Anthropogenic impact on the environment

Dr. Md. Faruque Hossain :
(From previous issue)
There is an increasing rate of waste generation in Bangladesh and it is projected to reach 47, 064 tons per day by 2025. The Waste Generation Rate (kg/cap/day) is expected to increase to 0.6 in 2025. A significant percentage of the population has zero access to proper waste disposal services, which will in effect lead to the problem of waste mismanagement. The total waste collection rate in major cities of Bangladesh such as Dhaka is only 37%. When waste is not properly collected, it will be illegally disposed of and this will pose serious environmental and health hazards to the Bangladeshis.
Bangladesh has minimal waste collection coverage which forces majority of the waste to be dumped in open lands. These wastes are not disposed of properly, where general wastes are often mixed with hazardous waste such as hospital waste. In a report on solid waste management in Asia, the data showed that, in Dhaka, only about 42% of generated waste is collected and dumped at landfill sites, and the rest are left uncollected. As much as 400 tons are dumped on the roadside and in open space. As such, these improperly disposed wastes poses serious health implications to the people where it may have the potential of transmitting diseases. Due to the lack of funding, there are also insufficient subsidies put in place for the issue of waste management in Bangladesh. Hence, there are essentially no proper disposal facilities to cater to the rapid creation of waste.
One of the most adverse impacts of poor waste management, especially municipal waste, is the incidence and prevalence of diseases such as malaria and respiratory problems, as well as other illnesses through the contamination of ground water. Biomedical wastes pose great danger in Bangladesh too as a report estimated that 20% of the biomedical waste is “highly infectious” and is a hazard since it is often disposed of into the sewage system or drains. Such poor sanitation has serious consequences for the health of the residents and a report suggests that “most of the child mortality could be related with this problem. With regards to the living standards, solid waste leads to blockage in the drainage system which leads to flooding in the streets. Consequently, mosquitoes and bad odor are among the negative impacts resulted.
Waste-waters are not treated in Bangladesh. Sewers of coastal agglomerations or agglomerations near the coast, India included, pour waste-waters onto the shore either directly or by way of a very short conveyor or a small rivulet flowing into the river and sea. Inland, agglomerations served by a public network generally pour their waste-water into the nearest stream. Inhabitants who utilize their own means of waste-water disposal usually have unlined cesspools or drill deep wells and merely injects waste-waters into the soil or simply dispose of them at the soil’s surface. A situation of this type has a catastrophic impact on the environment in Bangladesh particularly in what relates to beach and water pollution and the whole population bears the consequences.
Forty-three percent of the population is not served by a collection system of household rubbish. Generally, trash collection is insured in large agglomerations. Small agglomerations usually attach themselves to neighboring larger agglomerations since alone they cannot afford the personnel and equipment needed for the task.
Waste stockpiled is uncontrolled discharge sites which pollute the air, the rivers and waters spoil the scenery and represent imminent risks to public health. Waste management and the collection and evacuation of solid wastes are at the charge of municipalities which are often small and have small budgets. There is approximately one thousand villages which have no municipalities, and therefore have no authority responsible for solid wastes.
There have been recent developments in Bangladesh to improve waste management, especially in urban cities. In Dhaka, Dhaka City Corporation with support from the Japan International Corporation Agency has a master plan to better handle the solid waste management in Dhaka. For instance, Social Business Enterprise Waste Concern has sprung up to tackle the municipal waste accumulation problem through working with the households. UNICEF has also initiated recycling programs and waste control with the city corporations and municipalities. However, currently, there are still insufficient incentives to improve the standard of waste management across all relevant sectors, especially for industrial waste and medical waste.
From the beginning, people have been accustomed to throw whatever they wish into the river and sea – thus, the it has carried the waste products of humans and animals, food waste, chemical products and byproducts, agricultural chemicals, petrol, polyethylene bags, aluminum products, and numerous heavy metals, consequently killing the animals living in the river and sea and affecting the ecological balance, such as leading to the deaths of river and sea turtles. In Bangladesh, the sewage has become underwater rivers in the sea – increasing rates of cholera and typhoid.
In Bangladesh the primary sources of pollution are the wastes brought by waste-water conveyors which are deposited directly onto the coast without any pre-treatment, and the wastes from marinas and pleasure boats, and wastes left about by vacationers and shore users.
It is forbidden to throw into the river and sea along the coast any matters that could infect the water, affect, and intoxicate fish. The same prohibition applies to factories situated on the coast for the disposal of residues which cannot be thrown into the sea except at the conditions of the authorization for which to be applied.
The current manner in which the coast is exploited is clearly detrimental and destructive, both for the coast and for the future of Bangladesh. The use of explosives destroys sea fauna, and causes other unforeseen problems. The direct outpour of sewage, industrial waste and household refuse without prior treatment and with no sanitary measures has transformed the Bangladeshi beaches into trash dumps and the Bangladeshi coast into underwater sewers. The removal of maritime accretions at low depths threatens the destruction of what is left of the beaches and even the destruction of neighboring gardens during winter storms. Lastly, the small coastal plain, generally very narrow at the foot of the mountain, is already lost to increasing urbanization. The coast is being transformed into concrete, a linear city of catastrophic architecture along the coastal areas.
