Bhutan and environmental fight
Saturday, 21 May 2011
Nehal Adil
Last year at the SAARC summit in Thimphu, Bhutan, the host Prime Minister in his inaugural address made 'climate fight' the greatest agenda for the association. He was supported by the Maldives which is threatened by submersion in the Indian Ocean. High in the Himalayas, Bhutan does not face that threat. But the Himalaya is burning by wild fire and glaciers are melting. Just after a year of the summit there has been little achievement in the so-called climate fight. According to the Daily Kuentsel of Bhutan, in the Ra region of Bhutan 30,000 acres of prime pine forest has been burned up by wild fire. In fact the environmental question has been the life-and-death challenge for the small and micro states. Spread across the vast expanse of oceans and mountains, these countries are victims of carbon emission of industrialised countries. It had started with the industrial revolution in Britain in the 18th century. In the 21st century it has created a catastrophe affecting the ozone layer. Tuvalu Today, the national daily of Tuvalu, a Pacific island country, whose Prime Minister gave all-out support to Bangladesh at the Climate Conference in Copenhagen quoted my comparison of Tuvalu with our Nijhum Dwip. Nijhum Dwip has a population of twenty thousand and Tuvalu only twelve thousand. But both face the challenge of extinction by climate change. Countries, small or big, face the same challenge because we share the same planet. As such Bangladesh, ravaged by Aila and Sidr, has been in the forefront of the climate fight both in the SAARC and in the broader world. We consider Bhutan as our worthy partner in this fight. His Majesty the King of Bhutan and Prime Minister have visited our country this year. Our Prime Minister and the Minister of Industries have visited Bhutan in the recent past. On the 40th anniversary of our independence we recall that Bhutan was the first country to recognise our independence when the major powers were reluctant to do so. Our country as a gesture of friendship opened its embassy in Bhutan. In fact Bangladesh is one of the three countries that have residential embassy in Bhutan. Bangladesh had appointed a prominent personality of our country as ambassador to Bhutan. He made many friends there and he is remembered there long after he left. Obviously we should seek the concrete steps of cooperation in our joint action in environmental and development questions. We must not ignore that both of us are developing countries with low level of economic activities despite the greater dimension of our national happiness. Industries Minister Dilip Barua proposed cooperation with Bhutan in developing tea industry and horticulture. Some of our officials are talking about leasing land in sub-Saharan desert land to grow food without bothering that those countries are oceans away and there is high cost of transport. And can we really grow rice in the desert? I do not challenge the marvel of technology of our scientists. But could we not better use it in our neighbourhood? It would be a better idea to lease land in Bhutan, grow food and import food stuff. Bhutan's lakes and streams abound in fish. But the Buddhist Bhutanese do not generally eat fish. We could lease them for fish cultivation and import fish. We can also use jointly Bhutanese pasture fir and dairy farming. Bhutan is not a small country. It is of the size of Switzerland. Switzerland is one of the world's most developed countries and a financial hub. Bhutan has undertaken a ten thousand megawatt hydro-electric project that could be completed by 2020. It would not only meet Bhutan's demand but much could be exported to the rest of the sub-continent by a common power grid. But the threat arises whether this mega project could create climatic catastrophe for the entire sub-continent. We know of our experience in Kaptai hydro-electric dam. In last sixty years it has inundated vast track of land in Chittagong Hill Tracts and the water level is rising. According to some experts it could in the long run, threaten Chittagong, the commercial capital and hub of our economic life. Obviously both the countries can learn from each other's experience. This would open new vista of economic cooperation. When we consider Bhutan with Switzerland we must not ignore the fact Switzerland has a population of six million and Bhutan only six hundred thousand. The Bhutanese want to maintain their ethnic cohesion as such do not encourage immigration. That is the reason of the conflict between the two brotherly Himalayan countries Nepal and Bhutan. We do not take side in this conflict. But we have common task in climate fight. The world climate forum should give attention to the cyclones in Bangladesh and wild fire in Bhutan. We too had wild fire in Madhupur forest last year. The task is essentially ours. We have world class universities. We provide professors, doctors and engineers even to the developed countries. Shanto Mariam University of Creative Technology of Bangladesh is taking an active interest on environmental question. It is running a campaign to declare the Sundarbans as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. A drama on the Sundarbans was presented on Bengali New Year by Subarna Niaz. It was the teachers and students who participated in Shaukat Usman Milnayatan of National Public Library. The Sundarbans is the world's biggest mangrove forest and the Himalaya is the world's highest mountain. But we share Sundarbans with India and Bhutan shares the Himalaya with India and China. India and China are our neighbours and we are proud of their emergence in world arena. For obvious reason they want to pursue their present policy of industrialisation. World's present pollution is not because of them. It has been accumulated by carbon emission by the developed countries of last few centuries. In the climate fight we must take that into cognition.
