Saber for nature-based water management to address crisis

Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury stressed the significance of nature-based water management in addressing the prevailing crisis.

He highlighted the escalating challenges of salinity and food scarcity attributed to climate change, emphasizing the imperative for collaborative efforts among the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Environment to mitigate these crises.

He was speaking as the chief guest during a webinar organized by the 3rd Coastal Water Conference Committee at their Khulna Secretariat office on World Water Day 2024 on Thursday with Khulna City Mayor Talukdar Abdul Khaleque in chair, a press release said.
Eminent experts including Emeritus Professor of BRAC University Dr Ainun Nishat, Farah Kabir, Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh, Mohammad Zobair Hasan, Deputy Executive Director of DORP, Dr Golam Rabbani, Head of Climate Bridge Fund Secretariat of BRAC, Md Shamsuddoha, Chief Executive of CPRD, and Prof Dr Mujibur Rahman, Environmental Science Discipline of Khulna University, attended the webinar as panel discussant.

Shamim Arfeen, Member Secretary of the Coastal Water Convention Committee and Executive Director of AOSED, along with other dignitaries including Shammi Akhtar MP (Barishal), Managing Director of Khulna WASA Mohammad Abdullah, and Kamal Uddin Ahmed, Tauhidul Islam, and Madhab Chandra Dutta, also addressed the webinar.

Emphasizing an environmentally conscious approach, Saber Chowdhury urged for comprehensive measures for the solutions.

Water and Climate expert Professor Dr Ainun Nishat emphasized the urgency of addressing water-related issues, citing instances where regions such as Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira, and parts of Barguna have already become uninhabitable.

He underscored the absence of a dedicated authority for water management in the country and pointed out the need for modernizing existing infrastructures like the coastal dam, constructed in the sixties.

Dr Nishat advocated for the enforcement of existing laws related to water management and stressed the adoption of international basin-based management strategies, along with promoting the use of surface water, rainwater conservation, and the development of fresh water reservoirs as indispensable measures.