Adopting a comprehensive environment policy
Syed Ashraful Hasan | Wednesday, 13 August 2008
THE environment of Bangladesh has been deteriorating during the last two decades and a half. But the ministry that was exclusively created to address this worsening environmental situation seemed to do little to arrest its degradation going on at a steady pace. As a result, the environmental concerns multiplied and intensified.
Dhaka, which was once one of the cities of the world with high level of pollution in its air, became worst of its kind five years ago. It may have slightly improved its status since that time by pushing the worst air polluting autorickshaws away from the metropolitan areas of Dhaka. But the air of the city still remains one of the most polluted of its kind in the world in the absence of other follow-up measures.
Sections of the rivers flowing around the big concentrations of urban population of Bangladesh have become so polluted from unregulated discharge of effluents that these are like dark liquids devoid of oxygen and aquatic life.
Biodiversity in large parts of Bangladesh has been threatened by a number of man-made factors. One of them is the country's overpopulation and its consequent impact on the environment. But compared to the devastating population bomb that is building up for this small country, the response to it appears to be hardly a proportionate one against the threat.
Widespread presence of arsenic in underground water, the loss of soil fertility from mono-cropping without crop rotation, toxicity of the soil and the threatened food chain from indiscriminate use of chemical fertlisers and pesticides, etc., are the other growingly formidable environmental problems.
Deforestation has whittled down to below ten per cent in the country's forests thereby alarmingly diminishing the vegetation cover ; the country's basic environmental balance has been threatened as a result. Afforestation programmes may have had only a marginal impact on these conditions. This is because, deforestation activities are considered to be greater than afforestation ones.
The coastal areas of the country are poorly supervised. Foreign vessels dump their waste matters too freely in the coastal areas and perhaps such vessels had dumped on occasions cargoes of very hazardous wastes in Bangladesh's territorial waters finding the same an unchallenged zone while indulging in such activities.
There are many sides to the environmental crisis that is gradually showing up in Bangladesh. Many are in the making from unregulated human activities within the country. But a very serious threat to the environment of the country has external origins. Bangladesh as a low-lying country is among the few countries to be worst-hit with the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the consequent earth warming phenomenon. Although Bangladesh should have long ago started an all-out clamour to sensitize the international community about its plight and sought adequate international compensation and assistance to meet the nearing catastrophe, the leaders of this country remained very surprisingly mum and unconcerned about it for a long time. Only recently they have been showing a greater concern but that probably has a lot to do with external prodding.
A new elected government is likely to come to power in Bangladesh by 2009. All environment-conscious people in the country will expect the government to take a new and hard look at the major environmental problems. If this is done, then the environment surely would be recognised as an area requiring highest priority attention. The government will need to urgently get down to preparing a comprehensive environment policy including, most importantly, the ways and means to enforce it.
The environmental decline has already much eroded the quality of life in Bangladesh. If it goes on like this without a strong enough check and abatement, then this country could turn into a poisonous hellhole with worse unclean air, water, soil and surroundings where decent human existence and happiness would not be possible. Already such existence and happiness has disappeared considerably from the life and living of Bangladeshis in many places due to the stressful environment. The environment-related woes are likely to be worse and worse and, finally the worst, without an environment restoration policy in place and its proper implementation. Therefore, the incoming government can make a very big contribution to an area of very pressing need by introducing a proper environmental policy and enforcing it successfully.
What issues the environment policy must address are obvious: it should set up a system for all polluters to be warned and identified and made to suffer penalties for their unwillingness or inability to adhere to the policy. For instance, it should make a rule that all industries producing hazardous wastes must have a waste treatment plant for treating such waste before discharging them on soil, air or water bodies. Violators of the rule should have the choice of either conforming strictly to the rule or closing down operation.
Air pollution in the cities can be reduced by requiring automotive vehicles to compulsorily use catalytic converters and by fining or not allowing the movement of vehicles that do not keep clean engines or exhaust systems. Air pollution can be also reduced by compulsorily producing and distributing lead and sulphur-free fuel for vehicles.
Arsenic in the underground water can be tackled by spreading the know-how of inexpensive ways of filtering arsenic from water. Similar dissemination of information about the benefits of crop rotation, regulated use of chemical fertlisers and natural pest control, can work wonders in preserving the fertility of soil or preventing soil from becoming toxic. Even the passing of laws and their enforcement can be considered to this end.
The environment policy should lead enactment of appropriate laws to protect and expand the country's forests and vegetation, to protect and increase the number of its reserved forests, protect its bio-diversity, promote environment-friendly urban areas, etc. Externally, under the environment policy, Bangladesh must pursue a more strident and vocal role internationally to draw attention to the plight of Bangladesh from earth-warming and other fall-out climate change.
