28/6/2013: At the 7th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation (CBA) to Climate Change participants shared the need for mainstreaming CBA in national and local planning processes.

The 7th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation (CBA) to Climate Change (CBA7) was held in Dhaka in April this year. At the conference participants realized the necessity for strengthening and empowering local governments as a step towards mainstreaming CBA in every country's development.

The conference also recognized the need of leadership from the rich countries on both mitigation and adaptation matters. It was discussed that more delay in mitigation will mean greater need for adaptation and more suffering for the communities and the poor of the world.

Adaptation only part of the solution
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the CBA7 on April 22, 2013. She called upon the participants from across the world to strengthen the mutual learning on climate change and adaptation practices.

She clearly mentioned that adaptation is only a part of the solution. The real solution lies in reducing the root cause of climate change – the emission of Greenhouse gases. It may be noted the Prime Minister opened the 5th CBA in the same venue in 2011

The concluding session was graced by Mary Robinson, President of Mary Robinson Foundation and Former President of Republic of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She clearly emphasized climate change justice in planning and implementation across the world.

The 8th conference will take place in Nepal
The 7th CBA conference accommodated over 300 scientists, practitioners, researchers, academicians, policy makers and local communities from more than 40 countries of the world. They spent four days discussing water, agriculture, gender, urbanity, equity and many others issues in 24 different sessions.

The conference was organized by Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in close cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) of the government of Bangladesh.

Former conferences on CBA were
- The 1st, 2nd and 3rd CBA conferences in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2005, 2007 and 2009 respectively.
- The 4th CBA in Dar Es Salam, Tanzania.
- The 5th CBA again in Dhaka
- The 6th CBA in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The 8th CBA will be held in Nepal and the theme will be "Financing CBA".