Health impact of dev plans to be assessed: Faridul
State Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Shaikh Faridul Islam, has called on people to participate in environment-friendly waste management to prevent pollution of rivers, soil and air.
Speaking at a discussion meeting titled ‘Waste-Free Bangladesh: Our responsibility’ organised by the Forum of Environmental Journalists of Bangladesh (FEJB) as the chief guest yesterday, he asked journalists to publish more reports on environmental conservation and highlight shortcomings of government initiatives.
Shaikh Faridul Islam said the present government is working to find nature-based and environmentally friendly solutions to various problems. As examples, he mentioned the plans to plant 250 million trees, dig 20,000 kilometers of canals and launch electric buses.
He said along with verifying the environmental impacts of development projects, health impacts should also be assessed to ensure good health of people.
The State Minister said no government allocation was used for planting trees this year. It was done from CSR and other district-level funds.
The government wants to revolutionise the country through the tree planting program. In response to a question, he said there will be no exotic trees among the planned 250 million.
The meeting, organised at the Tofazzal Hossain Manik Mia Hall of the National Press Club under the chairmanship of Forum President Mostafa Kamal Majumdar, called for making Bangladesh healthy and habitable by properly managing waste and replenishing natural resources.
Keynote speaker of the discussion, Zakir Hossain Khan, Managing Director of Change Initiative, who spoke online from Malaysia, presented a picture of the mountains of garbage being built up in various sectors in the country and pointed out the way to reduce waste to zero by recycling, recovery and regeneration of resources through a circular economy.
Forum General Secretary and President of the National Press Club Hasan Hafiz, Forum Executive Member and General Secretary of the National Press Club Ayub Bhuiyan, Forum Executive Members Bulbul Ahmed, Shamima Chowdhury, Salahuddin Bablu, prominent human rights activist Nurul Huda Chowdhury, prominent thinker Shah Abdul Hannan and Photojournalist Tarif Rahman participated in the discussion.
