Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina will officially open the Bangladesh regional office of the Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) for South Asia tomorrow September 8 at 3.30 pm.
Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Chair of the Board of the Global Center on Adaptation and 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Mr. Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of Netherlands will also be present at the occasion.
Ministers from South Asian countries along with Patrick Verkooijen, Chief Executive Officer, Global Center on Adaptation will also speak at the launching event. After the virtual launch ceremony of the regional Global Centre on Adaptation Bangladesh (GCA Bangladesh), a press conference will be hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bangladesh with an opportunity for the media to ask questions about the Global Center on Adaptation, its Dhaka office and its future plans and activities.
At the press conference, Hon’ble Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen MP and Hon’ble Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Mr. Md. Shahab Uddin MP will brief the journalists. Following the press conference, experts, academics and representatives from South Asian and global organizations working on climate change will participate in the inaugural GCA South Asia Partnership Forum.
Partnership Forum will discuss on Strategy and Action plan for GCA Bangladesh office. Following panel discussions, the thematic Ambassador of Climate Vulnerable Forum, Ms. Saima Wazed Hossain will also inaugurate Youth Adaptation Network. The GCA regional center is housed at the new building of the Department of Environment at Agargaon in Dhaka.
The opening of the regional adaptation center in Dhaka will be dedicated to the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
GCA Bangladesh will have both international and locally recruited staff with some seconded officers from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. It is expected that the headquarters of the Global Center on Adaptation in Rotterdam will support GCA Bangladesh through a matrix structure, acting also as the Secretariat of CVF and V20, two climate-based important international organizations under the chairmanship of Bangladesh.
In addition, the GCA will serve as a Secretariat of Delta Coalition to contribute to important works related to the blue economy. GCA Bangladesh will also support Bangladesh in preparing and contributing to the Climate Adaptation Summit on 22nd January 2021 and COP26 in November 2021.
GCA Bangladesh will facilitate and develop on-the-ground action in South Asia to accelerate adaptation and address climate change vulnerabilities across the entire region. It will also mobilize international expertise to support Bangladesh’s challenge in responding to and continuing to prosper amidst our changing climate.
