It is my academic assignment.

1. An Assignment on
‘Environmental Management Acts and Policies in Bangladesh’
Course Title: Environmental Management
Course Code: DS 3203
SUBMITTED TO:
Kazi Humayun Kabir
Associate Professor
Development Studies Discipline
Khulna University
Khulna, 9208
SUBMITTED BY:
Md. Ayatullah Khan
Student ID: 152119
3rd Year; 2nd Term
Development Studies Discipline
Khulna University
Khulna, 9208
Date of Submission: March 18, 2018

2. Introduction: Bangladesh achieved her independence in 1971 from Pakistan, which was a
legacy of the British Colonial authorities. Since the independence, it is observed that the
Government of Bangladesh was very aware about the environmental conservation issue. The
concerns for environment protection are reflected on the national planning process and
several policies. Like all other nations of the world, Bangladesh has also acted on the global
need for the protection and conservation of natural environment and ecology. Policy and
management of the environmental sector is molded to a large extent by some key institutions
and specific policies. The concerns for environmental protection are reflected in all the Five
Year Plans and different policies of the government of Bangladesh (Hossan, 2014).
Review on the Evolution of Management Acts and Policies: In execution of the Stockholm
mandate, like all other developing and developed countries the government of Bangladesh
has actively participated in the evolutionary process of protecting global environment. As a
result, the first Water Pollution Control Ordinance was promoted in 1973 followed by the
promotion of the Environment Pollution Control Ordinance in 1977. Due to its inadequacy,
this law was replaced by the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act- 1995 (Mohammad,
2013). The Act sought to address emission from vehicles and environmental offence that
were addressed in the Motor Vehicles Ordinance of 1983. In 1985 Department of Pollution
Control Ordinance was established which subsequently renamed and structured as
Department of Environment (Nasir, 2014).
In 90s, some severe environment pollutions relating to air, water, soil and food, deforestation,
soil degradation, biodiversity, loss of ecosystems etc. were found due to over population,
over harvest and degradation of resources, indiscriminate use of pesticides, herbicides and
chemical fertilizer, improper management of solid waste in urban areas, unwise use of ground
water etc. Therefore, the Government were formulated and passed the National Environment
Policy- 1992 and Environment Action Plan- 1992 that covered all sectors such as the forestry,
fisheries, agriculture, urbanization, science and technology etc. (Mohammad, 2013). Later,
the National Environment Policy- 1992 was revised by the National Environment Policy-
2013 in the context of new reality of the climate change. The Environmental Conservation
accompanying 1997 Rules are arguably the most important legislative documents for
industrial water pollution (Khalequzzaman, 2013). Important policy documents in this respect
are the Forest Policy (1994), the Fisheries Policy (1998), the Water Policy (1998), the New
Agriculture Extension Policy (1995) etc. Besides these sectoral policies have been formulated
to provide action plans to respond to environmental issues and promote sustainable
development (Aminuzzaman, 2010).

3. Existing Practices of Environmental Management Acts and Policies: Since the 1990s
environmental management has become a priority issue in Bangladesh. Environment
Conservation Act 1995 is currently the main act governing environmental protection in
Bangladesh which replaced the earlier environment pollution control ordinance of 1992. The
main objectives of the policy are to conservation of the natural environment, improvement of
environmental standards and mitigation of environmental pollution. The National Forest
Policy of 1994 is the amended and revised version of the National Forest Policy of 1977 in
the light of the National Forestry Master Plan. The major target of the policy is to conserve
the existing forest areas and bring about 20% of the country's land area under the Forestation
Program and increase the reserve forest land by 10% by the year 2015. The National
Environment Policy- 2013 provides in the context of executing new reality of the climate
change (Anonymous, 2015).
Critical Analysis of Environmental Management Acts and Policies: The policies and acts
for environment sector in Bangladesh consist of policies, guidelines, and action plan that are
supplemented for national capacity assessment exercise. Added to these Bangladesh has a
number of laws and regulations regarding to environmental issues. Significant changes for
the better in the management of the environment are rarely noted today in Bangladesh despite
the formation of acts and policies to protect the environment (Khan, 2009). The policies of
the Bangladesh Government have been developed mostly from a sectored approach.
However, the Water Policy, the Fisheries Policy and Agriculture Policy have sectorial
approach and tried to address environmental issues. These policies call for a precautionary
approach to minimize impact from other sectors like industry, transportation, urbanization,
flood control etc (Aminuzzaman, 2010).
Subsequently, the Department of the Environment (DOE) was created to function as the
strong right arm of the environment ministry. In 1992 the National Environmental Policy
(NEP) was drawn up with the aim of providing protection and sustainable management of the
environment. In order to proper implement and execute of the environmental issues, the
Government passed the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act- 1995 and the
Environment Courts Act- 2000, National Environment Policy- 2013 etc. The judiciary in
Bangladesh is also careful to the environment by applying and encouraging the public interest
litigation and gradually developing in this regard (Mohammad, 2013). The concerns for
environment protection were also reflected in the national planning process as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th,
5th, 6th and 7th Five Year Plans which was started in 1973 (Hossan, 2014).

4. Although the Environmental Conservation Act deals mainly with processes and activities that
result in pollution aspects of the Act also make provision for protection of ecosystems. Under
this Act the government declares “ecologically critical areas” in any area likely to reach
environmentally critical conditions and can specify operations and processes that cannot be
initiated or continued in those areas (Clemett, 2004).
Conclusion: The ultimate goal of Environment Policies and Acts are to ensure
environmentally sound development in all sectors. It is needed to observe whether the
Environmental Policy of Bangladesh is capable to ensure the environment protection.
Environment policy should address all the major environment related issues properly. If the
environment policy of Bangladesh addressed all the major concern issues properly, then it
will be examined by comparing with the policy of the developed countries. Thus
Environment policy is provided the basic argument to define the goals of economic and social
development in terms of sustainability in the respective sector and in overall national
planning.

5. References:
Hossan, M. (2014). EVOLUTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES IN BANGLADESH
(1972-2010). Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (Hum.), Vol. 59(1), 2014, 39-63
Mohammad, N. (2013). Development of environmental law and policy in bangladesh: An
overview. International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, 38(8), 96-106.
Nasir, K. B. (2014). Environmental Laws. Retrieved May 5, 2014 from
http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Environmental_Laws&oldid=2143
Khalequzzaman, M. (2013). National Environment Policy: Promises need to follow with
action. Retrieved Oct 7, 2013 from
https://opinion.bdnews24.com/2013/10/07/national-environment-policy-promises-need-to
follow-with-action/
Aminuzzaman, S. M. (2010). Environment Policy of Bangladesh: A Case Study of an
Ambitious Policy with Implementation Snag. Department of Public Administration,
University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Clemett, A. (2004). A Review of Environmental Policy and Legislation in Bangladesh. Final
Research Report Section-2.
Khan, M. M. (2009). GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
POLICIES IN BANGLADESH. Environmental Policy: A Multi-National Conference on
Policy Analysis and Teaching Methods, KDI School of Public Policy and Management,
Seoul, Korea.