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BANGLADESH ENVIRONMENT NETWORK*

A Network for Communication on Bangladesh’s Environmental Problems

Internet Address: http://www.egroups.com/list/bangladeshenv

Memorandum

Submitted to the Honorable Finance Minister of Bangladesh Government, Mr. S. A. M. S. Kibria, during his visit to Boston, USA on October 3, 1998.

Preamble

0.1 Welcome: On behalf of Bangladesh Environment Network (BEN), we welcome Honorable Finance Minister of the Government of Bangladesh, Mr. S. A. M. S. Kibria, on his visit to the USA. We wish him success in achieving the goals of his visit.

0.2 Introducing BEN: The Bangladesh Environment Network has been setup to facilitate communication among Bangladeshis, both resident and non-resident, and interested non-Bangladeshis on environmental problems of Bangladesh. We hope that this increased communication will help (a) increase awareness about environmental problems in Bangladesh, (b) formulate right policies to fight environmental degradation, and (c) assist Bangladesh government in adopting and implementing such policies.

0.3 Purpose and Scope of the Memorandum: We take the opportunity of Finance Minister’s visit to submit this memorandum. Some of the issues raised here will concern his ministry directly, and he will be able to act on them himself. Some are more subjects of other ministries. However, we also include them in this memorandum for two reasons. First, in this foreign land, we want to view the minister as a representative of the government as a whole. Second, the finance ministry has a central role in the government. Through its control of funds and its broader perspective, finance ministry can influence activities of other ministries as well. Hence, we hope that (a) the finance minister will act on issues, which directly concern his ministry; (b) he will convey this memorandum to other respected members of the government, including the Honorable Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina and Minister of Environment, Ms. Sajeda Chowdhury;(c) through his role as finance minister, he will exert influence on other ministries to act on issues raised in this memorandum.

This memorandum has two parts, the first concerns flood, and the second focuses on other aspects of environmental degradation.

 

On Flood

1.1 Unprecedented Flood: This year Bangladesh has experienced flood of unprecedented scale and intensity. Many people have died; loss to crop, cattle, houses, and infrastructure has been enormous. The damage estimates are staggering. Bangladesh now faces the difficult task of recouping the losses and then going forward.

1.2 Sympathy and Solidarity: We express our sympathy to all those families who have lost their members, and to all people of the country who have suffered because of flood. We express our full solidarity with the people of Bangladesh as they try to rebuild their lives after the flood.

1.3 Financial and Other Material Support: The best way of expressing solidarity is to send financial and other material support. We called upon all our members and other Bangladeshis to come forward with generous financial support. We urged them to do one or more of the following: (a) send individual contributions, (b) join efforts with other Bangladeshis of the local area and send combined contributions, (c) use media announcement and host events to raise funds both from Bangladeshis and foreigners.

We want to inform the minister that our members and other Bangladeshis have already busied themselves in fund raising efforts in different places. Funds have been sent directly to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund or to other funds, like that of BRAC. In the coming days these efforts will spread further and gain more momentum.

1.4 Long Term Strategy regarding Flood: As Bangladesh tries to cope with this year’s flood damage, she has to think about her long term strategy regarding flood. In this regard, we have some specific recommendations to make.

Problems of the Embankment Approach:

So far, Bangladesh has followed the embankment approach toward flood. Experience shows that this is not the right approach, because embankments (a) cannot reduce the total volume of water, and (b) do not create additional passage or storage space for water. All they can do is to cordon off certain areas from floodwater. But this (a) aggravates flood in areas which remain outside the cordons, (b) puts life and property of people inside the cordons at a perennial risk, (c) deprives land inside cordons from beneficial effects of normal flooding, and (d) creates new problems of drainage and environment within the cordoned areas. Finally, given that our mighty rivers frequently change their course, embankments on Bangladesh’s alluvial plains are bound to fail. It is for all these reasons that the Eastern Waters Study, authored under the leadership of Harvard Professor of Environmental Engineering, Peter Rogers, also recommended against the embankment approach.

