Online Desk  :   Advisor to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Syeda Rizwana Hasan has announced that the new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) will include land, forests and wetlands to strengthen climate mitigation efforts. However, she highlighted several challenges, such as deforestation and land degradation, in achieving the NDC goals. Rizwana also emphasised the need to adopt environmentally sustainable and inclusive practices to overcome these hurdles.

The Advisor made these remarks as the chief guest at a seminar titled “Challenges in Planning and Implementing Carbon Emission Reductions from Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use under Bangladesh’s NDC,” held at the CIRDAP Auditorium in Dhaka on Tuesday. She warned that the forest recovery operations will continue despite resistance and said allocations of 700 acres of forest land to the Public Administration Academy and 20 acres to the Bangladesh Football Federation have already been revoked.

Additionally, the cancellation of a 156-acre forest land allocation to an organisation linked to the brother of a former cabinet secretary is at the final stage. She urged individuals to adopt energy-efficient practices to combat climate change. The seminar was chaired by Khushi Kabir, chairperson of ALRD and Coordinator of Nijera Kori and Bangladesh Lead for the Stand for Her Land Campaign. A keynote was presented by Dwijen Mallick, a fellow of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies.

Panellists included Mohammad Moniruzzaman Khan, associate professor of the University of Dhaka, Nazim Uddin, senior scientific officer of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Gazi Mohammad Sohrab Hossain, researcher of the Centre for Knowledge, A.K.M. Azad Rahman, coordinator of the UNDP Bangladesh LoGIC Project and Khandaker Mainuddin, senior fellow of the BCAS.