[🇧🇩] Save the Rivers/Forests/Hills-----Save the Environment

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Embankments in Sundarbans delta: Wall of hope or risk?

Embankments shape life, risk, and politics in the lower delta

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Embankments in Sundarbans delta: Wall of hope or risk?

Infrastructure like embankments may be designed and built by engineers, but it is maintained by the community. FILE PHOTO: HABIBUR RAHMAN

"I have been living here for more than ten years. The embankment collapse caused by Amphan destroyed my whole house. Though we rebuilt it in the same location, we still feel fear when we hear cyclone warnings. This year is no exception."

At the end of May 2025, when the Bangladesh Meteorology Department announced a depression in the Bay of Bengal and its potential to develop into a cyclone, I had this conversation with Bariul Islam, whom I came to know through my ongoing dissertation fieldwork (2024-25) in the lower delta of the Bangladesh Sundarbans. Bariul's house is situated at the edge of the embankment that separates the village from the Sundarbans.

Living close to the embankment produces both hope and fear for people like Bariul. Here, I will highlight how embankments turn into ambivalent infrastructures and argue that infrastructure is not neutral; rather, it produces mixed and often contradictory impacts shaped by both nature and human actions.

In the lower delta, a traditional tidal river management system, known as austomashi badh, involved cutting dams during early monsoons to allow tidal waters to irrigate low-lying paddy fields. The delta's entire riverine network was disrupted during British rule by the construction of railways and river-based infrastructure such as bridges, culverts, and canals, as documented poignantly in Chas A Bentley's Malaria and Agriculture in Bengal and Sir William Willcocks' Lectures on the Ancient System of Irrigation in Bengal.

Modern embankments with polders and sluice gates were introduced in the 1960s through the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP), supported by Dutch consultants, USAID, and the World Bank, aiming to boost rice production by controlling floods during the Green Revolution. Many critics viewed the CEP as a "Eurocentric," technocratic solution that overlooked the delta's ecological complexity and its social and political dynamics.

After Cyclones Sidr (2007) and Aila (2009), the lower delta emerged as a new "climate frontier." The recent Coastal Embankment Improvement project aims to make existing embankments higher and wider to protect people and ecosystems from rising sea levels, salinity, and the increasing frequency of cyclones.

My ethnographic immersion with local people reveals competing experiences with the embankments. I found many landless families, displaced by riverbank erosion, had built homes on the southern (outer) side of the embankment. Embankments also serve as temporary refuges during cyclones, floods, and erosion.

On a large island near the Sundarbans, I observed a 31-kilometre concrete embankment under construction, already transforming local life. Battery-powered vans now provide quicker and more affordable transportation for goods and people. Islanders hope the embankment will shield them from cyclones and protect their homes, shrimp, and fish ghers. Almost everyone believes the new embankment will protect them from future cyclones. I found a clear sense of security when they spoke about it. To them, the embankment is more than soil and concrete; it is a social stage, a "wall of hope" where society performs its everyday life.

Despite its promised and expected benefits, embankments in the lower delta often fail to provide adequate protection for both humans and non-humans. Embankment collapses during cyclones like Sidr, Aila, Amphan, and Remal caused devastating floods, salinisation, and prolonged waterlogging.

Each time an embankment collapses, people immediately blame climate change. But this form of climate reductionism conceals the political ecology behind such collapses. Even if built with high-quality materials and sound engineering, one of the key causes of deterioration is damage by shrimp and fish gher owners. They cut into the base of embankments to bring saline water into their enclosures—an illegal practice often carried out by bribing government officials.

These gher owners are typically powerful local elites, closely connected to national politics, against whom government authorities rarely dare to act. It is, therefore, crucial to understand the politics behind embankment collapse rather than blindly blaming climate change.

