Climate ChangeResearch Ideas

Dhaka May 31, 2015

Bangladesh PrioritiesWORKING WITH 30-50 economists including Nobel Laureates, 100+ sector experts engaging major development organizations, NGOs, government, businesses, youths, rural and urban Bangladeshis to identify, analyze and prioritize interventions that will deliver greater benefit per taka spent, helping move Bangladesh towards Vision 2021 and a more prosperous long term future.

In cooperation with the Research and Evaluation Division of BRAC,

Copenhagen Consensus Center organized roundtable discussions with

an aim to figure out smarter solutions to the most problematic issues facing

Bangladesh.

These roundtables are one of several sources

for research ideas.

Sourcing ideas and solutions

Smarter solutions for Bangladesh

Complete set of papers on 30-50 solutions

PRIORITIZATION

Government NGOs

Academia Pvt sector

Think tanks Developmentorganizations

Eminent Panel Assessment

Government and donor seminars

Rural polls Newspaper pollsamong readers

Youth forums across the

countryPrivate sector

meetings

Social, economic and environmental benefit-cost

research by top Bangladeshi, and

international economistsExtensive peer review by

sector experts and academics

100+ ideas on policies & investments

2016

2015

Continuous engagement

with the public via electronic,

print and social media

Working with civil society, government and sector

experts

Widely advocating results of

prioritization exercises

OUTREACH

Research Ideas

Climate Change;(1 of 8)

• Phase out fossil fuel subsidies.• Increase use of renewable energy such as solar, wind

and hydro power.• Increase use of 'off grid' solar for remote areas.• Educate school-going children about climate change

and its effects.• Encourage use of solar power in irrigation.• Conserve fresh water from rainfall and prevent its loss

occurring from surface runoff.• Prevent over-exploitation of groundwater (especially in

irrigation activities).

Climate Change;(2 of 8)

• Use the card system used for irrigation (in Barind area) for conservation of ground water.

• Encourage farmers to use AWD as a water-saving alternate irrigation method.

• Introduce rationing of irrigation water and charge fees based on volume of water used.

• Increasing the height of aisles between farmlands by 6 inches to conserve 60-70% of rainwater.

• Small rivers can be cross dammed in suitable places to store water for irrigation.

• Recharge sub-surface water level.

Climate Change; (3 of 8)

• Provide alternative cash crops to coastal farmers to discourage shrimp farming, which is increasing salinity.

• Update Environment Policy of 1992.• Research on migration from climate vulnerable areas

and impact on livelihood systems.• Rainfall pattern and crop planting pattern should be

synchronized.• Raising awareness regarding climate change mitigation

and carbon emissions.• Community involvement in natural resource

management, particularly women.

Climate Change; (4 of 8)

• Disaster management information dissemination in Haor areas through radios and mobile phones.

• Tidal surge pillars for recording tides mileage.• Improve water governance.• Use of Teesta barrage to conserve water.• Reducing social conflicts over water resource sharing.• Digging canals and ponds for conserving water.• Early investment to change thinking and traditional

dependency on fossil fuels.• Enhance use of ‘Bangladesh Climate Change Trust

Fund’ and ‘Bangladesh Climate Change Resilient Fund’ to support forestry sub-sector

Climate Change; (5 of 8)• Project prioritized actions in annual, three years, five

years and long term budget framework to demonstrate demands for climate budget.

• Enhance climate change adaptation financing through the Green Climate Fund.

• Strengthen national early warning systems regarding cyclones, storm surge and floods for more accurate forecasts.

• Repair and rehabilitate river embankments and drainage systems.

• Mainstreaming climate change adaptation into annual development plan projects.

Climate Change; (6 of 8)• Prioritize building cyclone shelters across coastal zones,

based on population density.• Implementation of Gender Action Plan on Climate in

collaboration with relevant ministries.• Implement a major nationwide program of social

forestry and coastal ‘greenbelts’. • Enhance understanding on low carbon development

targeting officials at both national and local level. • Large RMG and textile manufacturers can tap into

multilateral expertise and funding to switch to cost-effective production.

Climate Change; (7 of 8)• Identify an anchor institution for improvement in

coordination and communication among different institutions working towards climate change mitigation.

• Increase investment in research and innovation, for development of salinity and flood tolerant variety of rice and vegetables.

• Reduce greenhouse gases from manufacturing industries such as cement and steel rerolling.

• Provide incentives to reduce emissions in the dairy sector.

• BCCSAP revised, evaluated and prioritized to establish synergy with strategic decisions.

Climate Change; (8 of 8)• Behavior change communication initiatives alongside

non-pecuniary means to encourage energy conservation.

• Formulation of the Bangladesh Delta Plan-2100 for combating the effects of climate change.

• Create incentives for design, implementation and maintenance of disaster risk reduction investments at local level.

• Explore women’s involvement and potential in climate change mitigation.

• Investment in the up-gradation of current institutional setup to utilize the whole-of-government approach for climate change readiness.

Full List of Attendees and Interviewees Moyen Uddin Ahmed, Sr. Manager, BRAC DECC.Shrabana Datta, Sr. Researcher, Mesovision Consultancy Ltd.Dr. Md. Abdur Rashid, Chief Scientific Officer & Head, BRRI.Md. Quamrul Islam, Director, VERC.Dr. Sujit K. Bala, Professor, BUET.Dr. Nepal C. Dey, Sr. Research Fellow, BRAC RED.Ratnajit Saha, Sr. Research Associate, BRAC RED.Dr. Mahfuzul Haque, Adjunct Faculty, University of Dhaka.Ina F. Islam, Deputy Director, ICCCAD, IUB.Shabel Firuz, Country Director, Islamic Relief.Mahfuzar Rahman, Program Head, BRAC RED.Mizanur Rahman, Consultant, Drinkwell.

Md. Reaz Uddin Khan, Lecturer, C3ER, BRAC University.