Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed her satisfaction over arriving at a `reasonable conclusion’ at the UN Climate Change Conference, saying there are certain areas that need to be finalised in the future.
Source :http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=21189

“An agreement has been agreed upon taking in most of all our concerns. There are certain areas that would be finalised in the coming days,” she said in a statement at the Lund University on Saturday.

Hasina had visited the Lund University campus with her nuclear physicist husband, late Dr MA Wazed Miah, in 1969.

Referring to the closed-door hectic negotiation in Copenhagen on Friday, the prime minister said a core group was established comprising 25 countries, including Bangladesh, to finalise the agreement.
The PM said it is interesting to note that around 130 heads of states and governments gathered here indicating the great importance they gave to the climate change conference.
She reiterated that though the greenhouse gas emission is negligible in Bangladesh, the country has become one of its worst victims.

Hasina said global warming has subjected Bangladesh to an increasingly frequent and erratic pattern of floods, cyclones, droughts, colossal tidal surges along its southern coasts and unreasonable high level of monsoon rainfall causing landslides and heavy river erosions while absence of seasonal rain in the north causing desertification.

“Therefore, we want adoption of a new legal regime under UNFCCC Protocol to ensure overall rehabilitation of climate refugees,” she told teachers and students of the Lund University.

The PM said Bangladesh is already adapting to climate change. An immediate project is dredging of rivers to keep them on their natural course; deepen to hold more water; contain flooding, reduce flood-induced damages.

Bangladesh has also established a Climate Change Trust Fund with own resources and approved 134 climate adaptation and mitigation action plans, she said, adding that besides, a Multi-Donor Trust Fund has been set up with contributions from development partners and friends.

Hasina said though mitigation is the prime responsibility of developed and major developing emitters of greenhouse gas, Bangladesh is preparing a strategic energy plan for following a low carbon path to development; social forestry; green belts for large carbon sink; clean coal technology; nuclear power; and renewable energy.

She said already 600,000 solar home systems have been installed; vehicles converted to using compressed natural gas as fuel; industries producing toxic waste relocated equipped with effluent treatment facilities; and biodegradable material used as alternate to synthetics.

Referring to her government’s major concerns, the Prime Minister said the major concerns are food security, strengthening democracy, counter terrorism, adapting to climate change, among others.
She said an immediate step had been to apply government intervention in reducing price of food and other daily essentials and maintaining the price within common people’s reach
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Related Back Story
Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, is in climate change summit
Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, requested to industrial countries to give 1.5 % of their annual growth to adaptation fund. She told this at the speech in Copenhagen climate summit last Wednesday.

Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina , told, “ We have come to Copenhagen with the hope of justice, indifferent interests of human being and to introduce a new world. We have come here with the dream to protect our mother land and the world. Our future is dependent on what we will do here”.

Prime Minister told about the condition of Bangladesh, “Developed countries have to promise to reach to the agreement with legal obligations to stop discharging green house gas. Industrial states have to decrease discharging green house gas by 45% in 2020.Concentration of green house gas has to be decreased to 359 ppm”.

She added about climate refugees, “People are losing their house because of continuous natural disaster and breaking up of river. They are accumulating in urban areas that is bringing social clash .We are giving money to them from our development fund and our millennium development goals are obstructed. Two crores people will be climate refugees in 2050 because of the increase of sea level by 1 meter. Four crores people will lose livelihood .UNFCC has to prepare a new legal structure of these people. Climate refugees have to be given the opportunity to adapt worldwide”.

Prime Ministry told, “Bangladesh has no contribution in case of discharging green house gas. But, Bangladesh is facing natural disaster of climate change regularly. Bangladesh is in the 1st ,3rd and 6th position in case of the risk of flood, tsunami and cyclone respectively. Bangladeshi people are the most victims of these disasters”.

Having expectation up to a high abmibition deal from Copenhagen summit some are frusteted but hopefuls says Something is better than Nothing
A US-led initiative called the Copenhagen Accord has formed the centre-piece of a deal at UN climate talks in Copenhagen, despite some countries’ opposition.

Below is an explanation of the main points in the agreement.

LEGAL STATUS
The Accord, reached between the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa, contains no reference to a legally binding agreement, as some developing countries and climate activists wanted.

Neither is there a deadline for transforming it into a binding deal, though UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it needed to be turned into a legally binding treaty next year.

The accord was merely “recognised” by the 193 nations at the Copenhagen summit, rather than approved, which would have required unanimous support. It is not clear whether it is a formal UN deal.

TEMPERATURE RISE
The text recognises the need to limit global temperatures rising no more than 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels.

The language in the text shows that 2C is not a formal target, just that the group “recognises the scientific view that” the temperature increase should be held below this figure.

