The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Bangladesh and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, with the assistance of the Secretariat of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), organized an online CICA Workshop on "Ecosystem Restoration in the Context of Climate and Other Vulnerability” on 26-27 July 2023.
Director of the Office of the CICA Secretary General Mr. Yerzhan Birtan on behalf of CICA Secretary General Ambassador Kairat Sarybay welcomed participants of the event and emphasized CICA’s commitment to environmental issues. He highlighted the importance of the initiatives on holding a CICA High-Level Environmental Conference in Astana in 2024 and establishing a CICA Council on Sustainable Connectivity put forward at the Sixth CICA Summit in October 2022 by President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Participants of the workshop were addressed by the special guests: Mr. Md. Shahab Uddin M.P., Hon'ble Minister, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Bangladesh; Mr. Saber Hossain Chowdhury M.P., Hon'ble Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Climate Change; Mr. Md. Rais Hasan Sarower, Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh.
During the two-day workshop experts from 15 Member States exchanged views and experiences on ecosystem restoration, addressing vulnerabilities of wetlands and marine ecosystems, preserving the forest and coastal mangrove ecosystems, and shared with their best practices and national policies. Furthermore, participants underlined common needs for means of implementation and stressed the necessity of prioritizing shared result areas and enhancing cooperation among CICA Member States. Comprehensive presentations were delivered by the representatives of Bangladesh, Israel, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Palestine, the Republic of Korea and Türkiye.
In closing remarks, CICA Secretariat Expert Dr. Ugur Turan drew the attention of workshop participants to the vulnerability of the CICA region to environmental issues and underlined that the Member States should act together with the right practical solutions to common problems. He encouraged experts of CICA Member States to consider the increasing role of CICA in the region as an opportunity and engage in closer regional and sub-regional interaction for the solution of environmental problems through joint scientific studies. Additionally, Dr. Turan informed the participants about upcoming consultations and a series of expert meetings of CICA Member States on the path to the CICA High-Level Environmental Conference in Astana in 2024.
