida said plans that are guiding the vision of Bangladesh in adaptive measures to tackle climate change need knowledge of, as well as sectoral collaboration and direct linkages with, ground reality.

It is the collective responsibility of sector actors to sensitise this process and focus on locally-led adaptive programmes that centre around people and community, he said.

Ensuring these mechanisms will have a direct impact on society, he added.  WaterAid Bangladesh launched its upcoming flagship initiative titled “Resilient Water Accelerator” at the programme.