However, the accord does not identify a year by which carbon emissions should peak, a position resisted by some richer developing nations.

Countries are asked to spell out by 1 February next year their pledges for curbing carbon emissions by 2020. The deal does not spell out penalties for any country that fails to meet its promise.

FINANCIAL AID
The deal promises to deliver $30bn (£18.5bn) of aid for developing nations over the next three years. It outlines a goal of providing $100bn a year by 2020 to help poor countries cope with the impacts of climate change.

The accord says the rich countries will jointly mobilise the $100bn, drawing on a variety of sources: “public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance.”

A green climate fund will also be established under the deal. It will support projects in developing countries related to mitigation, adaptation, “capacity building” and technology transfer.

EMISSIONS TRANSPARENCY
The pledges of rich countries will come under “rigorous, robust and transparent” scrutiny under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In the accord, developing countries will submit national reports on their emissions pledges under a method “that will ensure that national sovereignty is respected.”

Pledges on climate mitigation measures seeking international support will be recorded in a registry.

REVIEW OF PROGRESS
The implementation of the Copenhagen Accord will be reviewed by 2015. This will take place about a year-and-a-half after the next scientific assessment of the global climate by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

However, if, in 2015, delegates wanted to adopt a new, lower target on global average temperature, such as 1.5C rather than 2C, it would be too late.

The UN climate conference in Copenhagen today approved a deal to tackle global warming proposed by world leaders, after an accord Barack Obama brokered with China, India, Brazil and South Africa.
But the UN Secretary General today admitted the non-binding agreement at the conclusion of the conference was not “everything everyone had hoped for”, as he confirmed a deal had finally been done.
Delegates have agreed to “take note” of the American-led Copenhagen Accord, despite criticism that there are no long-term targets to cut emissions and it is not a legally-binding treaty.
Obama had brokered the agreement with China, India, Brazil and South Africa to tackle global warming, which included a reference to keeping the global temperature rise to just 2C – but the plan does not specify greenhouse gas cuts needed to achieve the 2C goal.
Prime minister Gordon Brown said the Accord was a “necessary first step” but those in opposition to it described it as “weak” and “meaningless” .
The document setting out the deal will specify a list of countries which agreed with it, as some of the 192 nations which have taken part in the talks are understood not to have accepted it.
In stormy overnight talks Sudan, Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia all denounced the plan after about 120 world leaders left following a summit yesterday.
Sudan’s delegate, Lumumba Di-Aping, said the accord would condemn Africa to many deaths from global warming and compared it with the Holocaust.
But this morning UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said: “We have a deal” and described the agreement as an “important beginning” in the fight against climate change. It will allow a provision for $30 billion of climate aid for poorer countries over the next three years to become operational. There will also be a further $100 billion a year from 2020.
Mr Ban said: “The Copenhagen Accord may not be everything everyone had hoped for, but this decision…is an important beginning.”
Under the accord, countries will be able to set out their pledges for the action they plan to take to tackle climate change, in an appendix to the document, and will provide information to other nations on their progress.
UK Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, who spent the night in talks after Gordon Brown had left the conference, said the failure to secure a stronger agreement showed the difficulty world leaders faced in tackling climate change.
“I think we would have wanted a more comprehensive agreement, a legally binding one,” he said.
“I think it is good that we have made a start in terms of emissions cuts people are going to do and, crucially, in terms of finance, but that does rely on getting the agreement.
“I wanted a stronger agreement. Today’s events show the difficulty we face. We are dealing with incredibly complex issues and trying to get 192 countries signed up is not an easy task.”
Further talks are expected at conferences in Germany and Mexico next year and Mr Obama admitted there was “much further to go”.
After leaving the conference, Gordon Brown said he viewed the agreement as a preliminary move: “This is the first step we are taking towards a green and low carbon future for the world, steps we are taking together. First steps are difficult, but they are also necessary.”
Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, echoed Mr Brown’s comments adding: “This accord is better than no accord. This is a positive step but it’s clearly below our ambitions.
The agreement, which follows two weeks of high-level debate, has been roundly criticised by environment campaigners and charities.
Jonathon Porritt, the former chairman of the Government’s Sustainable Development Commission, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “To call it ’a start’ is trying to put a very brave face on things.
“What we have actually seen over the last two weeks is raw industrial power at its worst, both on the part of China and the US and other countries. They have not given an inch in terms of understanding the needs of some of the poorer countries.”
Friends of the Earth executive director Andy Atkins said: “A 2C rise in temperature would still mean the deaths of millions of people and the complete destruction of at least four low-lying island states and asking countries to list their national actions on climate change is absolutely no substitute for a legally binding international agreement.”
Greenpeace campaigner Joss Garman added: “This latest draft is so weak as to be meaningless. It’s more like a G8 communiqué than the legally binding agreement we need.
“It doesn’t even include a timeline to give it legal standing or an explicit temperature target. It’s hard to imagine our leaders will try to present this document to the world and keep a straight face.”

