ENVIRONMENT-BANGLADESH: Saving Dhaka’s Remaining Green Charm

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Tabibul Islam

DHAKA, Aug 28 2000 (IPS) - The city of Dhaka, built by the medieval Mughal rulers of the South Asian subcontinent, was once famous for its lush greenery, open spaces and scenic canals.

Dotted with hundreds of ponds, numerous canals and big parks, Dhaka drew merchants, missionaries and artists from other countries, who made the city their home.

But Dhaka lost its charm long ago. The city’s green landscape is only a distant memory, with the more than 1,000 ponds, canals and parks replaced by houses, workplaces and markets for its more than eight million people.

With nearly a quarter million motor vehicles spewing out hundreds of tonnes of toxic fumes every year, Dhaka is now one of the world’s most polluted cities.

Civic authorities say that at least a fifth of the area must under green cover. “But unfortunately, it is only five percent in old parts of Dhaka city and 12.5 percent in new Dhaka,” says Azizul Huq, Chairman of the Dhaka Development Authority.

Urban planning experts blame this on the lack of an urbanisation policy. Nazrul Islam, Chairman, Centre for Urban Studies, says this makes it difficult to carry out urban development schemes in a systematic way.

Alarmed by the unchecked urban sprawl, green activists are turning to the courts to pull up authorities for not protecting the city’s few remaining green open spaces.

The Bangladesh Environment Lawyers’ Association (BELA) has served notice on the chairman of Dhaka Development Authority, the Mayor of Dhaka City Corporation and the top official in the Ministry of Works, for the filling up of the two-hectare Dhanmondi lake in the heart of the capital.

Urban authorities argue that this has been done to beautify the area, but BELA, in its petition, has termed this as an “interference with the people’s right to enjoyment of life.”

The government is now making amends and has taken some steps to check environmental degradation in and around Dhaka.

These include a planned, two-year, 4.7 million-U.S. dollar air quality management project for the capital and the two big port cities of Chittagong and Khulna. The project will commence by the end of the year

Seven environment courts are also being set up, two of them in Dhaka. The courts are expected to start working early next year. These are being set up under a law enacted in April.

Bangladesh will be the first nation in South and South-east Asia, to have such courts. The courts will have the power to punish offenders with a fine of up to 20,000 dollars or a 10-year jail term.

However, green campaigners doubt if all this will achieve much. A lot will have to be done to reverse the damage already done, they point out.

The unplanned expansion of the city in all directions has swallowed up the canals and wetlands, which have been replaced by government offices, apartment blocks and markets. Only two of the more than 20 canals and just 53 of the 1,000 ponds, now remain.

One of the biggest acts of destruction of greenery was carried out by former military ruler Ziaur Rahman.

Soon after assuming power in November 1975, the late military dictator, ordered the felling of several hundred, century-old trees along the road near the famous Ramna Park in the capital, citing security reasons.

Matters have been worsened by motor vehicle pollution. Dhaka has nearly 225,000 four-wheeled motor vehicles, few of which comply with vehicular emission norms.

The automobiles release 3,700 tonnes of harmful emissions into the air every year. Latest Department of Environment figures show harmful vehicle emission levels in Dhaka to be four to five times more than permissible.

Air pollution is estimated to kill some 15,000 people in Dhaka every year.

A World Bank study estimates there will be 6.5 million fewer cases of serious illness if vehicle pollution safety norms are observed in the four big cities of Bangladesh.

Another 8.5 million minor ailments can also be avoided. The annual economic cost of avoidable sickness and death from vehicle pollution, is estimated to be up to 800 million dollars.

The bank study notes that the health costs of air pollution are slowing the country’s economic growth, which is essential for slashing poverty levels in one of the world’s least developed nations.