"Bangladesh, being a vulnerable country, must take the issue more seriously," said Dr Saleemul Huq, director of the Climate Change Programme, International Institutes for Environment and Development.

"We do not have any long-term plans to negotiate with the developed countries in the international conferences in this regard," he said. So, more and more people should be made aware of the problems to take action to offset the impacts of the climate change, he added.

Bangladesh Centre for Advance Studies (BCAS) organised the seminar on 'Actions to combat global climate change: An update of current international efforts' at its auditorium in the city.

Dr Saleemul said the global climate change is one of the much-talked-about issues right now.

The US did not ratify the Kyoto protocol, but its government has been under internal pressure to do so, he said.

Although the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have taken steps to mitigate the climate change, they still need to do more in this regard, Dr Saleemul said.

Mentioning that Bangladesh has achieved much progress in many fields, especially in the Community-Based Adaptation programme, he said, "More action should be taken at all levels -- local, national and at the global forum."

Dr Inun Nishat, country representative of the IUCN-World Conservation Union, also spoke at the seminar moderated by Dr Atiq Rahman, executive director of BCAS.