BIAM Auditorium, Dhaka, 30 July 2006 (IUCN) On 30 July 2006, Sunday, the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) of the Government of Bangladesh and IUCN – The World Conservation Union, Bangladesh Country Office have jointly organized the Inception Workshop on ‘National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA) for Global Environmental Management’ at BIAM Multi-purpose Hall, Dhaka, under the NCSA Project, which is being implemented by the MoEF and IUCN Bangladesh with financial support from Global Environment Fund (GEF)/UNDP.

Mr. Jafrul Islam Chowdhury, MP, Hon’ble State Minister of the MoEF was the Chief Guest of the inaugural session chaired by Mr. Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury, Secretary, MoEF. The programme was participated by representatives from different line ministries/ divisions and Government departments, NGOs, development partners, academic institutions, civil society, and press and electronic media as well as concerned officials from the MoEF and IUCN Bangladesh.

In his speech the Hon’ble State Minister Mr. Jafrul Islam Chowdhury emphasised on the obligations of Bangladesh as the signatory of Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and highlighted the achievements made so far by Bangladesh under the Convention. Mr. Chowdhury also mentioned some potential initiatives that might help in enhancing Bangladesh’s capacity in implementing CBD such as the NCSA.

Mr. Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury in his Chair’s speech shared his experience in participating different environmental conferences/meetings like the COP of the CBD. He highlighted a few of his views on issues that were hampering Bangladesh’s contribution to global environmental management such as a lack of continuation or institutional memory, absence of following up issues discussed in these meetings and overall need for capacity building for meeting the convention’s obligations. He envisaged that NCSA process would be benefited through proper implementation of the on-going NCSA Project.

In his welcome address Dr. Ainun Nishat, Country Representative of IUCN Bangladesh, highlighted the importance of NCSA process in capacity enhancement of the nation as a whole in environmental management and also the purpose of the workshop in contributing to the successful implementation of the NCSA Project. Mr. Monowar Islam, Project Manager of the NCSA Project briefed on the NCSA Project in his presentation.

The Joint Secretary (Dev.) and the National Project Director (NPD) of NCSA Mr. Tariq-ul-Islam thanked all invitees for attending the inaugural session and hoped for a successful workshop.

The inaugural session was followed by a technical session chaired by Mr. Tariq-ul-Islam, NPD of the NCSA Project. Five presentations on different environmental issues were presented in this session by relevant experts from different agencies. The session was followed by group work by the participants organized into four groups. In the plenary session the work of the groups were discussed and recommendations were made for the development of the NCSA Project methodology, approach and planning the activities.

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Notes to editors 

For more information or to set up interviews, please contact:

• Mahbubur Rahman Masum , IUCN Bangladesh Comminication Officer, Tel: +880 2 989 0395; Fax: +880 2 989 2854;
  masumiucnbd.org; Web: http://www.iucnbd.org/

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