About the Centre
The overall concept of creating the climate centre is aligned with the 5 different policy documents of the country. The first one is Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which is a robust policy document aimed to build the capacity and reliance of the country to meet the challenge of climate change. The intention of Climate Centre is parallel with priorities of the first pillar of BCCSAP “food security, social protection and health” by enhancing the resilience capacity of the vulnerable people through providing low cost sustainable climate adaptive technologies for different climatic zones of Bangladesh. Under the pillar “Research and knowledge management”, BCCSAP set programs to establish of a centre for research, knowledge management and training on climate change and the Climate Centre of CCDB is the ideal platform to do so objectively. One of the most important part of the Climate Centre is to develop skilled human resource to develop, manage and implement climate change related policies, programmes and project effectively which is closely related with the pillar “Capacity building and institutional strengthening”.
The second one is the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processed in May 2019 where two fold objectives are to establish National Adaptation Plan for medium to long term adaptation investment and enhance national capacity for integrating Climate Change Adaptation in planning, budgeting and financial tracking process. Many of the priority areas of NAP process are already CCDB’s working sectors. Enhancing knowledge and capacity on climate change related issues of tens of thousands of national and international stakeholders is one of the key objectives of this Centre, among others. It is also a centre of climate technology demonstration where people will find context specific adaptation and mitigation solutions. CCDB has long experience of working on climate vulnerable hotspots of southern Bangladesh to ensure access to safe drinking water, stress tolerant agricultural knowledge and technology dissemination, physical infrastructure development & reconstruction and contribute for diversified livelihood options, skill & capacity building, food security and disaster risk reduction. Henceforth we believe that Climate Centre will contribute significantly to achieve the objectives of Bangladesh National Adaptation Plan as well as to accomplish national development goal.
The third is the 7th five years plan and aligned with that the centre is looking for promoting eco-friendly alternative adaptation and mitigation technologies. It also planned for research and development for technology innovation and sharing of applicable modern technologies. The centre is also concentrating on conserve non-renewable resources and sustaining of renewable sources. These all are also the priority areas of 7th five years plan where the plan is aligned with the objectives of increase facilities for demand-based research and experimental activities. The centre will also plan to supplement the government in capacity building initiatives and capacity development of civil servants and other stakeholders. The centre will play a significant role on major focus of 7th five years plan ensuring important environmental management activities by allowing inclusive bottom-up participation in adaptation decision making, specially at the community level.
The fourth one is Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC). To achieve the target of SDG and the goals of the Paris Agreement for keeping the temperature increase well below 2 degrees and fulfil the target set by Bangladesh government in INDC a low carbon development pathway is now essential for our country, which is also challenging to achieve due to proper awareness, capacity and week policy compliance. One of the main features of the Centre is LEED certified energy efficient green building construction. The Centre will become Net Positive (generate electricity more than our demand by renewables) in terms of energy where it will be possible to export our excess electricity to national grid. With the respect to Bangladesh’s contribution to global efforts to counter climate change with INDC, Climate Centre sets a number of mitigation actions that will help limit the country’s GHG emission.
Finally the delta plan of the country, that says in view of the specific long-term challenges presented by climate change to the Bangladesh Delta, the Government, with expert support, developed the long-term Delta Plan 2100 (BDP 2100), aiming at integrating the short to medium term aspirations of Bangladesh to achieve Upper Middle Income (UMIC) status and eliminate extreme poverty by FY2031 with the longer-term challenge of sustainable resource management in the context of climate change. This approach provides a great opportunity to align development planning with climate adaptation and mitigation planning in a sustainable manner, leading to synergies and co-benefits, efficiency gains and innovation. The CCDB Climate Centre aims at contributing to this endeavour.