BANGLADESH. Like many other developing countries In the world, discovered or rediscovered environment rather late, in the last decade of the 20th century.

Environment is a subject that concerns everyone. Everybody has stake in matters that concern environment. The agenda of the government regarding environmental matters. In Bangladesh, has been prepared on the basis of consultations with the representatives of the country's civil society. The policies of the government on matters concerning the environment have often been formulated In response to initiatives taken by non-govern-ment environmental activists.

The government adopted its Environment Policy in 1992, not long after the great environment conference at Rio. Earlier. the Department of Environment was established, under the newly created Ministry of Environment and Forest. To formulate Environment Policy and oversee its Implementation a broad-based National Environment Council was formed headed by the prime minister. In 1996 the government formed the National Conservation Strategy (NCS) In which guidelines regarding resource use have been spelt out. The National Environment Management Action Plan (NEMAP) was also prepared in 1996. Both the NCS and the NEMAP were results of interactive process-outcomes of consultative exercises In which efforts made to Involve all stake-holders (particularly civil society rep-resentatives). The Environment Conservation Act was passed by the parliament in 1995 and the rules under this Act were approved in 1997. For effective compliance of these rules and ihe provisions of the Environment Act of 1995, the government has decided to set up environment Courts. There will be two such courts in Dhaka and five others in the five other divisional headquarters of Bangladesh. They will deal with offences relating to the violation of environmental laws and rules. The Courts will be in place. 11 Is hoped, before the end of the year 2000.

Taken in its entirety, environmental problem is a global problem that calls for a global response. The government of Bangladesh is firm to act in the interests of ihe environment at the national, regional as well as the global or intentional levels. At the global or international level Bangladesh has signed and ratified nearly all the major International Protocol to protect the Ozone Layer, the Basle Convention on Trans boundary movement of Hazardous Wastes, the Convention on Bio-Diversity, the Ramasr Convention and the Framework Convention on Climate Change — to mention, only a few. In various International forums. Bangladesh has acted with other developing countries to persuade the environmental culprits of the World, often referred to. euphemistically, as the world's developed countries, to pay for the damages they have caused to the enwronment of Planet Earth. Bangladesh has been, particularly, active in various conferences and meet-

ings of the Kyoto Protocol and the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Bangladesh as you are all aware, is amonj the countries that are highly ,ul-nerable to the adverse consequences of Global Warming that is taking place because of Climate Change.

At the regional level through bodies like the SAARC and the Colombo-based South Asian Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP, Bangladesh has been working together with its neighbouring countries to deal with environment concern within South Asia. Bangladesh is trying to take lessons the environmental experiences of neighbouring countries. We are trying to replicate innovative success stories like the waste to energy projects in India.

At the national and local level, the government has identified a number of Important problems, important areas of concern and with the limited means at Its disposal, if trving io cope with these problems. One such concerns is air quality a very serious problem in urban Bangladesh, particularly In the city of Dhaka. The transport sector is mainly responsible for this problem. The mitigatory measures taken by government so far Include Imposition of heavy duties on the Import of Iwo stroke engines and the import of lead free petrol for petrol driven vehicles and low sulphur diesel for diesel driven vehicles. A great deal more, needs to be done to improve our urban air quality. Some of the measures, we hope we shall be above to take in near future, include

making CNG (Condensed Natural Gas) available to consumers in adequate quantities and encouraging import of CNG-driven vehicles, ensuring that all new petrol driven vehicles are equipped with catalytic converters and new diesel driven vehicles with partic”late filters. Another serious cor, ern is arsenic contamination in our ground water. The government, with its international development partners. Is working, very seriously, to make arsenic free potable water available to the country's rural population. Our rivers and fresh water bodies are being continuously polluted by Industrial waste and sewage. The Department of Environment has identified around 1200 old Industrial units and have been polluting our rivers and other water bodies (they have been joined by a number new dyeing Industries). The old leather Industries, the old textile industries, the paper and pulp mills, the. fertiliser plants and the battery manufacturing Industries, are mainly responsible for the degradation of the waler quality of the rivers flowing along Bangladesh's major towns and cities. We. in the government, are trying address these problems through Interventions. We hope that, when the environmental courts begin functioning. we shall be able to deal, more effectively with the polluting Industries.

It Is often said that the country's most environmental problem-prone area is Its capital city. During the census of 1951, the population of Dhaka was under a quarter of a mll-

Uon. In 1971. when Bangladesh became independent, it was 1.7 million. The population of the city is set to cross the 10 million-mark in about one year. The capital city has been the ultimate destination of the country's rural poor. In the years ahead, this migration to Dhaka from the rural areas, particularly from areas where poverty is endemic, will continue. According to certain projections, the population of the city in 2021. will be round 30 million life in Dhaka, which is already one of the world's most polluted cities can, in the not too distant future, become an environmental nightmare.

However. In my view. Jhe most disabling factor that Impedes the government's effort to upgrade our environment Is the weakness of the Department of Environment. The Department of Environment is an inadequately staffed and insufficiently equipped agency of government shouldering a most serious responsibility. Steps have been taken to enhance its ca-paclly to take on its burden but it remains and hall remain, in the foreseeable future, woefully short of manpower. According to C1DA experts (experts of Canadian International Department Agency) the Department of Environment in Bangladesh would need 15,000 functionaries, at various levels, to discharge Its responsibilities in a proper manner. Responsibilities. that at present, rest on the shoulders of some 173 odd people (who include drivers and messenger) the need to strengthen the Department has to be recognised — by all con-

cerned; by all who have a stake in the environment. The Department of Environment is expected to provide Environmental Impact Assessment clearances to all government project; to all new in Industries, both in the private and public sector. It is required to monitor the environment status of all the industrial units operating in the country. It is supposed to oversee the activities of the transport authorities regarding vehicular emissions. It Is supposed to work with local government bodies dealing with waste disposal. It has to represent Bangladesh at different intentional forums where environmental issues are discussed.

The department does have the legal instruments necessary to carry out the responsibility that have been assigned to it, but with the meagre resources and the extremely limited manpower at its disposal, it is indeed, very difficult for the Department of Environment lo use it legal mandate, effectively. It is important for people to understand and appreciate the constraints under which the agency responsible for environmental conservation has to work. Environmental problems in the country are the cumulative effects of actions that had been taking place for more than four decades. The Issues are well known, their remedies are also known. These problems will not disappear overnight. We have no magic lamp, no magic wand that make them go away.

As stated earlier, that the civil society has strongly influenced the country's environmental policies. Important goveminent decisions in the past have come In response to public demands, the demands of the public sensitised by the country's highly articulate civil society leadership. The civil society should now raise a public demand for a strong Department of Environment. The civil society Is the ultimate guardian of the environment, the ultimate environmental policeman,

and judge. The Ministry ol Environment and Forest and the Department of Environment will always depend on the cooperation and support of the civil society, in its efforts to conserve and protect the environment in Bangladesh.

The writer is Secretary. Ministry of Environment arid For-J est‘