Bangladesh is a small country with a large population. Located in the north-eastern part of the South Asian subcontinent, it abuts Indian on the western, northern and eastern sides and borders with Myanmar (Burma) on the southeastern tip. It is on the south of the Bay of Bengal. At the current annual growth rate of 2.18 percent (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 1998) the estimated population in 1998 is about 126.5 million. The total area of the country is 147,570 square kilometres, 6.7 percent of which are rivers and inland water-bodies. The population density, therefore, is about 900 persons per sq. km—the highest in the world. Even with a decline in fertility, the country’s population is expected to reach 170 million—with the density increasing to 1200 people per sq. km. by the year 2010. The official target, however, is to attain a replacement fertility rate by 2010, and in such case, the population is expected to reach a steady state at 250 million towards the end of the next centuary (World Bank 1998). The major concern for the country’s sustainable development is to achieve this target and ensure a reasonable livelihood for over twice the size of the present population.

Now, whether it is the socio-economic life of North-Western Bangladesh or the coastline, whether it is agricultural bases or power of cyclones, whether it is global warming or terror of tornadoes,

Bangladesh is environmentally vulnerable and the nation should take a defensive action plan to avoid a catastrophe (Quamrul, 1996)

Vulnerable to any degree of sea-level rise, the major parts of Bangladesh are deltaic in origin. The terrain is largely flat and the relief is low. Nearly 50% of the country has an elevation of less than 10 meters above sea level. Only in the south-western parts of the country have been uplifted geologically in recent times while some areas are still subsiding.

The Tropic of Cancer passes through the center of Bangladesh and the climate can be described as tropical monsoon type—warm and humid in the summer, dry and cool in the winter. Three meteorological seasons are identified, which also coincide with the three main cropping seasons. The meteorological seasons are summer (March-May), monsoon (June-October) and winter (November-February). Maximum temperature in the summer exceeds 380 C, and is characterised by thunderstorms (locally known as nor’westers) as well as high evaporation rates. The monsoon or the rainy season experiences more that 80 percent of the total annual rainfall. The winter season receives less perature (often reaching below 100 C in the north), low humidity and high solar radiation. Temperature in Bangladesh varies between 100 C and 400 C. it peaks during April and minimum is recorded in January. The critical aspects of rainfall in relation to use of land for agriculture relate to the uncertainty of the onset and departure of the monsoon as well as the total amount of rain in a year.

Bangladesh, especially the coastal belt as well as the off-shore islands, is frequently hit by tropical cyclones, accompanied by storm surges, almost every year in the pre-monsoon months of April-May and the post-monsoon October-November. Some of these cyclones develop into hurricanes with wind velocity exceeding 120 kms per hour. In recent years, loss of human lives in cyclones has been significantly reduced through implementing a cyclone preparedness programme, including early warning system and provisions for cyclone shelters in the coastal belt and the off-shore islands.
 
 

Although a small country, Bangladesh has a wide range of soils. About 500 soil series have been identified, but these can be grouped into three categories, conforming to the three major landscape types of the floodplains, terraces and the hills. Soil erosion is a serious problem in Bangladesh. Heavy rainfall, steep slopes in the hills and terraces and year round tillage contribute to continuous erosion of the topsoil. Lack of any comprehensive soil conservation practices and increasing pressure of population on land are major constraints in combating the land degradation process.

Agriculture land is the most basic resource in Bangladesh—the main component for crop production. The current land/person ratio is very unfavourable, and there is little or no scope of expanding the land resource base. In 1997, the per capita land availability was 0.11 hectares, declining from 0.16 hectares in 1981. Agriculture is the main user of the land resource—employing directly or indirectly three-fourth of the country’s population and contributing about 30 percent to the GDP (BBS 1997).
 
 
 
 

Bangladesh has about 9.56 million hectares of cultivated land, which is about two-thirds of the total area, 17.5 percent is single cropped, 54.7 percent double cropped and 20.4 percent triple cropped, while the remaining 7.4 percent is cultivable waste and current fallow (World Bank 1998). The current average cropping intensity is179 percent – an increase from 150 percent about a decade ago (GoB). However, each year, the net cropped area continues to shrink due to the loss of cultivated land to alternative uses like urbanisation, housing, industries and other infrastructure developments.

