Welcome back to your CANSA Newsletter.
Hello friends,
While we write this newsletter, we write with a heavy heart.
Bangladesh and the state of Odisha in India have begun rehabilitation efforts following the catastrophic Cyclone Fani. The timely and meticulous evacuation efforts of these countries have also been lauded by a global audience. In Pakistan, the temperature has been on the gradual rise and a likely 3% decline in overall living standards is anticipated. In both Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, terrorism and war respectively have continued to overpower environmental initiatives, especially in the past few weeks.
As always, thank you to all those who submitted their stories. We look forward to more of these in the coming months. If you were not able to submit your story so far, we hope you will be able to do so the following month.
We hope all of you remain safe and take care.
~CANSA Secretariat
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Workshop on National Implementing Entity Establishment for Green Climate Fund in Afghanistan
[Afghanistan] - In order to mobilise climate finance in the country, The National Environment Protection Agency, Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan invited CANSA to organise an NIE establishment readiness and preparatory support workshop. CANSA roped in climate finance readiness experts from India and Sri Lanka to conduct the two days’ workshop in Kabul on 23rd-24th April 2019.
Other partners of the workshop included the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UNFAO) and Tadbeer Consulting. The purpose of the workshop was to bring high-level authorities and technical representatives of the government together with representatives from civil society, UN agencies, public and private banks, academia and media to initiate the establishment of NIE of Afghanistan.
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A discussion on “Creating Space for Ambition in the Paris Agreement Rulebook?”
[India] - A discussion on “Creating Space for Ambition in the Paris Agreement Rulebook?” was held April 11, 2019, at the India International Centre in New Delhi.
The panellists of the discussions included Prof Benito Mueller, Director, Oxford Climate Policy; R R Rashmi, Distinguish Fellow, TERI and Former Special Secretary, MoEFCC and Ajay Raghav, Director (Climate Change), MoEFCC.
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SLYCAN Trust: How Green is our Budget?
[Sri Lanka] - In March 2019, SLYCAN Trust hosted a dinner discussion to discuss the proposals in budget 2019 to identify how environment and climate-friendly they are.
The panellists and discussants for the discussion included: Prof Ranjith Bandara, from the University of Colombo; Hemantha Withanage, from the Centre for Environmental Justice; Heminda Jayaweera, SLYCAN Trust & Venture Frontier, Sri Lanka; Milinda Rajapaksha, Municipal Council of Colombo, Trishan Perera, Young Professionals Organisation of the UNP; Uchita De Soyza, Centre for Environment and Development and Charana Kanankegamage, Attorney-at-Law.
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Talk 31: Managing Rainwater Harvesting in the Urban Context
[Pakistan] - LEAD Pakistan hosted an interactive session in January 2019 on the topic of “Managing Rainwater Harvesting in the Urban Context” with Shahid Sohail, ex-member engineering of Capital Development Authority (CDA), as a guest speaker. Water is an issue that has gained exponential prominence in recent years as water supplies, including urban, become increasingly stressed.
Islamabad is fortunate in its hydrological characteristic such that it receives up to 1.2 meters of rainfall per year. Theoretically, this amounts to roughly 2.98 million gallons per day per sector of the city. Assuming even 60% of this rainwater is harvested, spread over a population of 50 thousand, the potentially available amount of water estimates around 35.6 gallons per capita per day. Rainwater is a huge resource for Islamabad, about which so far very little has been done. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has implemented several pilot projects to test different methods of rainwater harvesting. It is important to include rainwater harvesting for groundwater recharge in the heart of planning to create a water-secure and sustainable city, and it is necessary for Islamabad to incorporate it into its re-planning.
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National Conference: “Mapping the Role of Civil Society in Climate Action”
[Pakistan] - A National Conference on “Mapping the Role of Civil Society in Climate Action” was held by the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change (CSCCC) in Islamabad on 26th December 2018. The event was attended by Advisor to PM on Climate Change and Federal Minister Malik Amin Aslam, as well as various renowned representatives from civil society, academia, media, the private sector and government from all parts of Pakistan.
The main purpose of the conference was to bring together diverse stakeholders from all regions and provinces of Pakistan, including AJK, Punjab, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh together to get inputs on how civil society can support the government in its efforts towards tackling the impacts of climate change, which has been identified as one of the major socioeconomic threats to Pakistan.
The participants were of the opinion that civil society—including media, academia, and the private sector—have a highly important and constructive role to play in supporting the government in policymaking, advocacy and awareness-raising, as well as the successful and inclusive execution of initiatives and projects aimed at combatting climate change in the country.
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BEDS wins "Energy Globe national Award 2018"
[Bangladesh] - Bangladesh Environment and Development Society (BEDS) and Korea Green Foundation have taken a grassroots initiative to build an Eco Village in Banishanta Union of Dacope Upazila in the Khulna district in Bangladesh. The eco-village project, which has been in the works since 2015, is divided into three components: the Green Housing, Green Education, and Green Business, all which aim at the increased use of sustainable energy while conserving the mangrove ecosystem.
BEDS has also received the Government Divisional Environment Award from Khulna Division, Khulna, Bangladesh in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
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Seminar on COP 24 and the Future Pathway of NDC in Bangladesh
[Bangladesh] - The Network on Climate Change in Bangladesh (NCC,B) in collaboration with CCDB, CPRD, CDP, and CCJ-B organised a seminar titled “COP 24 and the Future Pathway of NDC in Bangladesh” on 27 December 2018 at the Daily Star Centre in Dhaka.
The seminar was attended a number of professionals from academic institutes, government agencies, NGOs and media. NCC,B Co-ordinator Mizanur Rahman Bijoy moderated the seminar while Ms SharabanTahura Zaman presented the keynote and Md Shamsuddoha briefly described the key outcomes of COP 24 in Katowice, Poland.
Among others present was Executive Director of CDP Jahangir Hasan Masum, Asaduzzaman Asad of BRAC, Mihir Biswas of BAPA, Mahmodul Hasan of Grameen Shakti, Gobinda Shaha, CSS Consultant of Bread for the World.
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2nd Pak-Afghan Stakeholders Consultation
[Pakistan] - Under USAID’s Partnership for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program, LEAD Pakistan has undertaken a comprehensive research initiative titled “Understanding our Joint Water-Climate Change Challenge and Exploring Policy Options for Cooperation on the Kabul River Basin”. This three-year project (2016 – 2019) aims to promote cooperation, collaboration, and an integrated approach to basin-wide development. In light of the same, LEAD Pakistan organised a stakeholder consultation on integrated basin-wide approach for Kabul River Basin in Dubai with experts from both Afghanistan and Pakistan. This stakeholder consultation is the second of the series and aims to take the dialogue further from the first meeting held in Almaty in April 2018.
The consultation in January 2019 brought together a host of experts from Afghanistan and Pakistan, hailing from different backgrounds such as academia, the private sector, the government, policy makers and officials from other embassies etc. During this policy dialogue, participants discussed key deficiencies and challenges pertinent to the optimal utilization of the Kabul River Basin. The policy dialogue resulted in a meaningful and constructive discussion, exploring possible applicable solutions for adaptation of climate change impacts at the local and regional level.
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What are your organisation's key strategic or focus areas?
We are doing a mapping of the climate conversations/areas our members are working on in order to add more value to the material we bring out to our membership.
Should you wish to participate, please click on the button below.
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