Staff Reporter :
A three-day meeting of South Asian civil society and parliamentarians on SDG and Climate Change opened in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu yesterday to force policy issues for the forthcoming Paris climate conference.
Jointly organized by Beyond Copenhagen Collective and Pairvi (Public Advocacy Initiatives for Rights and Values in India) of India the meeting was addressed by
Mr Bijoy Prothap of South Asia Dialogue on Ecological Democracy (SADED)and Mr Soumya Dutta of Beyond Copenhagen Collective.
Former minister for environment and forest and chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on the ministry Dr Hasan Mahmud presided over the inaugural session.
A number of parliament members and civil society leaders from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka are taking part in the meeting.
Speakers emphasized on mobilizing South Asian leaders to place their own issues to be discussed in the global SDG and Climate Change talks. They also said that the SDG will be adopted in next UN General Assembly but there are hardly any debate going on in South Asia on it.
They said interaction is important between the civil society and politicians on the topic and good inter-government cooperation is also essential to achieve the goals. Rezaul Karim Chowdhury of EquityBD also speke on the occasion.