Soil is the foundation of terrestrial communities, the site of decomposition of organic matter and the return of mineral elements to the nutrient cycle. Soil is the very basis of development in the natural sense, and this foundation is dramatically deteriorating in Bangladesh. There is a tremendous increase today in the use of chemicals and in the use of synthetic fertilizer, all without any study into this matter. Consequently, there has been an increase in foreign particles and chemicals in the soil, under trees, and a drenching of agricultural products in chemicals, leading to, what can be described as, the burning of the land, or, in other words – the killing of the bacteria that lives within the soil. The bacteria’s demise affects the rates of decomposition, the return of nutrients into the soil and thus the viable regeneration of valued plants.
One of these chemicals is used to kill the wild plants that naturally grow under and around trees and agricultural products. A competition arises between these wild plants and the plants upon which the farmer depends for his livelihood. To avoid what can be perceived as excessive costs – in other words, to limit short-term economic costs – the farmer has chosen to remove these vegetation species as a whole, and with the excessive aid of toxic chemicals, that then are absorbed into the soil and the water. Although the use of insecticides, herbicides, and fertilizers may improve agricultural production and the quality of the produce, especially in the short run, failing a suitable selection both qualitatively and quantitatively, the use of such chemicals is at the risk of polluting the soil, waters and the very produce supplied to consumers.
The causes of the deterioration of soils in Bangladesh are multiple such as, erosion, pollution, and urbanization.
Soil erosion is the removal of surface material by wind or water. Erosion occurs due to the depletion of wooded areas, sharp slopes, and rainfall pattern. It has increased in Bangladesh due to the deforestation and incorrect road construction.
Soil pollution is caused by the release of toxic matters, untreated wastewaters, and the uncontrolled use of pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, and fertilizers in agriculture.
The development of urban agglomeration and inter-urban structures, particularly during the past thirty years, has been at the expense of a considerable agricultural area. The lost land was among the most fertile in Bangladesh. One sixth of good agricultural land is already lost, and deterioration continues at an increasing rate. This evolution, has significant negative effects on agricultural production, and will be discussed in further depth in near future.

(Dr. Md. Faruque Hossain (Hossain MF) is currently Professor of American International University-Bangladesh. )
 (To be continued)
The soil is not only a natural container of all chemical elements but also a receiver for all kinds of waste products. Naturally, the soil’s absorption capacity is significantly lost when the soil deteriorates. In addition, soil’s ability to provide nutrients for plants is decreased. When soil is lost, the land becomes barren of natural productivity.
Soil nourishes life through the medium of water. All life on earth requires essential elements that come from soil. These chemical elements move from soil to plants as ions and molecules in a water solution. Even fish and other aquatic life feed on plants nourished by soil nutrients dissolved in water. Soil and water are thus the bases of plant and animal life and therefore of civilization itself. Soil and water deterioration, both of which are occurring in Bangladesh, are consequently a deterioration of the very foundation of civilization.
Soil contains the percentage shares of total land area for three different types of land use: arable land – land cultivated for crops like wheat, maize, and rice that are replanted after each harvest; permanent crops – land cultivated for crops like citrus, coffee, and rubber that are not replanted after each harvest; includes land under flowering shrubs, fruit trees, nut trees, and vines, but excludes land under trees grown for wood or timber; other – any land not arable or under permanent crops; includes permanent meadows and pastures, forests and woodlands, built-on areas, roads, barren land, etc.
According to BBS current soil utilization is dominated overwhelmingly by arable land (55%), with permanent crops (3%) and others (42%).
Of all the natural processes, agriculture is one of the main dependents on soil, and thus with the loss of fertile soil, the loss of agriculture will arise.
Agriculture is the single largest producing sector of economy since it comprises about 30% of the country’s GDP and employing around 60% of the total labor force. The performance of this sector has an overwhelming impact on major macroeconomic objectives like employment generation, poverty alleviation, human resources development and food security. Rice, Jute, Sugarcane, Potato, Pulses, Wheat, Tea and Tobacco are the principal crops. The crop sub-sector dominates the agriculture sector contributing about 72% of total production. Fisheries, livestock and forestry sub-sectors are 10%, 10% and 8% respectively.
The extension of urbanization, in essence, is eating up the agricultural land which is already of a limited surface in Bangladesh and represents only 12% of the country’s area. A large part of these lands is situated in suburbs near towns which have been the bases of urban extension. One sixth of these lands are already lost and the remainder follows at a galloping speed. If strict measures are not taken and applied by the authorities, the agricultural sector would be under the threat of disappearance in Bangladesh.