I also visited several villages near the Sundarbans where many shrimp farmers now wish to return to paddy cultivation. In one village, farmers' collective efforts to resume rice farming turned into a signed petition to the UNO. But local elites blocked the process, making it difficult for small farmers to shift away from aquaculture, despite growing interest.

On May 25, people in the lower delta observed 16 years since Cyclone Aila. During my fieldwork, I encountered many damaged parts of embankments still awaiting government repair. "This embankment collapsed not because of the cyclone but because no one cared to repair it," one of my interlocutors told me bitterly. Another claimed that the government acquired his brother-in-law's land for embankment construction without offering any financial compensation. Eventually, embankments in the lower delta have become a deeply politicised infrastructure.

Despite living with constant risk, the encouraging aspect is the power of local people's remarkable adaptability. Embankment collapses frequently occur in the lower delta, yet men, women, and even children do not wait for government assistance.

When the water begins to recede during the ebb, announcements are made over mosque microphones, calling people to gather at the site with spades, baskets, and shovels. This collective spontaneity provides an important insight: infrastructure may be designed and built by engineers, but it is maintained by the community.

For them, the embankment is a lifesaver. Yet, they speak of it with uncertainty, aware that the same structure can collapse and drag them into danger. This coexistence of hope and risk, protection and insecurity, defines the delta's embankment. Unlike outsiders who view it as a technical fix, locals understand it as intertwined with memory, loss, labour, and solidarity.

Each part of an embankment's biography—its construction, use, collapse, and repair—tells us something profound about human society.

Fahmid Al Zaid is associate professor in Department of Anthropology, University of Dhaka, and a PhD candidate at Durham University, UK.​

 

[Saif]

Restored canal brings relief to residents in Ctg’s Raozan

There is no waterlogging this year, says an official of the Raozan Municipality

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Restored canal brings relief to residents in Ctg’s Raozan

For years, even light monsoon rains would leave Hajipara, a neighbourhood in Chattogram's Raozan municipality, submerged.

Roads and courtyards turned into temporary ponds, forcing residents indoors and disrupting daily life.

SM Asad Ullah, a former ward councillor, said, "Our neighbourhood's drainage canal -- the Kashkhali -- had become heavily silted with sediment from nearby hills. Even a brief spell of rain used to cause flooding."

But this year, the situation has taken a dramatic turn, thanks to the re-excavation of the canal.

"This year, we are yet to face any waterlogging due to restoration of the canal," said SM Asad Ullah.

The canal was re-excavated by the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) under a project titled "Surface Water Irrigation Development Project in Chattogram and Cox's Bazar districts."

During a recent visit to the area, this correspondent observed that the two-kilometre stretch of the canal has been cleared and restored, while an embankment beside the newly excavated canal bank is also under construction.

Raozan Municipality data showed that around 1,800 to 1,900 residents live in the waterlogging-prone area.

The 8.5km Kashkhali canal starts from the hilly area of Raozan and flows into the Kagatia canal, a water body linked directly to the Halda river.

"But there is no waterlogging this year as the canal has been re-excavated after nearly a decade," said Irfan Uddin, an official of the Raozan Municipality.

BADC data showed that the re-excavation of the canal is also expected to restore hope for hundreds of farmers, as reinstating the waterbody would help convert over 560 acres of land into three-crop fields.

Tamal Das, assistant engineer at BADC's Chattogram region, said farmers will now be able to grow vegetables alongside paddy as the canal ensures access to freshwater for irrigation.

Nurul Islam, superintendent engineer of BADC and director of the project, said the canal was re-excavated with the goal of ensuring sustainable improvement in both livelihoods and living conditions.

"Hundreds of farmers and residents had long been suffering due to the poor state of this waterway. But now the suffering is over," he said.​

 

[Saif]

Dhaka’s canals bear the brunt of haphazard waste disposal

THE deplorable condition of Dhaka’s canals and water bodies can hardly be overstated. Nearly all the canals in and around the capital have either deteriorated significantly or are heading towards complete extinction because of unregulated waste disposal and persistent encroachment. A...

