The New Nation - Internet Edition

Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) has signed an agreement with the UK based International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED) and the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), two leading research institutes working on climate change and development, to set up an International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCAD) at IUB, to be financed by various global funds on climate change. Vice Chancellor Prof. Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury and Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof. Omar Rahman, on behalf of IUB, while Dr. Saleemul Huq, on behalf of IIED and Dr. Atiq Rahman, on behalf of BCAS, signed the agreement.

Fifteen leading foreign universities and research institutes will co-sponsor or collaborate which include, among others, IIED, Imperial College (UK), the Institute for Development Studies (UK), the International Research Institute on Climate (US), Munasinghe Institute for Nature and Development (Sri Lanka), Swaminathan Foundation (India), TERI University (India), the University of Cape Town (South Africa), the University of East Anglia (UK), and the University of South Pacific (Fiji).

The objectives of the new International Centre on Climate change will be to provide training to individuals, primarily from developing countries on adaptation to climate change and development; research on climate change adaptation and development; publish and disseminate training materials and outputs of its research; and promote a network of institutions working on similar issues around the world with an emphasis on the developing world.

The Centre on climate change, located at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) will be developed and initially headed by Saleemul Huq, currently Head of the Climate Change Group at the London based IIED, a lead author of the IPCC Third and Fourth Assessment Reports, and winner of the Burtoni Award for Adaptation Research in 2007. The Centre will have a governing body and an advisery board of 10 to 12 eminent scientists in the field of environment from all over the world. The board will provide guidance and quality control on course materials and research.

The Centre, as a constituent part of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) will be authorized under Bangladeshi law to award higher degrees. It will annually offer a 15-month Masters in Climate Change and Development for batches of up to 30 students, and take up to six PhD students, subject to the approval from the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh (UGC). Students will be selected from all over the world on merit. An endowment fund will provide full bursaries for candidates from the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). It will also run one-week to one/two month tailored training courses for mid-career staff in government, research institutes, donor agencies, NGOs, business and the media.

Bangladesh is an ideal location of such Centre as it is likely to face very serious impacts of climate change, from increased flooding to salination of freshwater due to sea level rise. Bangladesh academics and researchers, supplemented by counterparts from abroad, will make up the faculty. In addition, the country is rich in indigenous knowledge about coping with climate variability and climate-related impacts. Over the time, Bangladesh will become a 'living laboratory' for other developing countries to learn from what is in practice.