Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable to climate change in its coastal zone, covering about 30 per cent of the country. Climate change is not only an "environmental" concern but really a "development" concern for Bangladesh. This means that climate change as an issue must come out of the ghetto of "environmental problems" to take center stage as a major developmental problem to take center stage as a major developmental problem. More promising anticipatory adaptations are changes in behavioral patterns, human practices as the main contributor to Climate Change is the use of fossil fuels (e.g. gas and coal) to generate electricity and power our machinery (e.g. cars, lights, air conditioners).When we burn fossil fuels we release carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. This can cause sea level rise, increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes, changing weather patterns, coastal erosions and loss of freshwater resources. The coastal zone of Bangladesh forms the lowest landmass and is part of the delta of the extended Himalayan drainage ecosystem.. The coastal zone of Bangladesh is prone to multiple threats such as cyclones, storm surges and floods, as well as earthquakes, tsunamis, and above all, climate change. Scarcity of drinking water, land erosion, the high groundwater arsenic content, water logging, water and soil salinity and various forms of pollution have also slowed down social and economic developments (Islam and Ahmad, 2004). During the last 250 years, six tsunamis, at most, have been reported to have affected the coast of Bangladesh (Choudhury, 2006. It is estimated that at least 4.8 million people are at high risk from tsunamis (Islam et al., 2006). These are all man made and is done by the people living in non coastal area especially people living in the cities as they are totally unaware about what they are doing or they do not go to into deep as they do not stay in the coastal area. The coastal awareness programme should target these groups of children . Moreover , school students and teachers are one of the most critical segments to educate about their immediate environment and impart knowledge about the eco-systems, their inter-dependence and their need for survival. Therefore, coastal awareness festival will give opportunity to raise awareness among these city dwelling children to reduce the environmental pollution so that the coastal area and the marine eco system can be saved.

Introduction

The SAARC Haveeru Coastal awareness Programme for School Children will be a three day event during 16th, 17th and 18th November 2012 organized by Livelihood Education And Development Services (LEADS) a social organization of TRK Consultancy Services with support from the SAARC Coastal Zone Management Centre (SCZMC), Maldives. The programme will be implemented through different people working in the environmental sector and a youth group as well as in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Shishu Academy, Dhaka,. Environment, Department Dhaka University etc. The main objective of the program is to make the school children including the public aware about the reasons of environmental impact of climate change on coastal area and become conscious to conserve the environment.

Poster