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Dhaka’s canals bear the brunt of haphazard waste disposal
20 July, 2025, 00:00

THE deplorable condition of Dhaka’s canals and water bodies can hardly be overstated. Nearly all the canals in and around the capital have either deteriorated significantly or are heading towards complete extinction because of unregulated waste disposal and persistent encroachment. A waste-choked Dholaipar Canal in Jatrabari, as a photograph that New Age published on July 19 shows, serves as a stark example of the broader neglect afflicting almost all of Dhaka’s canals and wetlands, which remain critically unprotected and unpreserved. Unplanned dumping of domestic waste, market waste, faecal sludge, medical and electronic waste continues to degrade these vital waterways — polluting the environment, causing water stagnation and endangering public health. According to the office of the Dhaka deputy commissioner, the city has 54 canals. The Institute of Water Modelling lists 50, while the National River Conservation Commission records 77. Responsibility for the maintenance and preservation of these canals lies primarily with the two city corporations, both of which have made repeated pledges to protect them. Yet not a single canal in Dhaka today is free from pollution or encroachment. Many have lost their natural flow, and some have disappeared altogether due to relentless encroachment.New age products

The existence of several canals is now only nominal, with physical traces of them entirely lost. Many others are heading in the same direction amid inaction by the authorities concerned. The city’s Flood Action Plan and Detailed Area Plan had identified 5,523 acres of water retention zones, 20,093 acres of canals and rivers, and 74,598 acres of flood flow zones for preservation. However, nearly two-thirds of these designated areas have been occupied — often by state agencies and influential actors. Alarming estimates suggest that around 2,000 acres of flood flow zones vanish every year. A 2017 RAJUK study found that only 1,744 acres of the projected 5,523 acres of water retention areas remained intact. In 2016, following severe waterlogging, the Dhaka South City Corporation, Dhaka WASA, the district administration, police and the Bangladesh Water Development Board launched a joint initiative to identify land grabbers and initiate evictions. Although a list was prepared and some limited reclamation drives were conducted, these proved unsustainable. Many of the evicted encroachers returned — and new ones joined them. This failure is particularly egregious given that numerous laws, regulations, policies and guidelines exist to ensure environmentally sound waste management and to prevent encroachment.

It is high time the authorities moved beyond hollow rhetoric and demonstrated genuine political will to reclaim and protect the city’s canals, wetlands, green spaces and water bodies. The government must adopt an integrated approach that addresses all the factors, including waste management, contributing to the degradation of these vital ecological assets.​

 

[Saif]

Environmental justice

UNDERSTANDING the concept of environmental crime is a complex attempt that seeks consideration of the overall socio-cultural as well as political structure of a particular area. And the narrow view of criminology and criminal justice theories are changing over time. The idea of environmental...

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Environmental justice
GM Tafsir Ahmed 21 July, 2025, 00:00

UNDERSTANDING the concept of environmental crime is a complex attempt that seeks consideration of the overall socio-cultural as well as political structure of a particular area. And the narrow view of criminology and criminal justice theories are changing over time. The idea of environmental justice within the criminological literature started to become prevalent in the world around the late 1980s and early 1990s. Green criminology can be segmented as a major portion of critical criminology, which challenges and goes beyond the idea of traditional criminology.

Traditional criminology is rooted in the enduring practice of individualistic and positivistic approaches, as usual focusing on the direct breach of provided laws related to the environment and identifying the specific offenders (who can be called polluters). On the other hand, critical criminology tries to adopt a broader view, holistic structural analysis and addressing the underlying social inequalities, imbalance of power, and socio-economic gaps deeply related to the society that also has a significant contribution to environmental harm. This perspective subscribes to concepts such as environmental justice, eco-justice, and evolving notions like climate criminology and глобал disparities, especially focusing on the interconnection between the degradation of our environment and global inequality, consequently affecting the idea of social justice.

