Photo : Courtesy
On Wednesday (8 November), at Intercontinental Dhaka, Crystal Ballroom, took place the very first of its kind France + Bangladesh Summit on Hydrology and Flood Forecasting.
This Summit on continental freshwater, the most vital resource on Earth, has been organized in the aftermath of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Bangladesh in early September of this year, and is occurring immediately after Bangladesh-France Trade and Investment Summit on October 23rd at Intercontinental in Paris.
Whilst Bangladesh benefits from a tremendously positive export balance with France, mainly thanks to the manufacturing of garments and other consumer goods, Bangladesh has been relying for a long time on France to supply the country with strategic and high value industrial products and services such as space satellites, commercial aircrafts, and environmental utilities.
Taking Smart Bangladesh as a horizon and considering the importance of hydrological risks and challenges in Bangladesh and the expertise of France in both water and space, Bangladesh turned to France as a country and partner, and to French river basin digitization operator BWI – which stands for Blue Water Intelligence, to be the beneficiary of a public-private partnership with the goal of levelling up the availability of hydrological data and forecasts in Bangladesh. BWI is willing to involve local stakeholders and Universities to deliver forecasts that perfectly matches the specifics of Bangladesh.
Today’s Summit on hydrology and flood forecasting identified few specialized areas of opportunities for both Bangladesh and France, including:
Deployment of virtual stations to forecast river discharge and water levels to reinforce Bangladesh flood early warning system.
- Monitoring of water quality and land, using space imagery in collaboration with group of French and Bangladeshi researchers.
- Joint manufacturing of a stratospheric balloon for the purpose of hydrological surveillance and water resource management. All these initiatives can be implemented in participation with Bangladeshi establishments and universities.
Ambassador of France to Bangladesh, Madame Marie Masdupuy made their opening remarks and expressed her satisfaction for such joint effort.
Hydrology specialists from both home and abroad presented their keynote address on various contemporary hydrological developments.
In the concluding speech, the Director General of Water Development Board, Mr. S M Shahidul Islam emphasized on the use of smart technology in flood forecasting along with proper management of water resources. All the guests thanked the organizers including Embassy of France in Bangladesh and pledged to build Smart Bangladesh through smart forecasting.
The summit has been attended by many scholars, eminent personalities and dignitaries from various ministries, embassies, and academic institutions. All Bengali officials appreciated the French Embassy in Bangladesh for taking the initiative and invited everyone to build Smart Bangladesh through smart forecasting of hydrology.
Messenger/Alamin