The agricultural sector is dominated by rice farming, which covers about 75 percent of the cropped area. Others grains include wheat (a dry season crop) and maize grown in all seasons. Jute, a natural fibre, is a major cash crop although the share of raw Jute and jute goods in the total exports of the country has been declining in recent years. Tea is one of the most dynamic export-oriented cash crops. Other cash crops of significance are tobacco, cotton and sugarcane.

In Bangladesh, the three cropping seasons approximately coincide with the three meteorological seasons. The cropping seasons are Kharif 1 (pre-monsoon), Kharif II (monsoon) and Rabi (dry and winter). Three rice varieties are grown in these different seasons—aus, aman, and boro respectively. Aman is the leading rice crop, accounting for 56 percent of the cropped area, followed by boro (27 percent) and aus (17 percent), according to BBS 1996. The most significant recent development in agriculture has been the introduction and diffusion of high yielding varieties (HYV) of rice. The first HYV was introduced more than three decades ago from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. Since early 1970s, the HYVs released to the farmers are bred at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) at Gazipur, about 25 kms north of capital Dhaka. At present, HYV rice occupies nearly 50% of the rice growing area. HYV boro is entirely irrigated, while HYV aus and aman—though largely rain-fed—often require supplementary irrigation.
 
 

Flooding and river bank erosions—the two very related phenomena—are common in Bangladesh. Rivers erode parts of their banks during floods and post-flood periods due to current and wave of action. Land loss due to river erosion is highest in the Brahmaputra-Jamuna basin, where the erosion rate is estimated to be between 139 ha and 358 ha. per year (Elahi and Rogge 1990). Recent satellite images of the Ganges-Brahmaputra and the Meghna rivers, studied under the Flood Action Plan [FAP], indicate that 106,300 hectares were lost through erosion, while only 19,3000 hectares were accreted over the period 1982-1992 (World Bank 1998). Riverbank erosion made thousands of families homeless and landless, forcing many of them to move to the urban centers where they live as squatters in the rising number of slums.

Bangladesh’s water ecosystem is heavily dependent on the seasonal availability of water. Excessive water during the monsoon causes floods. Water shortage in the dry season often causes a drought-like situation. The annual surface water flow, whose major source is rainfall—both inside and outside the country—is impressively large. The availability of this water is not uniform throughout the year. For the country as a whole, the dry season flow of water is less than one-fifth of the wet season flow. About 93 percent of the surface water come from outside the country. And there is a high degree of uncertainty about the quantum of the water that would be available from transboundary rivers. The sharing of the Ganges water was agreed upon through a treaty with India in 1996, but sharing agreements for all other international rivers are still awaited.

Groundwater is another important component of the water ecosystem. The quaternary alluvium of Bangladesh constitutes a huge aquifer with reasonable good transmission and storage properties. Heavy rainfall and annual inundation help the groundwater to rise almost to the ground level in the wet season. The first assessment of groundwater was made in 1984. While, later on, the master plan organization (MPO) made three estimates in 1991: potential, usable and available recharge. In 1996, National Minor Irrigation Development Project (NMIDP)- using a different approach – projected how much groundwater could be withdrawn under conditions of receding water from tube-well extractions. Despite such varying estimates of groundwater reserves, it is generally agreed that Bangladesh will largely depend on this reserve for expansion of irrigated areas and to meet domestic needs.

Bangladesh is yet to formulate a pragmatic National Water Plan with a conjunctive water use planning (Quamrul, 1998). So far on the supply side, policymaker has over emphasised the use of groundwater more than the surface water. On the demand-side irrigation has received higher priority than the supply of safe drinking water. The fallout is mass scale arsenic contamination. The National Water Plan [NWP- II] in 1991 had projected a water demand in the critical dry month of March, by the year 2018, of about 24,370 million cubic meters, while the supply from both surface and groundwater sources will be about 23,490 million cubic meters—showing a shortfall of 880 million cubic meters. This shortfall will be caused by increased irrigation. The NWP estimated by the year 2020, 6.90 million hectares of land would be brought under irrigation out of a total 7.56 million hectares of irrigation or cultivable land (World Bank 1998).
 
