Industrial Pollution Growth at the cost of environment? Md Koushik Ahmed for The Daily Star The “primitive accumulation” nature of developed countries to use all natural resources as inputs into a human devised system in the never ending quest for economic growth has led us to ask “what the future holds for us”. This growth ... Read more
environment
Karnaphuli shrinking
Losing navigability due to heavy siltation, creating scope for land grabbers The Karnaphuli river, a lifeline for Chittagong city and the port, is gradually losing navigability with its width already shrunk by 50 to 270 metres at several points in the last two decades. Its depth reduced sharply for heavy siltation, disposal of huge quantity ... Read more
Grabbers defy all
Filling up Shitalakkhya despite HC orders, cases filed against them Filling of the river Shitalakkhya at Kanchpur in Narayanganj continues under the very nose of district and police administrations despite a High Court order to stop the encroachment. The foreshores and a major portion of riverbed have been filled with earth, narrowing down the river ... Read more
30,000 trees felled there
Patuakhali forest officials estimate a day after mindless destruction of mangrove forest Forest officials yesterday visited Char Bestin in the coastal areas of Patuakhali and Bhola and found over 30,000 trees of the mangrove forest have been chopped down by around 400 locals on Thursday. Of these trees, over 10,000 were in Patuakhali and the ... Read more
Little done to stop polythene bag use despite ban
Continuing manufacture of polythene bags along with lax law enforcement is blamed by environmentalists for the increased use of non-biodegradable polythene bags. Save the Environment Movement president Abu Naser Khan blamed the government authorities for failing to implement the ban on the bags saying that their enforcement operations were very irregular. The environment department’s director ... Read more
Shady realtors choke Turag
DoE finds 4 companies responsible for earth filling in the river Neither the local administration nor the relevant authorities stopped the massive destruction of the river Turag, its foreshores and adjoining wetlands with mindless earth-filling by a number of private housing companies to develop plots choking the river almost by half at Goran Chat Bari ... Read more
‘Shocking’ state of oceans threatens mass extinction
Overfishing and pollution putting fish, sharks and whales in extreme danger – with extinction ‘inevitable’, study finds. Fish, sharks, whales and other marine species are in imminent danger of an “unprecedented” and catastrophic extinction event at the hands of humankind, and are disappearing at a far faster rate than anyone had predicted, a study of ... Read more
A wild wish for hippo
State minister wants to introduce hippos in Kaptai Lake; bewildered environmentalists lambast the idea The state minister for environment and forest has come up with a strange plan to introduce hippopotamus, a species from Sub-Saharan-Africa, in the Kaptai Lake in Rangamati with a portion of climate funds. “The idea came to my mind during my ... Read more
Mangrove forest plundered
2.5km road project in a Bhola char gets AL lawmaker’s blessings; flouts HC order, environmental law Within hours after a court judgement that clearly directed the authorities to abide by the forest and environment acts, groups of people have chopped down thousands of trees inside a mangrove forest and a designated wildlife sanctuary to build ... Read more
Forest: The one and only address of inhabitable world
Dr. Md. Mizanur Rahman for The Daily Star Forest ecosystem provides benefits that support the livelihoods of countless human beings. Forests provide a number of components to the broad range of ecological services such as, regulation of rainfall and hydrological system; maintenance of soil quality, control of soil erosion, modulating climate; and being the habitat ... Read more
Wildlife in jeopardy
Hunger, death on offer as forests vanish fast The number of phone calls we receive every day is amazing. People call to say fishing cats have been killed or captured. Jungle cat kittens found. Vultures lying sick. And of course, tigers have been killed. If we put together all these pieces of information, we get ... Read more
Impact on environment and health
Shipbreaking in South Asia Impact on environment and health Md. Abu Sayed Shipbreaking, referred to as ship recycling, is a type of ship disposal involving the dismantling of an obsolete vessel’s structure for scrapping or disposal. It includes a wide range of activities, from removing all gears and equipment to cutting down the ship’s infrastructure. ... Read more
Climate change and neglected tropical diseases
Khalid Md. Bahauddin Recent investigations attribute more than 150,000 deaths per year and a global disease burden to climate change. An area that has received particular attention is the potential impact of global warming on shifts in the spatio-temporal distribution of disease vectors, and hence the frequency and transmission dynamics of vector-borne diseases. Vectors, pathogens ... Read more
Climatic hazards: Vulnerability and adaptation
Dr Moazzem Hossain It is now widely recognised that the coastal regions of the world would suffer severely both in economic and social fronts from the direct impact of global warming and rising sea level. It has been noticed that in recent years sea-level rise, frequent storms and cyclones, and riverbank erosion have taken a ... Read more
Wetland Grabbing: None jailed in 10 yrs
Not a single person has been jailed for filling up rivers, canals or wetlands in the capital in the last one decade since the Wetland and Open Space Conservation Act, 2000 came into effect. Even though the government vowed to save the rivers around the capital, in no instance was the earth used for filling ... Read more
Polythene bag use keeps rising
Lax law enforcement blamed Nine years after polythene shopping bags were banned throughout the country, their use is increasing for lack of proper enforcement of the ban, environmentalists have claimed. Save the Environment Movement president Abu Naser Khan blamed lax implementation of law and irregularities in enforcement operations for the increases use of polythene
Tk 21cr goes down rivers
Buriganga-Turag Cleaning Project Tk 21cr goes down rivers Contamination remains as grave as ever due to failure in plugging pollution sources Pinaki Roy Though the government has already spent over Tk 21 crore on its much-hyped Buriganga-Turag River Cleaning Project, the rivers remain contaminated with toxic wastes, as the pollution sources could not be plugged. ... Read more
‘Climate change reshapes tropical forests’
bbc.co.uk Future climate change could change the profile of tropical forests, with possible consequences for carbon storage and biodiversity, a study says. It suggests that if current trends continued, the drier conditions would favour deciduous, canopy species at the expense of other trees. US researchers based their findings on the changes they recorded in a ... Read more
Climate fallout to trigger migration
ADB study focuses on more challenges for Bangladesh Bangladesh will face mounting challenge of resettling and rehabilitating the people displaced by climate change, says an Asian Development Bank study. The country is already at high risk of catastrophic environmental hazards and floods from sea surges, river flow, rainfall and coastal and riverbank erosion that are ... Read more
Dirt-filling in ponds continues in Rajshahi city
Dirt-filling in ponds in the Rajshahi city is going on violating ‘playground, open space, park and natural water reservoir conservation act 2000’ as the city corporation authorities and Rajshahi Development Authority fail to implement the act for the sake of city dwellers as well as the environment. According to Rajshahi City Corporation authorities, there were ... Read more