Education is the key factor to build up a human as well as Nation. To find out an ideal education policy through which the national eduction policy can produce Ideal Bangladeshi.
The education policy reflects the character of the state and the society, , the nation wants a unified, scientific and realistic policy, which will produce competent citizens as well as complete human beings.

Eminent citizens organised the roundtable titled ‘Education and Education Policy’ at the Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh in the city.

Presiding over the roundtable, Justice Ghulam Rabbani said it is the education system, not religion, that can make a man rational, courageous, benevolent and selfless.

He urged all to work together to build a non-communal and democratic nation.

Noted academic Prof Serajul Islam Chowdhury said the nation wants a unified education system that will be free of discrimination, communalism and commercialisation.

People from the ethnic minorities and remotest areas should be entitled to the quota system, he added.

He also suggested providing subsidy to the poor students, minimising the financial gap between civil and military-run educational institutes, developing the curriculum and textbooks and increase the social status of the teachers.

Speaking as the chief guest, Rashed Khan Menon, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on education ministry, said the absence of an education policy since the independence gave birth to different education systems.

There was an attempt to incorporate different mediums into the mainstream in the proposed education policy, he said, adding that, “Implementation of the policy can be started from January 1 next year as we had said that the policy would be implemented in phases.”

“We could not yet implement the universal, people-oriented, democratic and non-communal education system as stated in the constitution, but the new policy is indeed a good start,” he said.

Prof Anu Muhammad of Jahangirnagar University said the education system has been commercialised which needs to be addressed immediately.

Many of the speakers, however, raised questions about the educational expenses and methods of the cadet colleges arguing that the draft education policy does not say anything about cadet colleges.

Prof Yasmin Haque of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) said the expenditure being spent on the students of cadet colleges is 40 times higher than the students of public universities.

Prof M Shamsul Alam of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (Cuet) presented a keynote paper while Kabery Gayen and Prof Abul Kashem Fazlul Haque of Dhaka University (DU), Prof Shamsuddin Illyas of Rajshahi University, Prof Sushanta Kumar Das, Prof Rezai Karim Khandaker and Prof Tulsi Kumar Das of SUST, Dr Nazrul Islam, president of technical education sub-committee of National Education Policy-2000, Shyamol Kanti Ghosh, director general of Directorate of Primary Education, and Khandaker Asaduzzaman of Anti-Corruption Commission also spoke.
Prof Chowdhury demanded a unified, psychological and scientific education system and said that the mainstream education system should be strengthened.

Different quota systems should also be revoked, he said.

The national education committee has proposed an eight-year primary education. It has made English and religion & ethics compulsory from the third grade.

The draft recommends identical education system and syllabus for selected subjects at the primary level across the country to promote a fair education system. At the same time it mentions secularity.

Among compulsory subjects are Bangla, ethics, Bangladesh studies, mathematics, natural and social environments that includes climate change and IT & science.

The proposed policy aims at coordinating primary education delivered at government and non-government primary schools, kindergartens, madrasas and NGO-run schools. Besides the selected subjects other subjects can be inserted.

The government has said that the new education policy would become effective from January next.

Obstacle to higher education
RECENT media reports indicate, academics have identified weakness in English is a ‘major barrier’ to higher education in the country and have called for effective government initiatives to overcome the problem. Specifically, they pointed out that lack of proficiency in English among teachers and students have restricted themselves to cope with the rapid developments in the arena of knowledge. What is important for higher education is to have English education properly and effectively at pre-university level for acquiring knowledge. But students with very poor knowledge of English are coming to the universities. English knowledge is important also for employment abroad.

The government and the University Grants Commission have scopes to play effective roles to remove the weakness in English which is an appropriate medium of interaction worldwide. There are problems with English as a medium in higher education as more than 70 per cent of the university students in Bangladesh answer to questions in Bangla at their examinations although the texts are in English. The government should take initiatives to formulate a coordinated higher education policy for at least a decade or two to impart need-based education to the students as part of strategies for planned development of human resources.

Despite increased budgetary allocation for education, for updating education quality, curriculum and teaching, higher education here remains deprived of the increased allocation. Though the number of government and private universities and colleges has been steadily increasing, the rate of completion of courses is still very low. A combination of factors is related to the problems of high dropout rates at the college and university levels. They include poverty, according to academics as because higher education costs as high as $400 per year. Yet educated unemployment continues to rise.