Serving the cause of sustainable development

Planners in Bangladesh appear to have forgotten the necessity of 'sustainable development'. It refers to a situation where development will bring benefits for the people on one hand and protect environment, on the other. Environment converges to a situation which is healthy, peaceful, congenial and beneficial for all forms of life on earth.
Environment is not a subject of the present only. It is said to be a subject of next century. It is more for future generations. This is why the concept of 'sustainable development' has emerged. The World Summit on Sustainable Development was held at Johannesburg in August-September, 2002. We need sustainable habitat for mankind. We need it for bio-diversity. We need clean air and fresh water. We should preserve rivers, ponds, canals, wet lands and jheel-beels. We require water conservation and its prudent management. Climate is continuously changing. Due to this, seasons in Bangladesh are fading away. The effects are manifold. Apart from natural calamities, this is affecting both human and animal habitats.
It is observed that rivers and canals are being continuously silted and encroached. Public ponds and beel-jheels are being grabbed and filled up. So is the case with many rivers and canals. The human greed has aggravated the situation. Some rivers are biologically dead. Some rivers will die very soon. Bio-diversity of rivers and water bodies are vanishing. Dozens of small rivers have already lost their existence. There are frequent reports of grabbing and illegal occupation.
Withdrawal of water from common international rivers by upper riparian countries, construction of bridges, culverts and irrigation structures and the use of underground water have all contributed to increased salinity and arsenic problem in many parts of Bangladesh, particularly in north and south-west areas of the country. Unplanned expansion of shrimp culture has also been contributing to increasing salinity and destroying composition of soil. There has been deforestation. Some greedy people have captured and are continuously trying to grab the forest land.
Industrial pollution has increased. Waste management has been found poor. Soil, water and air pollution have increased. Chemical wastes are indiscriminately dumped. Many industries do not have effluent treatment plants.
Human lives and livelihood in Bangladesh are interlinked with nature. Consequently no process of development and eradication of poverty can be conceived of without effectively caring for environment and placing sustainable development at the centre-stage. A careful balancing development approach must be orchestrated where economic growth is maximised without compromising environmental protection and safety.
Successive governments have been found taking some serious initiatives over more than two decades. Some of them were implemented and some of them are being executed. These include the National Environmental Management Action Plan (NEMAP), the Sustainable Environment Management Programme (SEMP), the Bangladesh National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA), the Bangladesh National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA) for Global Environmental Management, the Dhaka Environment Programme and the Creation of Climate Change Fund.
Success stories also point to banning of two-stroke three wheelers, polythene bags, introduction of CNG vehicles as well as legal requirement of effluent treatment plants for industries.
There are 16 protected areas of which seven are national parks, eight wildlife sanctuaries and one game reserve. These were notified under the Bangladesh Wildlife Order, 1973. These protected areas including the Sundarbans cover the total area of 244,182 hectares which is about 9.7 per cent of the country's total forest area. Six areas, namely the Sundarbans, Teknaf sea beach, St. Martin Island, Sonadia Island, Hakluki Haor, Tanguar Haor, Marjat Baor and Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara Lake have been declared by the government as Ecologically Critical Areas (ECA) under the Environmental Conservation Act, 1995.
Bangladesh is a signatory to various international conventions, treaties and protocols (ICTPs). These include the United Nations Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), the Cartagena Protocol on Bio Safety, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the Stockholm Convention on POPs (persistent organic pollutants), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), etc. Various acts, rules, plans and policies have been adopted by the government supporting environmental activities. These include the Environment Policy, 1992 and Implementation Programme, the National Environment Management Action Plan (NEMAP), 1995, the Environment Conservation Act, 1995 and its subsequent amendments, the Environment Conservation Rules, 1997 and its subsequent amendments, the Environment Court Act, 2000 and its subsequent amendments.
Every year a large number of projects are undertaken in Annual Development Programme (ADP) under environment and forest sub-sectors. The fund allocation is around Tk. 7,000 million in the fiscal year 2013-14. Added to this, the Climate Change Fund involves more than Tk. 20,000 million. The board of trustees for this fund under the Ministry of Environment and Forests accepts projects and distributes funds mostly to NGOs.
In spite of all these initiatives, laws and rules and funds, rivers in Bangladesh and other water bodies continue to be captured by grabbers and waters have become more polluted. One can see cars plying under the Bangabandhu Bridge over the Jamuna and construction of houses at the middle of the rivers near two Meghna Bridges at Sonargaon and Daudkandi. People are found to have constructed or are constructing permanent structures. Grabbing of rivers, ponds and canals in all the cities and town are going on unabated. Waste (all kinds) management has been suffering. Shrimp culture has been getting high.
Sustainable development encompasses maximisation of economic growth with emphasis on poverty reduction and social progress. It is also related to preservation and management of natural resources that will make development fruitful for the present and future generations. It requires co-ordination between national and planning policies and programmes. It requires strict enforcement of laws side by side with mass awareness.
Land laws should be amended and the deputy commissioners be made accountable for protecting rivers and water bodies from the grabbers. Funds should be made available for increased navigability of rivers. Projects for ensuring appropriate sanitation and safe water should be taken. Visible government actions are needed for waste management and for stopping industrial pollution. Local government bodies should be engaged and made accountable for preservation of water bodies. Indiscriminate use of pesticides and insecticides in agriculture should be stopped.
Concerted efforts on the part of the government in collaboration with local government bodies, NGOs and civil society are needed for sustainable land management, population planning, conservation of agriculture and bio-diversity, management of rivers, lakes and wet land, forest conservation, desertification and drought management. Urban and house planning, education, health, sanitation, and strengthening the Directorate of Environment and other concerned agencies will contribute to sustainable development. The plan documents including the budget should highlight these. A strong political will is urgently required. We like to hear something from the Finance Minister in the next budget speech.
The writer is an economist and      former Planning Secretary                    of Bangladesh. chowdhuryjafar@ymail.com