Last year at the SAARC summit in Thimphu, Bhutan, the host Prime Minister in his inaugural address made 'climate fight' the greatest agenda for the association. He was supported by the Maldives which is threatened by submersion in the Indian Ocean. High in the Himalayas, Bhutan does not face that threat. But the Himalaya is burning by wild fire and glaciers are melting. Just after a year of the summit there has been little achievement in the so-called climate fight. According to the Daily Kuentsel of Bhutan, in the Ra region of Bhutan 30,000 acres of prime pine forest has been burned up by wild fire. In fact the environmental question has been the life-and-death challenge for the small and micro states. Spread across the vast expanse of oceans and mountains, these countries are victims of carbon emission of industrialised countries. It had started with the industrial revolution in Britain in the 18th century. In the 21st century it has created a catastrophe affecting the ozone layer. Tuvalu Today, the national daily of Tuvalu, a Pacific island country, whose Prime Minister gave all-out support to Bangladesh at the Climate Conference in Copenhagen quoted my comparison of Tuvalu with our Nijhum Dwip. Nijhum Dwip has a population of twenty thousand and Tuvalu only twelve thousand. But both face the challenge of extinction by climate change. Countries, small or big, face the same challenge because we share the same planet. As such Bangladesh, ravaged by Aila and Sidr, has been in the forefront of the climate fight both in the SAARC and in the broader world. We consider Bhutan as our worthy partner in this fight. His Majesty the King of Bhutan and Prime Minister have visited our country this year. Our Prime Minister and the Minister of Industries have visited Bhutan in the recent past. On the 40th anniversary of our independence we recall that Bhutan was the first country to recognise our independence when the major powers were reluctant to do so. Our country as a gesture of friendship opened its embassy in Bhutan. In fact Bangladesh is one of the three countries that have residential embassy in Bhutan. Bangladesh had appointed a prominent personality of our country as ambassador to Bhutan. He made many friends there and he is remembered there long after he left. Obviously we should seek the concrete steps of cooperation in our joint action in environmental and development questions. We must not ignore that both of us are developing countries with low level of economic activities despite the greater dimension of our national happiness. Industries Minister Dilip Barua proposed cooperation with Bhutan in developing tea industry and horticulture. Some of our officials are talking about leasing land in sub-Saharan desert land to grow food without bothering that those countries are oceans away and there is high cost of transport. And can we really grow rice in the desert? I do not challenge the marvel of technology of our scientists. But could we not better use it in our neighbourhood? It would be a better idea to lease land in Bhutan, grow food and import food stuff. Bhutan's lakes and streams abound in fish. But the Buddhist Bhutanese do not generally eat fish. We could lease them for fish cultivation and import fish. We can also use jointly Bhutanese pasture fir and dairy farming. Bhutan is not a small country. It is of the size of Switzerland. Switzerland is one of the world's most developed countries and a financial hub. Bhutan has undertaken a ten thousand megawatt hydro-electric project that could be completed by 2020. It would not only meet Bhutan's demand but much could be exported to the rest of the sub-continent by a common power grid. But the threat arises whether this mega project could create climatic catastrophe for the entire sub-continent. We know of our experience in Kaptai hydro-electric dam. In last sixty years it has inundated vast track of land in Chittagong Hill Tracts and the water level is rising. According to some experts it could in the long run, threaten Chittagong, the commercial capital and hub of our economic life. Obviously both the countries can learn from each other's experience. This would open new vista of economic cooperation. When we consider Bhutan with Switzerland we must not ignore the fact Switzerland has a population of six million and Bhutan only six hundred thousand. The Bhutanese want to maintain their ethnic cohesion as such do not encourage immigration. That is the reason of the conflict between the two brotherly Himalayan countries Nepal and Bhutan. We do not take side in this conflict. But we have common task in climate fight. The world climate forum should give attention to the cyclones in Bangladesh and wild fire in Bhutan. We too had wild fire in Madhupur forest last year. The task is essentially ours. We have world class universities. We provide professors, doctors and engineers even to the developed countries. Shanto Mariam University of Creative Technology of Bangladesh is taking an active interest on environmental question. It is running a campaign to declare the Sundarbans as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. A drama on the Sundarbans was presented on Bengali New Year by Subarna Niaz. It was the teachers and students who participated in Shaukat Usman Milnayatan of National Public Library. The Sundarbans is the world's biggest mangrove forest and the Himalaya is the world's highest mountain. But we share Sundarbans with India and Bhutan shares the Himalaya with India and China. India and China are our neighbours and we are proud of their emergence in world arena. For obvious reason they want to pursue their present policy of industrialisation. World's present pollution is not because of them. It has been accumulated by carbon emission by the developed countries of last few centuries. In the climate fight we must take that into cognition.