bdenvironment.com

Category: Chittagong

  • Plastic waste dumping risks the Bay of Bengal

    Plastic waste dumping risks the Bay of Bengal

    Tahjeeb Hossain Chowdhury: As part of the South Asian Ocean Territory (SAS), Bangladesh is currently facing the worst situation of marine pollution due to plastics – one of the most polluted pollutants in the world and affecting the oceans. Plastic waste dumping risks the Bay of Bengal

    Marine debris, including plastic waste, is a solid material found in marine and coastal areas, a solid material that is produced, processed, and is a major problem due to its harmful effects on the environment, wildlife and human health in the Bay of Bengal, according to a country report based on a review of scientific and policy documents, along with a recent preliminary survey of Bangladesh’s four beaches.

    The report, entitled “Database, Proposed Recycled Enterprise and National Status with Marine Litter Intervention”, is the result of the South Asian Maritime Program (SASP)’s Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter in the SAS Region. According to the report, due to human activities, marine waste reaches from the land to the sea through rivers, drainage systems, wind action, and intentional or unintentional currents in the sea.

    During the survey, a total of 6,705 pieces of waste products were found along the beaches of Bangladesh – Labni and Inani in Cox’s Bazar and Anandabazar and Patenga in Chittagong – 18.5 km long. The litter contained 63% plastic, 13% foam plastic, 2% cloth, 1% glass and ceramic, 1% metal, 9% paper and cardboard, 3% rubber, 1% wood and 7% other materials. Plastic bags are seen as the most common type of litter: at least 2,182 pieces of plastic bags were found on the beach.

    The survey found 588 pieces of insulation and packaging foam, 470 pieces of cigarette butts and filters and 300 bottles. Survey bottle caps and lids, drums, jerry cans, buckets, disposable containers, straws, strutters, drink packaging, food containers, bags, gloves, cigarette lighters, syringes, baskets, crates and trays, mesh bags, fishing gear, different types of plastic waste. The report made several recommendations to bring down and control the reckless dumping of plastic waste on the beach.

    According to the report, there are two sources of marine debris: sea and land. Sea-based sources include merchant ships, ferries and cruise liners, fishing ships, offshore oil and gas platforms, and fish farming facilities, and land-based sewage, municipal and industrial wastes. About 80% of the garbage on the beach, including industrial sources and waste, comes from secondary sources. Most of the industries in Bangladesh are located near major river systems like Buriganga, Shitalakshya, Balu, Turag, Karnafuli, Rupsha and Meghna – all of which end in the Bay of Bengal.

    With proper management, these industries dump their industrial wastes directly into this river, which eventually ends up in the bay. Globally, plastic is one of the most dangerous pollutants in the oceans and seas. This is directly affecting the ecology and biodiversity of the oceans due to its non-biodegradable nature. Plastic lasts for a thousand years and contains about 90% of the world’s ocean debris.

    Plastic kills one million seabirds and one million marine mammals and countless fish each year. Also, plastic litter called microplastics breaks into small pieces that affect humans after entering the fish and food chain through seabirds, marine mammals, and fishnets, and cages. Microplastic beads can also cause cancer in humans.

    (The writer is a marketing graduate, content writer, and data science enthusiast from Dhaka, reach him at [email protected])

  • Bangladesh to Dispose of Toxic DDT

    Bangladesh to Dispose of Toxic DDT

    Tahjeeb Hossain Chowdhury: Bangladesh has finally made a decision to dispose of the 500 stock of toxic DDT that has been stored in Bangladeshi storehouses. An infamous substance for spreading toxicity, Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane or DDT in short, is an illegal pesticide that was stored for a long time in storehouses in Bangladesh.

    As a part of a United Nations led campaign will see Bangladesh hopefully get rid of the storage which has been in Bangladesh for as long as thirty-four years. The import now is at the Chottogram Medical sub-depot or MSD, and will be shipped to Germany to be incinerated and destroyed for good.

    As a part of the Government’s 42 million USD project titled the ‘Pesticide Risk Reduction in Bangladesh’, the DDT disposal will cost about 8.29 million of the overall budget. The operations will be carried out in conjunction with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.

    The Global Environment Facility is funding the disposal operations. The GEF’s goal is to help manage the most worrying environmental problems of the world, as it was established on the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. If carried out smoothly, Bangladesh will be free of a troublesome component that has been polluting the environment for a long time.

    The United States of America Banned the substance back in 1972. The worldwide prohibition of DDT commenced in 2004 under the Persistent Organic Pollutions Stock Convention. But in between the two dates, a WHO led and Asian Development Bank-financed project had imported the DDT in 1985. As the substance was not in technical compliance, the stock remained in the Chottogram MSD.

    With subsequent natural calamities like floods affecting Bangladesh in the following years, the substance was washed away into the surrounding environment. It was already damaged due to the humidity and brought about damages as a result. On a DDT crisis workshop, a government official from the ministry of environment, forest and climate change has said that the stock might be the reason of cancer that led to two of his colleagues’ deaths.

    Bangladesh’s riverine lands and the weather patterns would have meant that continued warehousing of the stock could have led to dire environmental and health damages to the surrounding area and people alike. The people and the environment can breathe a sigh of relief because of the announcement.

    (The writer is a marketing graduate, content writer, and data science enthusiast from Dhaka, reach him at [email protected])

  • Streams destroyed in Bandarban

    Streams destroyed in Bandarban

    Tahjeeb Hossain Chowdhury: Streams destroyed in Bandarban as they are being dried up due to illegal stone extractions. Around 400 streams and waterfalls have dried out due to this. 