 

Wetlands of Bangladesh have great ecological and economic significance. They contain very rich components of bio-diversity like flora and fauna of local, national and regional significance. Besides being a depository of aquatic plants and animals, wetlands help the storage of floodwater, provide a rich sources of inland fisheries and offer water transport. In recent years, as a direct consequence of population increase agricultural expansion causing water regime modification, many wetlands have shrunk or disappeared. Such degradation has brought about a bio-diversity loss, reduction in fish habitat and an increase in flood proneness of certain floodplains (Quamrul, 1997).
 
 

The coastline of Bangladesh can be divided into three main zones the western, central and eastern (Quamrul, 1997). Each zone contains district coastal landforms, and geomorphic and biological characteristics. The western zone extends from the international boarder with India to Tetulia river (east of Barisal) and the central zone covers from Tetulia river point to the Feni river estuary (including the Meghna estuary). The eastern zone starts from the Feni river and continues upto the southern tip of the mainland beyond Cox’s Bazar extending to the Naff estuary.

The western and central zones are part of the Ganges-Bramaputra-Megna delta system, whereas the eastern zone is non-deltaic. In the west, mangrove forest, i.e. the Sundarbans dominate the coastal fringe. The central zone witness sediment-rich freshwater flows and their interaction with ideas. In the eastern zone, wave action dominates the open-ocean front, through mangroves exist within sheltered estuaries.

The natural shape of coastlines of Bangladesh is controlled by the forces of erosion and deposition involving rivers, tides and waves. Straight coastlines of beaches and dunes are formed in the southeast where waves are strong. In zones where tidal action predominates, as in the western zone, tidal creeks of complex patterns are common, while the forces of riverine sediments produces islands and estuaries in the central zone.

Population density in the coastal districts is slightly higher than the national average, and the rate of increase is also similar to the national trend. In addition to the permanent coastal population, there are a significant number of new and seasonal migrants to the coastal areas, especially to the newly emerging chars (shoals). Seasonal migrants also include migrant fishermen who fish in the Bay. The two seaports of Bangladesh along this coast are Mongla (near Khulna) in the southwest and Chittagong—that handles the bulk of import and export commodities – in the southeast. These two port-towns are the major urban centers in the coastal region.

Fisheries in the coastal zone grades from fully inland fresh water fisheries, through shrimp and other mixed fresh water and saltwater fisheries to fully marine fisheries in the Bay of Bengal. Brackish water fisheries in the coastal (where tide and river water mix) has increased in recent years with the intensification of shrimp farming—one of the fastest growing export industries in Bangladesh. Shrimp farming has inevitably created the conflict in land use with rice farming in the coastal zone. Since it is an export commodity and brings substantial foreign exchange, poor farmers in shrimp growing areas are losing the battle and are increasingly being forced to move and landless.

Mangrove forests in the coastal area are an important natural resource. The largest of these forests in the Sundarbans. Chakoria Sundarbans along the southeastern Chittagong coast are shrink due to the encroachments by shrimp farms. The Forest Department has a scheme of planting mangroves trees along the shores for cyclone and embankment protection and on newly accreted land for their stabilization. The mangroves forests supply fuel wood for domestic and industrial use, timber for industry, and a range of other non-wood products.
 
 

Bangladesh has no significant oil deposit. But the country is endowed with an untold reserve of natural gas, which is currently its only non-renewable energy resource. It is the main source of commercial energy accounting for 70 percent of the country’s commercial energy supply. About 90 percent of the power generation is based on natural gas and the entire urea fertilizer requirements of the agriculture sector is met by using gas as feed stock. The proven gas reserve is estimated at about 23.21 trillion cubic feet (TCF), of which 13.73 (TCF) is considered to be recoverable.

Hydrocarbon exploration in Bangladesh started as early as 1910. The first gas field was discovered in Sylhet in 1955, and so far 20 gas fields have been discovered in the eastern and south-eastern parts of the country, including the offshore field at Sangu, off the coast of Chittagong. The government has recently opened up the oil and gas sector for the private investment, inviting international oil companies contracts. The country has been divided into 23 hydrocarbon blocks, of which eight have already been awarded to foreign companies for exploration of oil and gas. The remaining blocks are now in the process of being offered to the foreign oil companies under the second round bidding.
 