It is not only agriculture that is threatened in Bangladesh; numerous mammals, fish, birds, and wild plants are also threatened with local extinction. There are probably many more species than the short list I will share with you, especially concerning fish. Research is desperately needed, as is constructive, national action.
Two factors of unequal importance affect the disappearance and endangerment of both the flora and the fauna in Bangladesh: loss of habitat and hunting. The first one relates to rapid urbanization, loss of habitat, and habitat alteration. Very often, agricultural work, the use of pesticides, and the drying of swamps, made a great part of the fauna leave the region and lead to their disappearance. Generally, loss of habitat is the primary and overriding factor for species loss worldwide. In Bangladesh, however, such is not the case for it is the savage overhunting that has become the dominant factor in the demise of species. Hunting relates to the individual behavior of the Bangladesh person, hunting being here a factor of the first order in the extermination of existing races in Bangladesh. The use of explosives and water pollution are additional key factors in the endangerment of the fish in Bangladesh.
There are four prime arguments for the preservation of our fellow species. One is simply that compassion demands their preservation. Other products of evolution also have a right to existence. The needs and desires of human beings are not the only basis for ethical decisions. The second point is that other species should be preserved because of their beauty, symbolic value, or intrinsic interest: the argument from esthetics. The third argument is basically economic: preserve species X because Y BDTs can be derived from it. Simply, save this specific species because of its direct economic benefit to Homo sapiens. The most important reason, however, depends upon species’ indirect benefits. Other species are living components of vital ecological systems (ecosystems) which provide humanity with indispensable free service, services whose substantial disruption would lead inevitably to a collapse of civilization.
In Bangladesh’s small territory of 147,570 km-2 (56,977 m-2), nearly 6000 plant species grows, of which 300 or so species are exotic and 8 are endemic. Ninety-five vascular plants have been rated as threatened, of which 92 are angiosperms, and 3 gymnosperms. About 300 species and varieties of algae have been recorded from freshwater habitats alone. There are many more in the brackish water and seawater habitats. The fungal flora has not been fully recorded. There are about 250 species of bryophytes in the country (Reported in Banglapedia, National Encyclopedia in Bangladesh). This richness of the Bangladesh flora is essentially due to the general climatic conditions of the country, as well as to the multiplicity of micro-climates which favored the formations of numerous endemic species. In addition to the numerous flowers particular to Bangladesh, there are species most representative of the South Asia. A great number of flowers were known for the first time in Bangladesh and many bear its name.
Bangladesh is a key area for migrating birds, being both rich in number and variety of migrating birds (388 residents and 240 migratory birds, altogether 628; and also reported in Banglapedia, National Encyclopedia in Bangladesh). Hundreds of soaring birds, especially birds of prey, storks and pelicans, pass through or over the skies of Bangladesh, especially during the autumn and winter migration North America and Africa to Bangladesh. Hundreds of larks migrate through the wetland (bil) valley each year, where they are then prey to the savage hunting.
In Bangladesh, many people are landless and forced to live on and cultivate flood-prone land; limited access to potable water; water-borne diseases prevalent; water pollution especially of fishing areas results from the use of commercial pesticides; ground water contaminated by naturally occurring arsenic; intermittent water shortages because of falling water tables in the northern and central parts of the country; soil degradation and erosion; deforestation; severe overpopulation.
As nature is progressively impoverished, its ability to provide a moderate climate, cleanse air and water, recycle wastes, protect crops from pests, replenish soils that will be increasingly degraded. It is crucial, fundamental to our survival that an intellectual revolution arises with regards to our role in nature. As the great environmentalist, scientist, and writer Rachel Carson said, we still talk in terms of conquest. We still haven’t become mature enough to think in terms of ourselves as a tiny part of a vast and incredible universe.
More specifically, three key sectors need to strengthened and altered. First, environmental education needs to be integrated into the education system in Bangladesh, from kindergarten through college. The fight for the protection of the environment begins with education. The new generation should be raised on the principles of respect and wonder for nature and sciences.
Education goes hand in hand with information, and thus environmental research is critical. Research into pollution issues, agriculture, forestry, and marine biology are all necessary, as are the installation of permanent study plots and the enhancement of our national data base.
Based upon the research, and based upon the current information, the institutional policies need to be reworked. Policies, and thus politicians and leaders, need to take the environment seriously, and laws should then be based on the integrity of the ecosystem. A holistic approach to the ecosystem is necessary in the formation of laws and policies. Ecological integrity, economic stability, and social integrity should all be considered in decision making and in the formation of laws and policies. Once educated laws are produced, they need to be enforced consistently.
To protect the deteriorating environment in Bangladesh, one should help promote a general awakening in the importance of the environment in Bangladesh society. It is not simply a matter of emitting some ideas but truly making people understand, on scientific grounds, that in the absence of a concrete policy in matters of the environment, the future of the natural and socio-economic heritage of Bangladesh will be compromised; the future of the coming generations will be sacrificed.
(Dr. Md. Faruque Hossain (Hossain MF) is currently Professor of the American International University-Bangladesh. )