The 16th SAARC summit is set to adopt a statement on climate change with a proposal to create an inter-ministerial body to deal with climate change issues in the region, foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes said on Tuesday.
The statement will be additional to the SAARC declaration to be adopted on April 29.
If the top leaders approve the statement on the concluding day, this will be create an extra SAARC body to deal with climate change apart from the present SAARC environment committee which already is concerned with climate change.
The proposed "Thimphu Statement on Climate Change" will focus on involving SAARC as a regional body in the climate negotiations so that the member states can utilize the global adaptation fund for different projects.
The draft statement will authorise the secretary general to conduct a study on assessment of risks caused by climate change in the SAARC region.
"SAARC must be a part of the global negotiations if it wants to get climate change adaptation funds," Sufiur Rahman, a foreign ministry director general (SAARC), told bdnews24.com on Tuesday at Bangladesh embassy in Thimphu following the council of ministers meeting.
"Therefore, the statement on climate change will attempt to recognize SAARC as a part of the global negotiation," he said.
"It also proposes implementation of some projects on climate change adaptation through the SAARC secretariat".
Foreign secretary Quayes told bdnews24.com that the Thimphu statement on climate change would authorise SAARC to chalk out three separate initiatives to protect different kinds of climate in the SAARC region.
One was the mountain initiative, another was the monsoon initiative, and the third one was the maritime initiative.
"The mountain initiative is aimed at protecting the mountainous environment of the SAARC region. This will also deal with whether the member countries should take up projects to protect the environment in the mountainous areas and protecting its biodiversity," said Quayes.
"Similarly, the monsoon initiative will look at the monsoon environment and the maritime initiative will examine work for protecting the maritime environment in South Asian region," he said.
He said the declaration of the 16th SAARC summit had set the next decade as a decade of connectivity.
bdnews24.com
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