Built upon and enriched by these theories, green criminology has become an excellent approach which integrates the environmental concerns with criminological inquiry. In contrast, green criminology seeks a wider purview of harm than traditional criminology. That means it tries to promote the idea of harm not only by petty offences or street crime but also by the act against the ecosystem or the environment. Prioritising the life of both human and non-human green criminology has expanded the boundaries to recognise all types of environmental harm regardless of the existence of any legislation in a particular state. In broader terms, there is a precise difference regarding the treatment of victims and methods of interpretation. Traditional criminology usually requires direct harm from another human to initiate any legal action against that person. In green criminology, it can be contended that the causation between the offender and victim need not be direct. It incorporates the idea of recognising the injustices against the non-human entities, like fish, birds and all other living bodies or organisms existing in the environment.

The consequence of environmental crime is constantly harming all living being: human and non-human. In Bangladesh, the people have accepted the reality of breathing in the air heavy with dust and consuming unsafe water. Dumping industrial waste into rivers like the Buriganga and Turag, unaddressed air pollution in Dhaka due to brick kilns and vehicle emissions, plastic waste blocking waterways, and deforestation in the Sundarbans are the major environmental crimes drastically harming public health and biodiversity. Enduring the environmental injustice became part and parcel of life.

Despite the seriousness of these issues, probably our state organs have failed to combat such crimes. Ecological integrity is compromised to implement economically beneficial projects. Nature has consistently been the one to make sacrifices in the name of societal progress and development. This reality is not limited to Bangladesh; the same situation prevails globally. Industrialisation and economic development are undeniably a driving factor and fundamentally necessary for the overall advancement of any country. It is no secret that the primary objective of every government is to provide a better standard of living for its citizens. In addition, the expansion of the private sector has consequently opened the paths of significant employment opportunities and reduced the problem of unemployment. However, such progress carries its own burdens. While prioritising industrial growth, environmental concerns are mostly overlooked, leading to hazardous emissions and ecological harm. It is an unsettling paradox: the quest for progress and improved lifestyles is simultaneously contributing to the overall deterioration of the environment. The adverse effects arising from industrialisation are significantly jeopardising the public health and compromising the well-being of affected populations. There should be a mindful balance that needs to be maintained between the development and the protection of the environment. Economic development at the cost of the environment may lead to irreversible loss.

The non-profit organisations, such as the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association and other civic groups, have already played a significant role in sustainable policies. The legislature of our country has already addressed this ecological harm by enacting laws — Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act,1995, The Environment Court Act, 2010. However, the effectiveness of these legislative measures remains highly questionable. It is a matter of concern whether these laws are truly delivering justice to the affected communities or merely existing on paper. The problem lies within the loopholes of the ECA, which prescribes the prior approval by the Department of Environment to file it as a complaint to the court. Here, the intervention by the executive in judicial matters restricts access to justice for the people, as there is a possibility of the department being politicised by any other means. Environmental crime is a multidisciplinary area that requires specialised knowledge to address, understand, and resolve effectively. However, there is no clear procedural framework for dealing with it, nor is there any requirement for a specialised person to assist the judge in resolving such disputes. The number of courts specifically allocated to adjudicate environmental litigation is considerably limited. Similarly, the judges appointed to the environmental courts have to discharge their responsibilities alongside their regular judicial duties to other courts. These overlapping responsibilities put considerable strain on the judges, making it troublesome for them to dedicate adequate time and attention to environmental disputes.

Therefore, it is imperative to introduce effective legal reforms to environmental laws to align the justice system with prevalent environmental issues, reduce procedural complexities, and curb environmental crimes.

GM Tafsir Ahmed is a law student at Bangladesh University of Professionals.​

 

[Saif]

Looming e-waste catastrophe in the age of 4IR

THE Fourth Industrial Revolution promises a dazzling future: hyper-connected cities, intelligent automation, ubiquitous sensors and AI-driven efficiency. For Bangladesh, embracing these technologies is not merely aspirational; it is considered essential for economic leapfrogging, enhanced...

