AGAIN THE RE FOLLOWING ON THE CLIMATE CHANGE CHAPTER IN BANGLADESH:SPECIAL EDITION BY MUKTIDOOTH

Bangladesh hosts international conference on climate-change adaptation
Submitted by Mike on Mon, 2009-02-16 11:35.
Experts from around the world will meet in Bangladesh this month to identify ways poor communities can adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change.
The Third International Conference of Community Based Adaptaion to Climate Change (on 18-24 February in Dhaka ) will show that many options for reducing vulnerability to climate change already exist.
It will bring together more than 100 scientists, development workers, disaster specialists and policymakers to share information on impacts of climate change — and ways to adapt to them — in sectors as diverse as water, agriculture, biodiversity, human health, infrastructure, coastal zones and cities.
"Adaptation is urgent as the impacts of climate change are already being felt in many places," says Dr Saleemul Huq, senior fellow in the climate change group at the International Institute for Environment and Development. "Adaptation can help build resilience to change but the challenge is knowing what strategies work and then implementing them in diverse settings around the world."
"Policymakers have failed to grasp the scale of the challenge and financial flows to support adaptation are grossly inadequate," says Huq. "The result is that millions of vulnerable people risk being left behind as climate change takes hold."
The conference is being organised by the International Institute for Environment and Development, the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies and the Ring Alliance of Policy Research Organisations.
Journalists are welcome to attend the final session of the conference, on 24 February at 11.30 am at the Sheraton Hotel in Dhaka . For more information, please contact Mozaharul Alam (mozaharul.alam@bcas.net).
Speakers at the conference include:
1. Prof. Ian Burton, University of Toronto, Canada
- IPCC Lead Author on Adaptation
2. Dr Ian Noble, World Bank, Washington DC, USA
- IPCC Lead Author
3. Dr Anna Taylor, Stockholm Environment Institute, Oxford, UK
- Expert on Adaptation
4. Dr Yvan Biot, DFID, UK
- Member, Adaptation Fund Board, UNFCCC
5. Dr Kris Ebi, Head, Technical Support Unit, Working Group II, IPCC
- Expert on Health Impacts
6. Mr Sherpard Zvigadza, ZERO, Zimbabwe
- Expert on Adaptation in Africa
7. Dr David Dodman, International Institute for Environment and Development, London, UK
- Expert on Cities and Climate Change
8. Dr George Kasali CEEZ, Zambia
- Expert on Adaptation in Africa
9. Dr Charles Ehrhant, CARE International
- Expert on Adaptation in Africa
10. Dr Stephan Baas, FAO, Rome
- Expert on Food Security and climate Change
11. Beth Marshall, WWF, UK
- Expert on Biodiversity and Climate Change
12. Mr Harjeet Singh, Action Aid, India
- Expert on Community Based Adaptation
13. Ms Tiffany Hodgson, UNFCCC, Germany
- Expert on International Climate Change Negotiations
14. Dr Terry Cannon, University of Greenwich, UK
- Expert on Disaster Management and Climate Change
15. Dr Youba Sokona, OSS, Tunisia
- Expert on Africa
16. Ms Rebecca McNaught, Red Cross, Netherlands
- Expert on Disaster Management and Climate Change
17. Dr Bob Pokrant, Curtin University, Australia
- Expert on Fisheries
18. Ms Boni Biagini, Global Environment Facility, Washington DC, USA
- Expert on Adaptation Funding

Bangladesh hosts international conference on climate-change adaptation
Submitted by Mike on Mon, 2009-02-16 11:35.
Experts from around the world will meet in Bangladesh this month to identify ways poor communities can adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change.
The Third International Conference of Community Based Adaptaion to Climate Change (on 18-24 February in Dhaka ) will show that many options for reducing vulnerability to climate change already exist.
It will bring together more than 100 scientists, development workers, disaster specialists and policymakers to share information on impacts of climate change — and ways to adapt to them — in sectors as diverse as water, agriculture, biodiversity, human health, infrastructure, coastal zones and cities.
"Adaptation is urgent as the impacts of climate change are already being felt in many places," says Dr Saleemul Huq, senior fellow in the climate change group at the International Institute for Environment and Development. "Adaptation can help build resilience to change but the challenge is knowing what strategies work and then implementing them in diverse settings around the world."
"Policymakers have failed to grasp the scale of the challenge and financial flows to support adaptation are grossly inadequate," says Huq. "The result is that millions of vulnerable people risk being left behind as climate change takes hold."
The conference is being organised by the International Institute for Environment and Development, the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies and the Ring Alliance of Policy Research Organisations.
Journalists are welcome to attend the final session of the conference, on 24 February at 11.30 am at the Sheraton Hotel in Dhaka . For more information, please contact Mozaharul Alam (mozaharul.alam@bcas.net).
Speakers at the conference include:
1. Prof. Ian Burton, University of Toronto, Canada
- IPCC Lead Author on Adaptation
2. Dr Ian Noble, World Bank, Washington DC, USA
- IPCC Lead Author
3. Dr Anna Taylor, Stockholm Environment Institute, Oxford, UK
- Expert on Adaptation
4. Dr Yvan Biot, DFID, UK
- Member, Adaptation Fund Board, UNFCCC
5. Dr Kris Ebi, Head, Technical Support Unit, Working Group II, IPCC
- Expert on Health Impacts
6. Mr Sherpard Zvigadza, ZERO, Zimbabwe
- Expert on Adaptation in Africa
7. Dr David Dodman, International Institute for Environment and Development, London, UK
- Expert on Cities and Climate Change
8. Dr George Kasali CEEZ, Zambia
- Expert on Adaptation in Africa
9. Dr Charles Ehrhant, CARE International
- Expert on Adaptation in Africa
10. Dr Stephan Baas, FAO, Rome
- Expert on Food Security and climate Change
11. Beth Marshall, WWF, UK
- Expert on Biodiversity and Climate Change
12. Mr Harjeet Singh, Action Aid, India
- Expert on Community Based Adaptation
13. Ms Tiffany Hodgson, UNFCCC, Germany
- Expert on International Climate Change Negotiations
14. Dr Terry Cannon, University of Greenwich, UK
- Expert on Disaster Management and Climate Change
15. Dr Youba Sokona, OSS, Tunisia
- Expert on Africa
16. Ms Rebecca McNaught, Red Cross, Netherlands
- Expert on Disaster Management and Climate Change
17. Dr Bob Pokrant, Curtin University, Australia
- Expert on Fisheries
18. Ms Boni Biagini, Global Environment Facility, Washington DC, USA
- Expert on Adaptation Funding

(Source:Reedited by :The Monthly Muktidooth)

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News
Chinese and Egyptian laureates received UNESCO ICTs in Education Prize
Zhang Deming and Hoda Baraka have been awarded the 2008 UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education. Each of the laureates received a diploma and US$25,000.

'Professor Zhang Deming, President of Shanghai TV University, received the prize on behalf of his university for its project Turning the Digital Divide into Digital Opportunity: The Project for Building the Digital Lifelong Learning System in Shanghai. The project reaches 230 community learning centers in the Shanghai area and addresses the needs for digital literacy of students, lifelong learners, working adults, senior residents and members of the general public from diversified backgrounds.'

'Dr. Hoda Baraka, of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Egypt, was honored for her leadership in the implementation of several national ICT projects in education. These include the ICT-In-Education Program: Toward Ubiquitous Reachability to All Learners, an initiative consisting of an array of exemplary programs designed to provide digital opportunities to Egypt’s citizens; and the Egyptian Education Initiative, which covers 2,000 schools, 17 public universities and 1,000 information technology clubs. The initiative has provided training to over 64,000 teachers and trains a further 45,000 teachers and administrators in digital literacy. The national projects aim to promote the use of ICTs to enhance the quality of education, to fight illiteracy, and to provide quality and equitable education to remote areas, while addressing the needs of gender education.'
Language: English
Country: Egypt
Source: EduInfo, UNESCO
Added by John Daly
February 18, 2009
Archive Date: February 18, 2009
Popularity: 16
(Source: DG Alert)

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Brother of Mexican Journalist Slain in 1984 Laments Early Release of the Two Convicted Killers
The two men responsible for the 1984 assassination of investigative reporter Manuel Buendía were released from prison early after federal judges ruled that both had served sufficient sentences, El Universal reports. The journalist's brother protested the early release, telling the newspaper Cambio de Michoacán that the men had "bought their freedom."
Buendía, a reporter and columnist who is often described as Mexico's most famous journalist at the time, was killed in 1984, and the case was closed in 1989. See this 1989 NY Times story about the case.
Juan Rafael Moro, the convicted assassin, served 19 years of a 25-year sentence. José Antonio Zorrilla, convicted of planning the killing, served 20 years of a 35-year sentence. Authorities say the early releases were granted in strict compliance with the law. But Buendía's brother insists that one of the killer's families sold real estate to obtain his freedom, and that the other had offered cash last year in exchange for his release.
"Everything is bought and sold in this country," he said.

(Source:Knightjournalism)


Defying Havana, Cubans Seek out More News from USA
On a recent trip to Cuba, New York-based writer Julia Ioffe was surprised to meet so many people who were following the Obama administration so closely, including details about his policies and family life. In a report for Columbia Journalism Review, Ioffe asks how and why Cubans are so intent on getting these "contraband factoids."
Ioffe, a Russian native, describes how many Cubans get their non-official news from illegal satellite TV, a longtime, illegal practice. Some 30,000 illegal satellite dishes exist in Cuba, she says (without citing a source for that figure). From there, the Cuban grapevine (known as Radio Bemba) takes over, “swiftly and efficiently giving Cubans the information the Revolution refuses to provide.”
Ioffe quotes Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez whose reports from Cuba have angered officials. Sanchez described “an absence of narrative” about the island’s own political changes.
“We don’t know anything about our government—who their wives are, where they live," Sanchez says. "The Obamas have become our narrative. They are our telenovela.”

• By Dean Graber at 02/20/2009 - 14:28

(Source:Knightjournalism)

Private Media's Cameras Banned from Covering Venezuelan Parliament
Leaders of the National Assembly have indefinitely banned cameras belonging to private media and will only permit broadcasts by the official parliamentary channel ANTV, the newspaper El Universal reports.
The restriction seeks to guarantee the broadcasts of "balanced information" about the Legislative Assembly. It comes in response to the "distorted" diffusion of parliamentary information by a private channel several weeks ago, EFE reports.
According to the Assembly's vice president, a crew from the Globovisión channel committed a crime when the cameraman focused on alleged pornographic images in an email that a deputy was reviewing in session, El Nacional adds.

• By Ingrid Bachmann/DG at 02/18/2009 - 15:56

(Source:Knightjournalism)