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Environmental development of Bangladesh

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Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker:
3. Political and Administrative reasons
Lack of visionary leadership quality, traditional policy making role of politicians as well as improper practice of environmental policy which approved by the government of Bangladesh are responsible for environmental degradation.

Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker:
4. Environmental Factors

Habitat Fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation carries long term environmental impacts some of which can destroy entire ecosystems. An ecosystem is a distinct unit and includes all the living and non-living elements that reside within it. Plants and animals are obvious members, but it will also include other components on which they rely on such as streams, lakes, and soils. Habitats become fragmented when development breaks up solid stretches of land. Examples include roads which may cut through forests or even trails which wind through prairies. While it may not sound all bad on the surface, there are serious consequences.

Water and Air Pollution
Water and air pollution are unfortunately the common causes of environmental degradation. Pollution introduces contaminants into the environment that can maim or even kill plant and animal species. The two often go hand in hand.

Acid Rain
Acid rain occurs when sulfur dioxide from coal plant emissions combines with moisture present in the air. A chemical reaction creates this acid precipitation. Acid rain can acidify and pollute lakes and streams. It causes similar effects to the soil. If enough acid rain falls in a given environment, it can acidify the water or soil to a point where no life can be sustained. Plants die off. The animals that depend upon them disappear. The condition of the environment deteriorates.

Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker:
The Major Environmental Problems of Bangladesh:

Because of its geographical location, Bangladesh suffers from a range of environmental problems, arising from drought, flood and other natural hazards. Frequencies of hazards are on the increase day by day. The quality of soil has deteriorated due to reckless use of agrochemicals, unplanned land use, undesirable encroachment on forest areas for agriculture and settlements and indiscriminate disposal of hazardous industrial wastes. Unplanned land use and intrusion of saline water are causing degradation of soil in the coastal area.

The surface water of the country is polluted through capricious disposal of untreated industrial effluents and municipal waste water, runoff pollution from chemical fertilizers and pesticides and oil and lubes spillage in the coastal area from the operation of sea and river ports and ship wreckage. Now in Bangladesh, presence of high-level arsenic contamination in ground water is a national problem especially at Chadpur, Shatkhira, Noakhali, Comilla, Gopalgonj and other districts.

Bangladesh has 57 trans-boundary rivers, of which 54 are shared with India and 3 with Myanmar. A significant quantity of water flow is withdrawn and diverted upstream by neighboring countries for irrigation and other purposes and thereby reducing normal flow of water. The Farakka Barrage on the river Ganges is a notable example. Desertification prevails in some northwestern areas of Bangladesh due to withdrawal and diversion of upstream water in the dry season by India. Besides, the proposed inter-basin river link project of India, if implemented, the annual water flow of Bangladesh will drastically decrease which will have profound negative impact on economy, society and environment of Bangladesh.

Air pollution is one of the man-made environmental disasters that is creating environmental hazard all over the world. There are two major sources of air pollution in Bangladesh, namely vehicular emissions and industrial emissions, which are mainly concentrated in the cities. There are also numerous brick making kilns working in dry season all over Bangladesh, which is another source of air pollution. Almost all of these kilns use coal and wood as their source of energy, resulting in the emissions of sulfur-dioxide and volatile organic compounds. An emerging issue of great concern in the cities and towns is the high concentration of lead in the air from vehicular exhausts. The high level of concentration of lead is very harmful for human health especially for child health.   

The depletion of biodiversity is the result of various kinds of human interventions that impinge on it through destruction and degradation of land, forest and aquatic habitats. These activities encompass the sectors of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, urbanization, industry, transport, tourism, energy, chemicals and minerals etc. In the fisheries sector, unplanned shrimp cultivation has negative impact on environment. These activities are responsible for destruction of fisheries diversity. 

Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker:
International initiatives for sustainable environment:

Environment and human life are inextricably linked. In fact, the existence of all living being depends upon environment. The Government is giving special emphasis on environmental issues to achieve a sustainable development. The global environment is facing many threats due to various human activities. Industrialization, exponential population growth and tremendous increase in the number of automobiles and indiscriminate felling of trees, are among the root causes of today’s vulnerability of the global environment resulting in global warming. The adverse impacts of global warming are going to spread along the shoreline of countries like Bangladesh affecting their overall socio-economic condition.  The present government has undertaken integrated policy and plan to protect the country from environment pollution, global warming and protect the water resources as per pledges made in the election manifesto. 

Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker:
World Environment Movement

The Stockholm conference on environment is a milestone in world environment movement. The concept of environment was expanded in the larger areas of social, economic and political sectors through this conference held in 1972. Around 113 countries, 19 international organisations and 400 non-government organisations participated in the conference. Following the decision of the conference, United Nation Environmental Programme (UNEP) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) were established. Many countries of the world formed environmental institutions (Environment Agencies / Ministry) and undertook environment management related initiatives.

Role of IPCC

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), coming into existence in 1988, has since been in relentless in undertaking research on the various phenomena related to changes in the global climatic conditions and arousing public opinion and awareness toward undertaking required steps in confronting the potential challenges.  For such an outstanding research, IPCC was honored by awarding Nobel Prize.

Various conventions and Movements

Several international conventions, viz., the Basel Convention, the Rotterdam Convention and the Stockholm Convention have been adopted to mitigate and control the adverse impacts arising from the use of hazardous and harmful chemicals substances. Various activities are being undertaken towards implementation of the recommendations of these Conventions. Besides, Montreal Protocol has been adopted to protect the ozone layer. Activities are in progress to reduce the use of ozone depleting substances. The worldwide 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) movement for waste management has now a-days gained prominence with patronization and championship of Japan. 

Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol signed to reduce carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emission that is responsible for increasing global warming, mutation of avalanche and rising sea level came into force from 16 February 2005. As of June 2008, 182 parties have ratified the Kyoto Protocol. Till now, 137 developing countries have ratified the Kyoto protocol, including Brazil, China and India, but have no obligation beyond monitoring and reporting emissions. On December 11, 1997, the negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol under the United Nations Convention on Climate Change Framework were completed. The Kyoto Protocol put 36 industrialized nations under obligation to meet specific legally binding targets for emissions of six-greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide etc.

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Activities

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is an important part of Kyoto Protocol. As per CDM, industries in developed countries may earn Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credit by investing in the developing countries. As a result, both developed and developing countries may be benefited.  With a view to developing management of waste of the city of Dhaka under the auspices of CDM, 700 MT of decomposable waste will be collected from kitchen markets of various locations to prepare compost fertilizers. Such a programme will facilitate the Dhaka City Corporation in saving its cost in respect of waste collection and transportation and, simultaneously, ensure availability of environment-friendly organic fertilizers produced from the kitchen market wastes. 

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