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Looming e-waste catastrophe in the age of 4IR
Nayeem Shahriar 22 July, 2025, 22:06

Freepik

THE Fourth Industrial Revolution promises a dazzling future: hyper-connected cities, intelligent automation, ubiquitous sensors and AI-driven efficiency. For Bangladesh, embracing these technologies is not merely aspirational; it is considered essential for economic leapfrogging, enhanced governance and improved quality of life for millions. Yet, as we rush headlong into this digital utopia, a toxic shadow grows exponentially beneath our feet — a catastrophic and critically overlooked tsunami of electronic waste. To ignore this crisis while chasing 4IR dreams is akin to constructing a glittering skyscraper on quicksand. The time for innovative, state-of-the-art solutions is not tomorrow; it is now.

In the age of AI and intelligent devices, smartphones, laptops, and Internet-of-Things gadgets are designed with increasingly shorter life cycles, fuelled by relentless software updates and aggressive marketing. What was once a five-to-seven-year lifespan for a device is rapidly shrinking to two or three years. When your smartphone or laptop begins to malfunction after two years, your first impulse is often to discard it and buy a new one. But do you ever stop to ask: where does your discarded electronic device go? This mounting industrial e-waste is not just vast in quantity, it is complex in composition.

4IR demands ubiquitous connectivity. Beyond personal electronics, this involves billions of embedded sensors, wearables, smart home devices, industrial controllers and vast network infrastructure — all of which will eventually become scrap. Bangladesh’s booming mobile and electronics market, driven by affordable imports and rising incomes, has put more devices into more hands than ever before. This democratisation of technology is undoubtedly a positive step. However, without a coherent disposal strategy, it risks becoming an environmental and public health time bomb. The ongoing transition to 5G, cloud computing and AI will require the replacement of enormous volumes of telecom equipment and data centre infrastructure, thereby compounding the crisis.

While e-waste is a global issue, Bangladesh faces a uniquely dangerous convergence of conditions that could transform this challenge into a full-fledged humanitarian disaster. Current estimates suggest that the country generates over 400,000 metric tonnes of e-waste annually, with projections showing a near doubling by 2030. Dhaka alone contributes an estimated 3,000 tonnes every single day — far exceeding the capacity of any existing management or recycling system. Over 90 per cent of this waste is processed by approximately one million informal workers, often operating in hazardous urban enclaves. Using crude methods such as open-air burning to retrieve metals, acid baths to extract gold and manual dismantling without protection, these workers — many of them children — expose themselves and their communities to a toxic cocktail: lead, mercury, cadmium, brominated flame retardants, arsenic and dioxins. This is not recycling; it is slow, systematic poisoning.

The environmental fallout is severe. These toxins leach into the soil and waterways, including the already polluted Buriganga River, contaminating food chains and groundwater. The long-term ecological impact is colossal and largely unquantified. Informal workers suffer disproportionately, facing respiratory illness, skin disease, neurological disorders, cancers and reproductive complications. Bangladesh, already on the front lines of climate change, is especially vulnerable to the cascading consequences of unmanaged e-waste. Flooding events can disperse toxic materials into vast agricultural zones and aquatic ecosystems, magnifying contamination. Rising temperatures may increase the volatility of hazardous compounds, intensifying the danger.

Although Bangladesh has enacted hazardous waste and e-waste management regulations, enforcement remains grossly inadequate. Weak institutional capacity, unclear agency responsibilities, lack of infrastructure and minimal funding cripple existing efforts. Extended Producer Responsibility — the principle that manufacturers should be financially accountable for managing their products post-use — exists in theory but rarely in practice.

