World Water Day: Environment minister stresses significance of nature-based water management

Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change 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. Emphasising an environmentally conscious approach, he urged for comprehensive solutions, reads a press release.

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 (21 March), Mayor Talukdar Abdul Khaleque of Khulna City Corporation chaired the webinar.

The panel discussion featured eminent experts including Emeritus Professor of BRAC University Dr Ainun Nishat, Farah Kabir (Country Director, ActionAid Bangladesh), Mohammad Zobair Hasan (Deputy Executive Director, DORP), Dr. Md. Golam Rabbani (Head, Climate Bridge Fund Secretariat, BRAC), Md. Shamsuddoha (Chief Executive, CPRD), and Prof Mujibur Rahman (Environmental Science Discipline, Khulna University).

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, Khulna WASA Mr. Abdullah, Kamal Uddin Ahmed, Tauhidul Islam, and Madhab Chandra Dutta, also addressed the webinar.

Water and Climate expert Professor Ainun Nishat emphasised 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.