The consultation was held at Jhalakathi Deputy Commissioner Md Johor Ali’s office on Monday. Additional secretaries to the ministry of environment, forest and climate change Sanjay Kumar Bhowmik and Md Mizanul Haque Chowdhury were also present, according to a statement from the UNDP. In the keynote, Malik Fida A Khan, executive director of the CEGIS, stated the importance of NAP. He said that NAP was a participatory and country-driven process and would address the medium to long-term adaptation needs of Bangladesh and turn her into a climate-resilient country in the long run. He added that NAP would specifically address the climate vulnerability of the coastal regions, address the existing capacity gaps and establish a knowledge management system on climate change adaptation. The consultation discussed major climatic risks in different coastal districts, adaptation strategies of the farmers and determinants of the choice of those strategies. Jhalakathi and other coastal districts are vulnerable to increasing salinity of its groundwater as well as surface water resources, especially along the coast, due to increases in sea level as a direct impact of global warming. Participants agreed that the livelihood of smallholder farmers is affected by climatic risks such as cyclones, increasing soil and water salinity, storm surges and heavy rainfall, that can lead to flooding and waterlogging. They stressed a master plan to address these challenges. “UNDP will provide full support to Bangladesh in combatting climate change,” said AKM Azad Rahman, programme officer for climate change at the UNDP. “We're closely working with the government in designing sustainable projects in coastal regions.” Sanjay Bhowmik said, “NAP will be the guiding policy document for our adaptation efforts and will supplement all the national-level planning. Through the consultation, we're delegating its ownership to you”. “For successful implementation of NAP, we will need a partnership with both at the national and local level,” he maintained. Also the national project director of the NAP Formulation Project, Mizanul said: “NAP will be harmonised with the national planning process and supplement the Annual Development Programme, Five Year Plan, Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, etc.” He emphasised raising awareness to combat climate change, protect the environment and mainstream adaptation efforts. Johor Ali said rainwater harvesting can be an effective adaptation strategy for the coastal regions. The ministry, Economic Relations Division and the UNDP co-organised the event with support from the Green Climate Fund.