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

[Saif]

No formal mechanism to address e-waste challenge

A RAPID surge in electronic waste, or e-waste, generation, coupled with the absence of a formal mechanism for its management, is concerning. A Transparency International Bangladesh study says that about 72 per cent of users keep or dump unused or expired electronic goods at home while 88 per...

www.newagebd.net

No formal mechanism to address e-waste challenge

A RAPID surge in electronic waste, or e-waste, generation, coupled with the absence of a formal mechanism for its management, is concerning. A Transparency International Bangladesh study says that about 72 per cent of users keep or dump unused or expired electronic goods at home while 88 per cent are unaware of proper e-waste management. The study says that weak governance, poor coordination and a lack of transparency among relevant authorities have turned e-waste into a growing public health and environmental concern. Besides the absence of an adequate response on part of the government, the authorities have also failed to enforce the Hazardous (E-waste) Management Rules, which state that producers and importers of electronic goods are responsible for collecting used products from consumers once their lifecycle ends. The study has found no formal collection centres established by producers and importers. The rules also require recyclers to obtain clearance from the environment department, yet most recyclers operate without valid licences. Such a situation poses an escalating threat to the environment and public health as the hazardous e-waste disposal also causes air, water and soil pollution.

What is equally concerning is the absence of national data on e-waste generation or recycling. The Global E-Waste Monitor 2024, published by the International Telecommunication Union, says that Bangladesh is one of the largest e-waste generators in the South Asian region, having generated 367 million kilograms of e-waste in 2022 at a rate of 2.2 kilograms per capita. The Bureau of Statistics, however, put the figure at only 170 million kilograms in the same year. The international report also notes that e-waste dismantlers in Bangladesh use basic resource recovery practices that are polluting and unsafe and the country lacks any formal mechanism for collecting and recycling e-waste. Experts say that e-waste contains hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, zinc, yttrium, chromium, beryllium, nickel, arsenic, antimony trioxide, tin, polyvinyl chloride and halogenated and brominated flame retardants, which can leach into the soil and degrade its quality and fertility when e-waste is dumped in landfills. According to a UNEP report, e-waste is responsible for 70 per cent of the toxic chemicals found in landfills, which can contaminate soil and groundwater and threaten food security and livelihood.

The authorities should, therefore, adopt a comprehensive approach grounded in data, technology, regulation, research and innovation to ensure responsible e-waste management. Such an approach should be based on a thorough assessment of the current and projected e-waste generation and management and aligned with international standards and best practices. The authorities should also ensure that producers, importers, retailers and consumers of electronic products act responsibly.​

 

[Saif]

No escape from Dhaka's air pollution!

While celebration of the year 2026 began earlier in some countries like New Zealand and Australia, Dhaka began its journey into the New Year with the dubious tag of one of the most polluted cities in the world. Breathing outdoors now poses serious health risks due to the high levels of toxic partic

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

No escape from Dhaka's air pollution!

Shiabur Rahman
Published :
Jan 01, 2026 23:47
Updated :
Jan 01, 2026 23:47

While celebration of the year 2026 began earlier in some countries like New Zealand and Australia, Dhaka began its journey into the New Year with the dubious tag of one of the most polluted cities in the world. Breathing outdoors now poses serious health risks due to the high levels of toxic particles present in the air. With continuation of some abject patterns of pollution that plague this city, Dhaka is expected to hold its hideous rank for many years to come.


The air quality is measured by the Air Quality Index (AQI). AQI measures key pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO?), sulphur dioxide (SO?), carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone. AQI under 50 is considered good, from 101 to 150 is considered unhealthy for sensitive people, above 150 is considered unhealthy for the general public, above 200 is considered very unhealthy and above 300 is considered hazardous. In late December, Dhaka had an AQI of 216, making it the third most air-polluted city in the world.