Benefits of the Excavation Approach:

Bangladesh, therefore, should abandon the embankment approach and adopt the excavation approach. The main goal of this approach is to create as much passage and storage space for monsoon water as possible. Bangladesh has to preserve, develop, and connect all existing surface water bodies and, if possible, create new ones. The basic idea is to let the monsoon water spread over as wide an area as possible, so that the depth of flooding can be kept low. The excavated earth can help raise the ground level of villages and towns, as and where necessary and feasible. Water stored in the rivers and other surface water bodies will help irrigation during the dry winter season. The excavation approach therefore solves both the problem of flood during rainy season and the problem of water shortage in winter. In addition, this approach preserves all the beneficial effects of normal river-inundation, including replenishment of underground aquifers. The latter is important to avoid arsenic contamination of water, another serious environmental problem in Bangladesh.

Recommendations:

In concrete terms, our recommendations are as follows:

  • Bangladesh should adopt the Eastern Waters Study report as the main guiding document for dealing with water problems of the country.
  • Bangladesh should embark upon a major program to re-excavate the riverbeds of the country. She has to start with the smaller rivers of the north and western parts of the country and gradually proceed to the larger ones. Dredging and re-excavation of the major rivers is a difficult task, but progress with the smaller rivers and rivulets will be a big step forward. Given Bangladesh’s population density, re-excavation is a feasible goal. Such a program will generate large amount of employment and it does not require foreign currency. The water bodies are mostly under state ownership, and this will make the program less expensive and less fraught with legal obstacles. Not only riverbeds, Bangladesh should preserve and develop all other surface water bodies, like khals, bils, haors, etc.
  • Bangladesh should minimize obstructions on the floodplains. Many roads and highways need to be reconstructed to allow culverts and bridges of adequate number and size required for passage of water.
  • Bangladesh should reemphasize waterways as a means of inland communication and transport. The excavation approach should help her in doing this.
  • Bangladesh should reemphasize the importance of the inland freshwater fisheries. Again, the excavation approach will help achieve this goal.
  • Bangladesh should not try to sever connections of the cities with the adjoining rivers by cordoning them. Instead, like rest of the country, life of the cities should also be integrated with the rhythm of the rivers. The cities of Bangladesh should develop along the lines of Amsterdam or Venice, which have successfully structured their life by enhancing connection with river and sea.

On Other Environmental Issues

2.1 Different Dimensions of Environmental Degradation: We observe with alarm that, as Bangladesh is trying to industrialize, she is undergoing serious environmental degradation. There are many dimensions of this process. A few examples:

  1. Air Pollution: Urban air pollution has reached alarming level. The lead content of Dhaka city’s air is more than 100 times the UN recommended safe level. Dhaka has become a gas chamber for slow poisoning. Leaded air is particularly harmful for children as it retards their physical and mental development.
  2. Arsenic Contamination of Ground Water: Increased use of groundwater aquifers for irrigation and their non-adequate replenishment has caused the ground water level to go down. This has caused arsenic contamination to reach alarming level.
  3. Chemical Runoff to Surface Water Bodies: Indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides is resulting in chemical runoff to the surface water bodies. This is causing serious damage to country’s fresh water fish stock.
  4. Industrial and Medical Waste: Industrial enterprises are often discharging their toxic and other harmful solid and fluid waste in untreated form into neighboring areas and water bodies. Similarly, hospitals and clinics are often disposing indiscriminately their harmful clinical waste.
  5. Household Waste: In urban areas, disposal of household waste has become a serious problem. This problem has been aggravated by indiscriminate and increasing use of plastic materials.
  6. Loss of Wetlands: We are increasingly losing our surface water bodies, both in the cities and in the rural areas. Part of it is driven by population pressure and need for settlement areas. The rest is due to bad policies. Loss of wetlands is causing temperature imbalance and general ecological deterioration. As we noted above, it is also aggravating floods.
  7. Deforestation: Most of the shalbons have now become extinct. Sundarbans are under threat. Bangladesh has gone well below the requirement of at least 25 percent of land to be under forest.
  8. Loss of Bio-diversity: With loss of wetlands and forests, Bangladesh is increasing losing its flora and fauna. Many of the species are becoming rare; some have already become extinct. Bangladesh is becoming a very uninteresting part of the world.

2.2 Industrialization without Environmental Degradation: Experience of other parts of the world has shown that environmental degradation is not a necessary price to pay for industrialization. Bangladesh, with a population density of about 1000 per square kilometer, cannot, and need not, slavishly imitate the production processes and lifestyle of the US, where density of population is only 26 per square kilometer. If the above processes of environmental degradation are allowed to continue, Bangladesh and its cities will become not only inhospitable but also downright unlivable. With unlivable cities and contaminated rural areas, Bangladesh can hardly expect to attract foreign investment and go forward.

