Bangladesh should assess real socioeconomic costs and benefits of natural resources and economic endowments to attain sustainable development, said economist Selim Jahan yesterday.

He was delivering a lecture on sustainable development at an event organised by the Forum of Environment Journalists of Bangladesh (FEJB) to mark its 36 years of founding at the National Press Club in Dhaka.

Jahan, who just retired as director of the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report Office, called for balancing inter and intra-generational equity, maintaining political, economic, environmental, social and cultural integrity to achieve sustainable development.

He emphasised on prioritising SDGs based on the national context as a couple of SDGs are not that much relevant for Bangladesh while some are of paramount importance. The economist discouraged taking up prestigious mega projects only because of their symbolic value by trimming down health and education budget and ignoring socio-economic and environmental costs.

"Whenever there is a resource crunch, the first budget cut is slaped on crucial education and health and social sectors. Development of human resources suffers the first onslaught. We must change this approach to ensure sustainable development. We must remember, human is the centre of the very concept of sustainable development," he said.

FEJB Chairman Quamrul Islam Chowdhury favoured setting national targets for SDGs and raising budgetary allocations for implementation of SDGs. Environment expert Rezaul Karim called for raising public awareness about sustainable development.