Bangladesh Academy for Climate Services (BACS)

The well-known adage ‘climate is what you expect and weather is what you get’ clarifies the difference between the climate and weather. Climate information services prepare users for the weather they will actually experience. Climate services provide climate information in a way that assists decision making by individuals and organizations. Such services require appropriate engagement along with an effective access mechanism and must respond to user needs.

— World Meteorological Organization

 

Background of BACS

The Bangladesh Academy for Climate Services (BACS), part of the Gobeshona network, was founded in 2018 by the International Centre for Climate Change & Development (ICCCAD) at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB); International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) at Columbia University; the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT); and the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).

Focus

BACS is focused on transformational educational change in climate science, and convening stakeholders for trans-sectoral dialogue of climate services to meet the needs of decision makers across sectors in Bangladesh.

BACS offers three functions:

  1. Convening stakeholders for trans-sectoral dialogues identifying existing challenges and opportunities;
  2. Professional development trainings for students and early-to mid-level professionals to help address identified needs;
  3. Creating graduate level curricula to train a new generation of climate and sector experts.

 


Team Members:

Dr. Mizan R Khan
Coordinator, BACS
Tasfia Tasnim
Deputy Coordinator, BACS

For further queries, please contact:
Tasfia Tasnim, Deputy Coordinator, BACS, ICCCAD; E-mail: tasfia2507@gmail.com

 


2020 BACS Highlights

  • Climate Services for Resilient Development (CSRD) in South Asia: Activities, Outcome and Impacts
    21 January 2020, Gobeshona6 International Conference, Independent University, Bangladesh

To share the overall project overview of CSRD in supporting climate services among different tiers of agriculture, this session was held. The session was followed by multiple presentation in bullet formats and briefly discussed Climate Information and Farmers’ Decision-Making Frameworks, addressing diseases and early warning system, climate information system and PICSA. CSRD’s activities were highly encouraged by the participants and panelists for their contribution in the agriculture sector of Bangladesh. Participants also recommended to provide information on tidal surge, higher accessibility to BMD’s forecast information and need of capacity building initiative to adapt to climate services.

Download the report here

  • Bangladesh Academy for Climate Services (BACS) and its Vision: A Model for Exploring Climate Services
    23 January, 2020, Gobeshona6 International Conference, Independent University, Bangladesh

To share the BACS initiative with wider communities of climate sensitive sectors, this session was held at the 6th Gobeshona Conference in Dhaka. The session was inaugurated by 3 presentations on the overview of climate services and the national academy of climate services, followed by a brief description of FOREWARN network. Afterwards, a panel discussion was held to discuss the future potentials of BACS in different sectors through a coordinated manner and how national level policy integration can benefit the country in broader perspective in adapt to climate risks and threats.

Download the report here