Experts have previously warned the authority about the spike in air pollution during the dry winter months, because, due to the atmospheric conditions, pollutants get trapped close to the ground. But according to recent studies, high levels of air pollution is not simply a seasonal issue but a consequence of decades of unchecked emissions from vehicles, industry, construction, brick kilns, waste burning and power generation.

Back in January 2025, Dhaka was considered very unhealthy according to the AQI, and had an average AQI higher than the average of the previous eight years of that month. Moreover, on one polluted day, the AQI of Dhaka exceeded 600, making it one of the worst AQI scores ever recorded. According to a 2014 report on ambient air pollution in Dhaka, brick kilns, dust from construction, and vehicle emissions are responsible for the majority of local air pollution. In recent years, the expansion of roads and increased traffic jams have also greatly contributed to the pollution.

Air pollution has severe health consequences. As stated by the World Health Organization, due to air pollution, around seven million people around the globe die prematurely through strokes, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer and acute respiratory infections. Recent studies have also linked air pollution to many other health complications, such as cognitive decline and increased risk of neurological disorders.

These consequences are experienced every day by the residents of Dhaka. During air-polluted months, schools may restrict outdoor activities. People with respiratory issues struggle to breathe. The demand for air purifiers is at an all-time high. Many people start wearing masks in an attempt to minimise the damage done by the environment, but these individual efforts only provide limited relief.

The government has taken a few steps in the last decade to minimise air pollution, which include discontinuation of old brick kilns, restriction on the burning of solid waste, dust control at construction sites and removal of older vehicles. But these steps were not followed through properly, rendering them useless.

Minimising air pollution requires the government to take effective and thorough steps. Public transport should be modernised and the use of electric vehicles should be promoted. Industrial emissions should be minimised by enforcing strict laws to ensure the purification of waste. Companies that do not follow these laws should be heavily fined. Cleaner technologies must be used for brick kilns. Construction sites have to mandatorily take effective dust suppression measures. Data-backed policies must be in place, and regular monitoring should be ensured. Laws should be in place to require companies to have transparent emission reports so that the authorities can take the necessary steps. Finally, public awareness campaigns can help people understand the risks of air pollution and take necessary steps on their own.​

 

[Saif]

Climate, policy and water risk

BANGLADESH, historically renowned as a fertile delta sustained by countless rivers and abundant freshwater, now faces an unprecedented water security crisis in the mid-2020s. This is not merely an environmental fluctuation but the cumulative result...

www.newagebd.net

Climate, policy and water risk

Water scarcity and pollution together threaten human health, agricultural productivity, urban water systems, ecosystem integrity and national development goals. | Undark

BANGLADESH, historically renowned as a fertile delta sustained by countless rivers and abundant freshwater, now faces an unprecedented water security crisis in the mid-2020s. This is not merely an environmental fluctuation but the cumulative result of decades of policy neglect, weak institutional governance, and inadequate international water diplomacy. Water scarcity and pollution together threaten human health, agricultural productivity, urban water systems, ecosystem integrity and national development goals. The crisis demonstrates that water in Bangladesh is no longer a taken-for-granted resource but a contested and increasingly fragile commodity, revealing fundamental flaws in law, governance and planning.

Regions once considered water-rich, such as the Barind tract, are now officially ‘water-stressed,’ reflecting severe depletion of usable water resources due to unsustainable extraction, climate variability, and inadequate adaptation measures. Authorities have intensified river monitoring and pollution enforcement, yet these actions remain reactive rather than integrated into a comprehensive water security strategy. Water scarcity has shifted from a prospective threat to a daily crisis, undermining public health, food production, industrial output and the state’s capacity to ensure basic human rights to clean water and sanitation.