 

The deciduous forest of central Bangladesh had originally extended beyond the Madhupur Tract into northern districts. Sal is the predominant species here. This forest area has suffered massive degradation in the past three decades through illegal cutting and human encroachment. Not only have mature trees been cut, illegal timber merchants have dug out stumps—leaving the area barren without any regeneration potential.

The mangrove forest of the Sundarbans, in the greater Khulna district, is the world’s largest single tract of mangroves—parts of which spill over across the border into the Indian State of West Bengal. The total area of the Sundarbans is about 555,000 hecters, including waterways. Classified as a "reserved’ forest, it provides timber, pulpwood and fuel wood. The main species of the Sundarbans are sundari, gewa, goran and keora. The most commercially important species, sundari, has been affected by increasing salinity levels.

The Sundarbans forest supports numerous and diverse mammals, including the famous Royal Bengal tigers, birds, amphibian and reptiles of commercial and conservation importance. The fauna includes 120 commercially important fish species, 270 species of birds, including 95 types of water fowl, 50 species of reptiles, and 42 species of mammals like tigers, rhesus monkeys, spotted deer and wild boars. But unfortunately, the Sundarbans are in a state of decline, ascribed to a combination of causes, some of which are man-made, including unsustainable forestry management.

In addition to the above mentioned forest areas under government control, there are private forests in villages around homesteads—all over the country. All these homestead forests are only 11 percent of the total forest area of the country; they are characterised by high productivity and efficient management.

In 1993, the government prepared a Forestry Master Plan followed by the formulation of new forestry policy in 1994. The plan envisages to attain tree cover of 20 percent of the total land area, and undertake reforestation of all degraded and denuded forest areas over a period of 20 years in planting, nurturing and harvesting tasks through the social forestry model.
 
 

Poverty still remains a major environmental concern of Bangladesh. The links between poverty and environment demand formulation and implementation of alternative and innovative anti-poverty safety net programmes and, at the same time, promote sustainable development through increasing the productivity of natural resources involving the people in planning, decision-making and management. (Quamrul, 1996).

But a major constraint in anti-poverty drive in Bangladesh is the high rate of population growth. Population pressures have added to the stresses on natural resources and contributed to there over exploitation. Some impressive achievements have been made during the past 20 years in reducing fertility. But such achievement may not be enough to meet the demographic challenge in Bangladesh.

In the final analysis, poverty, population growth and environment have strong linkages in Bangladesh. The continued stress on natural resource potentials caused by increasing population will retard the poverty alleviation efforts. Thus, it is critical sustainable development.

Two major sources of air pollution in Bangladesh include vehicular emissions and industrial emissions. However, these sources are mainly concentrate in the cities. Other than these, there are numerous brick kilns working seasonally (in dry season) all over Bangladesh. Almost all of these kilns use coal as their source of energy. Other than coal, brick kilns also use wood for brick burning. In the rural areas wood is the primary source of energy. Wood is mainly used for cooking purpose in rural areas. In addition to these usual sources of energy, spent or used rubber wheels of the vehicles are used which emits black toxic gases in the environment. The situation is compounded by the fact that, wood is supplied by rampantly cutting woods in and around the country. This has reduced the mechanisms of natural purification of the atmosphere.

Vehicular pollution is the major cause of air pollution in Dhaka city. In the recent years the total number of vehicles have increased enormously all over Bangladesh and particularly in Dhaka City. Figure - 1.2 shows the rate of growth of different types of vehicles in Bangladesh (Compendium, 1999). It indicates that in 1989 maximum growth occurred in case of Taxi, Jeep, Auto-rickshaw, Car and Motorbike. However, the rate of growth of Bus actually decreased from the previous year. On the other hand, compared to other vehicles the growth rate of Auto-rickshaw was found to be highest in 1995.

 
 

Dhaka, the Capital of Bangladesh, is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Rapid unplanned industrialization in and around the Dhaka City has worsened the air pollution problems following independence in 1971. None of the industries have the provisions for control and reduction of pollutant emission. Table 1.1 indicates that the total number of reporting industries in Bangladesh increased about 11% over 4 years between 1988-89 and 1991-92 (BBS, 1997). However, as the data included only the reporting industries the actual number of industries are expected to be much higher.

Table 1.1: Number of Reporting Industries in Bangladesh (BBS, 1997)