2.3 Need for Government Intervention: Since environment is a public good, market forces based on private interests cannot be relied upon to protect environment. Comprehensive government intervention and guidance is necessary. Industrialization in such a densely populated and fragile country as Bangladesh has to proceed with extreme caution. Otherwise, the whole process may lead us to an ecological disaster.

2.4 Recommendations: Environmental degradation is a big problem. It is, therefore, not possible to discuss and prescribe solutions to all aspects of this problems in a small memorandum like this one. Many of these problems demand more research before comprehensive solutions may be proposed. However, based on the discussion that has taken place in the Bangladesh Environment Network, we want to make the following recommendations:

a) Air Pollution: The main source of air pollution in Dhaka and other cities of Bangladesh is the Two Stroke Engine Vehicles (TSEV). These deadly vehicles are banned almost all over the world, and must be removed from the streets and roads of Bangladesh as soon as possible. Mere import restrictions will not serve the purpose. We were gravely disappointed when last May the finance ministry initially allowed a nationalized bank consortium loan of 50 crore taka to Bangladesh Auto-Tempo Owners’ Association to import another 5,000 TSEVs. We urge the government to take the following steps:

  • Declare a deadline (say 4 years from now) beyond which TSEVs will not be allowed to ply anywhere in Bangladesh, either in cities or in the rural areas.
  • During these transition years, make it mandatory for TSEVs to put on temporary filters to prevent the deadly exhaust from getting into the air.
  • Switch to use of unleaded gasoline.

b) Arsenic Contamination of Water:

  • Ensure replenishment of the groundwater aquifers by adopting the excavation approach to flood control and by implementing other measures that will facilitate seepage of monsoon water into underground aquifers.
  • Decrease dependence on ground water for irrigation and increase use of surface water for irrigation.
  • In the meantime, explore use of simple measures that have been suggested and are available to remove arsenic from water. Information regarding these measures is given in the attachment to this memorandum.

c) Chemical Runoff:

  • Reduce dependence on chemical fertilizer and pesticides. The industrial countries themselves are increasingly moving toward organic agriculture. Bangladesh should also encourage organic agriculture.
  • Protect the surface water bodies from chemical runoff.

d) Industrial and Medical Waste:

  • Introduce appropriate rules regarding disposal of industrial and medical waste, and ensure their strict observance.
  • Make environmental protection a priority in the approval process of any industrial project. Follow up on compliance of the environmental component of the project.
  • In setting up Export Processing Zones (EPZ), take particular care of the potential environmental impact.

e) Household Waste:

  • Prohibit use of plastic materials where paper or other biodegradable material can serve the purpose. Introduce extra tax on use of plastics.
  • Introduce community involvement in waste collection and disposal process. Introduce fines for non-compliance.
  • Introduce measures that will encourage recycling.

f) Loss of Wetlands:

  • Preserve and develop the existing wetlands by adopting the excavation approach.
  • Create and develop new water bodies. Traditionally creation of water bodies was the main form of public works in this country. Return to that tradition.

g) Deforestation:

  • Preserve the existing forest areas. Undertake a program of reforestation of the parts of the forests that have been encroached.
  • Encourage social forestry so that forests and habitation may not be exclusive of each other.

h) Loss of Bio-diversity:

  • Preserve the plant and animal (including fish) species that now exist in Bangladesh.
  • Identify the species that we have lost over the past year. Try to introduce these species from elsewhere (for example, West Bengal) if these are still available there.

Conclusions

Some Specific Requests to the Finance Minister: We understand that the above is a long wish list of measures many of which are outside of the immediate jurisdiction of the finance ministry. However, we think that the finance minister can play an important role in accomplishing the following goals:

  1. Phasing Out the TSVE, through use of export-import and bank credit policies.
  2. Discourage use of plastic items, by use of tax policies.
  3. Make environmental protection a priority in new industrial project approval process, by use of investment promotion policies.
  4. Influence urban-transport more toward use of public transport than private cars, by use of tax and export-import policies.

We expect that, at least with respect to these four goals, the Honorable Finance Minister will exert all his good office and power. With respect to the rest of the recommendations, we hope that the Minister will try to influence the other ministers through his crucial role in the government as the finance minister.

Finally, we want to wish the Minister well in his future activities.