The Bangladesh Water Act 2013 was designed to manage, protect, and conserve the country’s water resources through coordinated development, abstraction, distribution, and utilisation. In practice, however, the law has been compromised by weak enforcement, overlapping institutional responsibilities, and outdated policy frameworks such as the National Water Policy 1999 and the National Water Management Plan 2001. These frameworks have failed to accommodate contemporary challenges, including transboundary water stress, climate change impacts, and urban-industrial pollution. Scholarly critiques emphasise systemic deficiencies across related statutes — including the Groundwater Management for Agriculture Act 2018, the National Commission of River Protection Act 2013, and the Water Resource Planning Organisation Act 1992 — collectively revealing incoherence, lack of accountability, and an inability to respond to emerging water security threats.

Environmental degradation mirrors these legal and governance failures. Rivers once central to Bangladesh’s cultural and ecological identity are now ‘dying,’ burdened by industrial effluent, domestic sewage, encroachment, and sedimentation. Dissolved oxygen levels in critical rivers such as Buriganga, Turag, Sitalakhya and Karnaphuli have plummeted, rendering stretches ecologically unviable. Heavy metal and nutrient contamination in these waterways far exceed safe limits for drinking and irrigation, transforming rivers into ecological dead zones and public health hazards. Urban water networks, particularly in Dhaka, are similarly compromised: canals like the Khidir have become stagnant, polluted ditches that undermine drainage, increase vector-borne disease risks and heighten respiratory and waterborne health hazards.


Groundwater exploitation has intensified, especially in urban areas such as Dhaka, where daily demand often exceeds hundreds of millions of litres. These withdrawals surpass sustainable yields, threatening aquifer viability and long-term urban water security. In rural areas, excessive irrigation for rice monoculture has created social and economic distortions, with some communities experiencing water shortages even during monsoon months. The absence of integrated water accounting, auditing and allocation mechanisms illustrates how administrative shortcomings have rendered water governance opaque, reactive and technically uninformed.

Transboundary water politics exacerbate these challenges. International standards, including the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, obligate riparian states to cooperate, prevent significant harm, and ensure equitable utilisation of shared resources. In practice, however, Bangladesh struggles to enforce these principles. Upstream policies by India, particularly regarding the Teesta river, demonstrate how realpolitik undermines transboundary water governance. The absence of binding, enforceable agreements has allowed upstream unilateralism to dictate downstream flows, amplifying the impacts of scarcity and constraining Bangladesh’s capacity to secure environmental and human rights objectives.

Climate change compounds the crisis, driving salinity intrusion into coastal aquifers, altering monsoonal rainfall, and destabilising freshwater ecosystems. Rising salinity threatens both drinking water and agricultural productivity in coastal zones, while erratic precipitation and floods further strain surface water supplies. Combined with overexploitation and contamination, these changes magnify vulnerability for urban and rural populations alike, rendering water insecurity both chronic and escalating.


The human toll of these failures is severe. Only a fraction of Bangladesh’s population has access to safely managed water, with as few as 14–15 per cent linked to piped supply systems. Contamination with pathogens such as Escherichia coli, along with arsenic and other toxins, disproportionately affects low-income households, resulting in waterborne diseases, developmental impairments and chronic health problems. Arsenic contamination, a long-term consequence of policy decisions intended to reduce surface water pathogens, has inflicted intergenerational health impacts, including skin lesions, cancers and debilitating co-morbidities. The intersection of policy errors, environmental mismanagement and social inequity demonstrates how water insecurity in Bangladesh is not only a technical or ecological issue but a profound matter of environmental justice.

Urban planning and industrial regulation have failed to mitigate these risks. Industrial effluents continue to flow untreated into rivers, encroachment persists along canals and infrastructure investments prioritise short-term economic gains over ecological sustainability. Agricultural water management is equally problematic: institutional incapacity to enforce equitable water distribution, combined with the demand for high-yield rice, has driven excessive extraction and groundwater depletion. National governance remains fragmented, with ministries and agencies operating in silos, undermining accountability and preventing the adoption of integrated water resource management.