But the policy will remain ineffectual as long as it remains on paper and is not enforced. For the environment policy to bear fruit, it must go the whole hog with the creation of apparatuses such as the environment courts, the environment police, etc., and their efficient functioning.
Dhaka, which was once one of the cities of the world with high level of pollution in its air, became worst of its kind five years ago. It may have slightly improved its status since that time by pushing the worst air polluting autorickshaws away from the metropolitan areas of Dhaka. But the air of the city still remains one of the most polluted of its kind in the world in the absence of other follow-up measures.
Sections of the rivers flowing around the big concentrations of urban population of Bangladesh have become so polluted from unregulated discharge of effluents that these are like dark liquids devoid of oxygen and aquatic life.
Biodiversity in large parts of Bangladesh has been threatened by a number of man-made factors. One of them is the country's overpopulation and its consequent impact on the environment. But compared to the devastating population bomb that is building up for this small country, the response to it appears to be hardly a proportionate one against the threat.
Widespread presence of arsenic in underground water, the loss of soil fertility from mono-cropping without crop rotation, toxicity of the soil and the threatened food chain from indiscriminate use of chemical fertlisers and pesticides, etc., are the other growingly formidable environmental problems.
Deforestation has whittled down to below ten per cent in the country's forests thereby alarmingly diminishing the vegetation cover ; the country's basic environmental balance has been threatened as a result. Afforestation programmes may have had only a marginal impact on these conditions. This is because, deforestation activities are considered to be greater than afforestation ones.
The coastal areas of the country are poorly supervised. Foreign vessels dump their waste matters too freely in the coastal areas and perhaps such vessels had dumped on occasions cargoes of very hazardous wastes in Bangladesh's territorial waters finding the same an unchallenged zone while indulging in such activities.
There are many sides to the environmental crisis that is gradually showing up in Bangladesh. Many are in the making from unregulated human activities within the country. But a very serious threat to the environment of the country has external origins. Bangladesh as a low-lying country is among the few countries to be worst-hit with the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the consequent earth warming phenomenon. Although Bangladesh should have long ago started an all-out clamour to sensitize the international community about its plight and sought adequate international compensation and assistance to meet the nearing catastrophe, the leaders of this country remained very surprisingly mum and unconcerned about it for a long time. Only recently they have been showing a greater concern but that probably has a lot to do with external prodding.
A new elected government is likely to come to power in Bangladesh by 2009. All environment-conscious people in the country will expect the government to take a new and hard look at the major environmental problems. If this is done, then the environment surely would be recognised as an area requiring highest priority attention. The government will need to urgently get down to preparing a comprehensive environment policy including, most importantly, the ways and means to enforce it.
The environmental decline has already much eroded the quality of life in Bangladesh. If it goes on like this without a strong enough check and abatement, then this country could turn into a poisonous hellhole with worse unclean air, water, soil and surroundings where decent human existence and happiness would not be possible. Already such existence and happiness has disappeared considerably from the life and living of Bangladeshis in many places due to the stressful environment. The environment-related woes are likely to be worse and worse and, finally the worst, without an environment restoration policy in place and its proper implementation. Therefore, the incoming government can make a very big contribution to an area of very pressing need by introducing a proper environmental policy and enforcing it successfully.
What issues the environment policy must address are obvious: it should set up a system for all polluters to be warned and identified and made to suffer penalties for their unwillingness or inability to adhere to the policy. For instance, it should make a rule that all industries producing hazardous wastes must have a waste treatment plant for treating such waste before discharging them on soil, air or water bodies. Violators of the rule should have the choice of either conforming strictly to the rule or closing down operation.
Air pollution in the cities can be reduced by requiring automotive vehicles to compulsorily use catalytic converters and by fining or not allowing the movement of vehicles that do not keep clean engines or exhaust systems. Air pollution can be also reduced by compulsorily producing and distributing lead and sulphur-free fuel for vehicles.
Arsenic in the underground water can be tackled by spreading the know-how of inexpensive ways of filtering arsenic from water. Similar dissemination of information about the benefits of crop rotation, regulated use of chemical fertlisers and natural pest control, can work wonders in preserving the fertility of soil or preventing soil from becoming toxic. Even the passing of laws and their enforcement can be considered to this end.
The environment policy should lead enactment of appropriate laws to protect and expand the country's forests and vegetation, to protect and increase the number of its reserved forests, protect its bio-diversity, promote environment-friendly urban areas, etc. Externally, under the environment policy, Bangladesh must pursue a more strident and vocal role internationally to draw attention to the plight of Bangladesh from earth-warming and other fall-out climate change.
But the policy will remain ineffectual as long as it remains on paper and is not enforced. For the environment policy to bear fruit, it must go the whole hog with the creation of apparatuses such as the environment courts, the environment police, etc., and their efficient functioning.