Ironically, discarded electronics represent not only an environmental hazard but also a valuable opportunity. The so-called ‘urban mine’ contains significant quantities of precious and rare materials such as gold, silver, copper and rare earth elements — often in concentrations higher than those found in natural ores. Yet the informal sector recovers only a fraction, with the rest either lost or turned into toxins. This represents not only an environmental failure but also a considerable economic loss.

Bangladesh has the potential to become a regional leader in Urban Mining 4.0 by employing cutting-edge technologies — AI-powered sorting robots, sensor-based separation systems, and advanced hydrometallurgical processes — to recover valuable resources safely and efficiently. In doing so, the country could build a profitable, environmentally sound circular economy centred around sustainable electronics.

Moreover, in a world where data is currency, the careless disposal of devices like phones, hard drives and servers poses an alarming cybersecurity risk. Without secure, formal recycling systems, sensitive data belonging to individuals, companies and government entities could be compromised. Data protection must be treated as a national security imperative and safe disposal must be central to digital governance strategies.

Meanwhile, the proliferation of cheap IoT devices — indispensable to smart cities, precision agriculture and industrial automation — will generate vast amounts of small, intricate and often non-recyclable waste. These challenges must be addressed at the design level. Devices must be built with longevity, repairability and ease of disassembly in mind. Digital tracking systems, possibly based on blockchain, can help monitor the lifecycle of each device, ensuring compliance with EPR and preventing diversion into unsafe informal channels.

What Bangladesh needs is not incremental reform but a comprehensive, future-facing strategy. First, collection must be made simple and attractive. Reverse vending machines, retail take-back schemes and community collection points should be established nationwide. These must feed directly into safe, formal processing centres. Small-scale, semi-automated modular recycling units can be deployed near existing informal hubs, making use of safer methods such as hydrometallurgy or bioleaching. Informal workers must be integrated into these new systems through cooperatives, provided with protective gear, fair wages, training and healthcare.

At the macro level, Bangladesh must invest in large-scale, centralised recycling plants equipped with AI sorting, robotic disassembly and green smelting technologies. Special economic zones can offer incentives for companies that focus on sustainable electronics, component refurbishment and remanufacturing. Academic and engineering institutions must spearhead the development of locally appropriate, affordable recycling technologies — particularly for new, complex components emerging from 4IR innovation.

Public education is crucial. Media campaigns, influencer engagement and community outreach should focus on the health risks of informal recycling and the economic value of proper e-waste management. Repair culture must be revitalised, and consumer perceptions shifted: e-waste must no longer be seen as garbage but recognised as a vital urban resource.

Critically, Extended Producer Responsibility must be made mandatory, enforceable, and financially binding. Manufacturers and importers must face clear collection and recycling targets. Digital platforms can aid in monitoring and enforcing compliance. Simultaneously, tax incentives should be introduced for companies designing products that are durable, upgradable, and easy to recycle.

Bangladesh stands at a crossroads. The promise of 4IR is immense, but so too is the peril of unchecked e-waste. If we continue on our current path, we risk transforming our cities into toxic wastelands and our people into victims of our own technological ambition. The mountains of discarded devices growing in our backyards are not just unsightly; they represent a grave public health emergency and a squandered economic opportunity.

This crisis calls for a bold, nationally coordinated ‘moonshot’ approach. It requires integrating the informal sector as part of the solution, not the problem. It demands that manufacturers shoulder real responsibility and that consumers adopt more sustainable habits. Above all, it requires urgent investment in forward-looking, locally adapted recycling technologies and robust governance.

The choice before us is stark. Will Bangladesh’s 4IR journey be remembered as a leap into a sustainable, prosperous future — or as the age that buried our progress beneath mountains of toxic debris? The tools exist. The knowledge exists. What remains is the political will and public urgency. We must act now to ensure that our digital dawn is not darkened by an ecological dusk. Our future, quite literally, depends on it.

Nayeem Shahriar is a PhD researcher at the University of Dhaka​