10th Eastern Himalayan NaturenomicsTM Forum in Bangladesh
Quy hoạch và Phát triển Đô thị Bền vững – Kinh nghiệm từ Hoa Kỳ – 10/2022
HAU Bangkok workshop – 10/2022
World Bamboo Workshop 2022
Ad hoc housing Architecture workshop – 08/2022
HUCE KU Leuven – 08/2022
Chuyển đổi Di sản công nghiệp thành không gian sáng tạo-12/2020
Vietnam Green Building Week-12/2020
Between Two Centuries – 11-2020
Xem Dem Cang Dem – 08-2020
The 10th Eastern Himalayan NaturenomicsTM Forum in Dhaka this December 2022 was organized by the Balipara Foundation and took place at the Independent University of Bangladesh. The city of Dhaka was vibrant, at least around the Banani market area, which shown positive sign of development, with glamorous towers (mostly with glass and exposed concrete) springing up everywhere. The constrast of new development with the rickshaws and “tuktuk” cars on the street added to the diversity and vibrancy of the city.
Timeline
The main theme of the forum was “Ecology is Economy.” This is one of the initiatives of the Balipara foundation with the objective of Rewilding the Indian Eastern Himalayas, building ‘Rural Futures Indigenous Hub,’ and fostering Local Networs for Rewilding. The event was timely, knowing that the Eastern Himalayan countries are facing both climate and biodiversity crises today. The location of the event – the capital of Bangladesh, is also a necessary choice. Bangladesh has been a climate leader in recent years. The country has many initiatives such the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan 2030, or the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, which seek to mitigate climate change impacts and recover ecological wellbeing of the region. The forum in Dhaka focused on the strategies that the Eastern Himalayan countries can employ, such as:
- Integration of interdependence of Ecology and Economy
- Social, Economic, Environment and Enhanced Climate Resilience through the Delta Plan for development
- Valuation of Natural Assets
- Transboundary Ecological Diplomacy
With those strategies in agenda, the areas in focus are as following:
- Valuing Natural Assets (Creating Ecological Budgets – Nature Capital Debt for Social Mobility)
- Rewilding the Eastern Himalayas (Building Resilient Landscapes from Snowline to Sealine)
- Transboundary Ecological Diplomacy (Action for Conservation)
- Transparency (Technology for Participatory Natural Asset Management)
- Wellbeing (Building Bridges between Development and Conservation for Human Resilience)
- Democratize Forest Management (Enhancing Ownership of Indigenous Communities & Gender Inclusion)
In the first day, we had a pleasure to listen to Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta’s lecture, in which he stated that nature has a place in economy, and that we should pay attention not only to the “provisioning” goods (that are reflected in the GDP) but also the maintenance and regulatory services. On the same day, the many awards were delivered, in recognition of people and organizations’ efforts in conserving and restoring biodiversity of the Eastern Himalayas, include Ms. Radha Wasle (Conservation and Women Empowerment), Kuenzong Dorji (community conservation), Syeda Rizwana Hasan (Food and Legality), Golam Mainuddin (Forest Guardian), Zeinorin Angkang of Manipur (Food and Community), Dr. Kamaljit Singh Bawa, Mr. Kamesh Salam and so on.
Bamboo is one of the important topic in this Naturenomics forum this year in Dhaka, with many sessions:
- Bamboo for Climate Change: Integrating Bamboo Into Carbon Markets (chaired by Mr. Pulaha Dasgupta and co-chaired by Dr. M Khairul Alam, with the special guest being Dr. Farhina Ahmed, Secretary, Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, Bangladesh) with the participation of Kamesh Salam (Founder & CEO of South Asia Bamboo Foundation), Marc Peeters (BNV, Bamboo Tissue Culture, Jogiakarta, Indonesia), Marco Paiazza (FAO Bangkok), Amir Hossain Chowdhurry (Chief Conservator of Forests, Bangladesh), Lokesh Dubey (Senior Standards Manager for Land Use & Forests portfolio, The Gold Standard Foundation, India), Rafiqul (Director, Bangladesh Forest Research Institute, Bangladesh)
- Bamboo for Livelihood, Economy & Environment (chaired by Mr. Mizanul Haque Chowdhury, Additional Secretary, Development, MoEFCC, and co-chaired by Mr. Farid Uddin Ahmed), with the participation of CS Susanth (Head, Centre for Bamboo Initiative, National Institute of Design), David How (Oasis Coffins, Bangladesh), Mark Sultan (Gersava, Sustainable Planet, Philippines), Bernice Dapaah (Founder and CEO, Ghana Bamboo Bike Initiative)
- Bamboo Technical Session 2: Bamboo Shelter, Trade Investment & Partnerships Goals (chaired by Mr. Gautam Mukhopadhaya, Senior Visiting fellow, Centre for Policy Research India, India, and co-chaired by Rafiqul Haider, Director, Bangladesh Forest Research Institute, Bangladesh), which was addressed by Mizanur Rahman (ndc, Additional Secretary, Law wing, MoEFCC), Architect Priyam Ballav Goswami (Assam, India), Architect Nripal Adhikari (Nepal), Kevin Rowell (The Natural Builders, USA), Architect Tuan Manh Nguyen (Kecho Collective, Hanoi, Vietnam), Daron Bauer (Pure Life Carbon, Canada), Shi-Ming (Jack) Huang (Ph.D, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan)