'Poor nations worst victims of climate change'

Dr Munirul Alam addresses a seminar titled 'Climate change and its impact on lives and diseases' at the National Press Club in the city yesterday. State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mizanur Rahman Sinha, extreme left, is also seen. Japanese Universities Alumni Association in Bangladesh (Juaab) and Japanese Embassy organised the seminar. PHOTO: STAR

They said developed nations like USA, Japan and European countries are contributing to this change, but poor nations are its worst victims.

The seminar titled 'Climate change and its impact on lives and diseases' was organised jointly by Japanese Universities Alumni Association in Bangladesh (Juaab) and Japanese Embassy at the National Press Club in the city.

Mizanur Rahman Sinha, state minister for health and family welfare, and Yonezo Fukuda, charge d' affairs of Japanese Embassy, were present at the seminar.

In a keynote paper, Dr Munirul Alam of ICDDRB said accumulation of green house gases has increased global temperature.

This may lead to extreme weather events like floods, droughts, heat waves, hurricanes and tornados which the world is now experiencing frequently, he added.

For countries like Bangladesh, global warming will lead to the rise of sea level inundating vast areas and forcing millions of people to migrate to highland causing serious consequences, Alam added.

He said global warming is also responsible for low agricultural yields, extinction of plant and animal species, draughts, desertification, floods and spread of infectious diseases.