International law alone cannot resolve these challenges. Bangladesh’s position as a downstream state exposes it to ecological costs imposed by upstream actors, while climate change and domestic mismanagement compound pressures. The aggregate effect is a systemic crisis: water resources are depleted, rivers deteriorate, aquifers face overdraw, and human populations endure preventable diseases, compromised livelihoods, and diminished resilience in a warming climate. Legal and institutional frameworks, intended as instruments of governance and protection, have become largely symbolic, offering rhetorical shields while the crisis intensifies.

Addressing Bangladesh’s water security crisis demands urgent, coordinated action. Legislation must be updated and enforced, institutions streamlined, and climate-adaptive water management embedded in planning. Transboundary diplomacy must secure equitable and reliable flows, with binding agreements ensuring environmental and human rights standards. Urban planning must integrate ecological safeguards and water-sensitive infrastructure, while agricultural policy should prioritise sustainable extraction and fair distribution. Without such comprehensive reforms, water will cease to be a shared public resource and become a scarce, contested commodity, with dire implications for human health, environmental sustainability, and national development.

The water crisis in Bangladesh is not inevitable. It is the product of systemic legal, institutional and diplomatic failures. Correcting course will require political will, technical knowledge, and social accountability. The nation must act decisively to restore the ecological, legal, and institutional foundations that underpin water security, or risk allowing its most vital resource to slip beyond sustainable reach.

Samanta Azrin Prapty is a legal researcher and writer.​

 

[Saif]

Bengal tiger trapped in Sundarbans; rescue operation underway

Expert veterinarians and wildlife specialists from Dhaka have reached the area

www.thedailystar.net

Bengal tiger trapped in Sundarbans; rescue operation underway
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File photo

A Bengal Tiger has been caught in a trap set allegedly by deer poachers deep inside the Sundarbans, raising concerns over illegal hunting in the world's largest mangrove forest.


The incident occurred in the forest area along Sharkir Khal near Baiddyamari in Mongla upazila of Bagerhat district, according to the Forest Department.


Dipan Chandra Das, assistant conservator of forests (ACF) of the Chandpai Range under the Sundarbans East Forest Division, said they received information yesterday afternoon that a tiger had been trapped between the Baiddyamari and Joymoni areas, where poachers frequently set snares to hunt deer.

A team rushed to the spot and confirmed the presence of the trapped animal, located about half a kilometre inside the forest from the bank of Sharkir Khal.


The forest department has initiated a rescue operation, with the main effort set to begin this morning under the supervision of wildlife experts and experienced veterinary surgeons.

"We are not allowing anyone near the area. However, we suspect the tiger has been caught in a poachers' trap," Imran Ahmed, conservator of forests for the Sundarbans region, said, adding that preparations for the rescue are underway.

He said expert veterinarians and wildlife specialists from Dhaka have reached the area, while additional personnel are reaching the spot from Khulna.


"I am also heading to the site to oversee the operation," he added.

An experienced veterinary surgeon from Dhaka is expected to assist with the rescue. If necessary, the tiger will be tranquilised and released safely. If found seriously injured or unwell, it will be taken to Khulna or Dhaka for treatment, officials said.

To ensure public safety and reduce stress on the animal, the Forest Department has cordoned off the area and barred civilians and onlookers from approaching the site.

Forest officials said blank shots were planned to be fired late last night to frighten the tiger into freeing itself from the trap and moving deeper into the forest, away from human settlements.

Meanwhile, news of the trapped tiger spread quickly, prompting local residents to gather near the forest edge from yesterday evening.

Officials remain on high alert to prevent any untoward incidents.

In a Facebook post last night, tiger expert Khasru Chowdhury warned that the law and order situation in the Sundarbans has deteriorated sharply.

He said the daily recovery of trap ropes by the Forest Department indicates widespread illegal activity.

Khasru said tigers caught in such traps often suffer severe injuries, as nylon snares tighten around the forelimb, cutting into flesh and bone. Without timely rescue, such wounds can turn gangrenous and prove fatal. Even after rescue, amputation is often required.

He also criticised the lack of effective action in the western Sundarbans, despite higher levels of criminal activity there.​