    At a conference held by the National River Conservation Commission and the Bangladesh River Explorers Association have said about the destruction and drying up of streams around the Bandarban region. The River Explorers Association President Monirul Islam has said that the illegal extraction of stones and boulders for industrial purposes have to lead to streams and rivers within the Bandarban region to dry up. As a riverine country, our economy and way of life, in general, depending on the flow of streams, brooks, and rivers.

    The conference has had speakers from various river conservation groups and individuals in the movement. The esteemed deputy commissioner of Chittagong, Abdul Mannan presided over the conference. The River Conservation commission Chairman Dr Muzibur Rahman Hawlader was the Chief Guest.

    The two-day conference has had members of the river activist arena speak up about the many instances of rivers drying up and our ecology in danger because such rampant damages. The Bandarban stream incident is one that is caused by humans. Mass ignorance while extracting these stones and boulders are damaging the rivers natural direction of flow. Thus, the unnatural flow has been the reason for the rivers drying up over time. The mountainous regions of Bandarban is filled with streams and waterfalls that are vital to the environmental balance. But the man-made disasters like the stream destruction are not doing any favours to the environment.

    The Conference speakers have been putting these facts into perspective and have called upon the regulation and restriction of any human actions that lead to such destruction of our ecosystem. Activist Monirul Islam has put emphasis on the protection and conservation of the River Sangu which is one of the most crucial rivers in the Bandarban Area.

    The conference also included seminars and discussions on the matters regarding the hill tract area’s conservation of water. The speakers talked about the mitigation of such issues with development projects in the near future.

    (The writer is a marketing graduate, content writer, and data science enthusiast from Dhaka, reach him at [email protected])

    Photo Courtesy & Content Source: Dhaka Tribune

  • Bandarban Environment under threat for soil excavation

    Bandarban Environment under threat for soil excavation

    Tahjeeb Hossain Chowdhury: Bandarban Environment is under threat for soil excavation. The Soil of Lama Upazilla is under the threat of serious damage because of unethical soil excavation going in the area. The industrial excavation work going on in the area has seen troubling results for the Bandarban Area specifically the Lama Upazilla portion of it. The region has been excavating soil illegally and unethically and it is not good for the near future of the environment nor agriculture. 

    The Fakirkhola region of Lama has seen up to 150 acres of land being excavated in the name of industrial work. The nearby brick kilns, construction work, filling ponds and portions of the river. Because of the unethical and almost indiscriminate ways of excavation going on in the area, it has become quite difficult to keep the environmental balance of this area. The roads have gotten to the point of being utterly unusable. The trolleys and the trucks have been removing the topsoil which has been in demand for quite a while. 

    The Lama Upazilla has always faced a shortage of cultivable lands in its area. Despite this, the lands are being sold at a cheap rate, and businesses have been using the topsoil to do their industrial and construction work. The 4-5 feet of topsoil has been removed and it has worked in detriment of the nearby owners.

    Local sources have named many local figures involved in highly damaging activities. Abdus Sukkur, Abdullah Prakash who is also known as Kala Shona, Rezaul Karim Manik, Saker Ullah are some of the local people engaged with these activities. The soil from the many parts of Lama is then transferred to the Dulahajra union in Cox’s Bazar. A syndicate working under Union Parishad Chairman Nurul Amin has been purchasing the soil.

    The removers of these lands have used underhanded tactics to convince farmers to excavate the land, saying a virus or a parasite has been eating away the nutrients.

    The Upazilla Agricultural Expansion Officer Sanjida Binte Alam has said that the main nutrition for vegetation to grow is in the topsoil and it would take about 15-20 years to accumulate again. Despite the warnings and notices, the owners have still been exercising their unethical reins. Necessary steps from law enforcement is needed now to alleviate the suffering of man and nature in the Lama district.

    (The writer is a marketing graduate, content writer, and data science enthusiast from Dhaka, reach him at [email protected])

    Photo Courtesy & Content Source: Dhaka Tribune

  • Rivers in Bangladesh ‘Comatose’

    Rivers in Bangladesh ‘Comatose’

    Ashik Rahman: The locality and government are neglected to be responsible for the relentless degradation. As a source of livelihood, communication, and heart of people in Dhaka had been determined to the Buriganga River but now it’s a major source of running the capital. This happens due to pollution and building illegal property by robbing. So, now Rivers in Bangladesh is in ‘Comatose’

    Along with Buriganga, Turag, Shitalakkhya, Balu and Bangshi is being a death trap for increasing pollution and also indiscriminate sand lifting. The minimal level of dissolved oxygen (DO) required for life to survive in these rivers do not have.

    Researchers of The Department of Environment (DoE) had been an alarming message on levels of DO in these rivers after three months of research. They have analysis on various samples of a chemical whose were collected from these rivers and the levels of DO in Buriganga, Turag and Bangshi were 0.38, 0.59 and 0.0 milligram per liter gradually.

    According to the Environment Protection Act (Amendment) 2010, the minimum required level DO is 5 mg/l for any water body to sustain aquatic species including fishes and others is. The minimal standard rate for water being eligible for treatment as drinking water is 6 mg/l.

    Contacted with Environment Expert Dr Ahsan Uddin Ahmed over the phone, he said that “such a DO merge amount in water poses severe great threats to biodiversity and hydro-ecology”. “Random dumping of waste has put the rivers in and around the city in a blackout”.

    Professor Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) said that the government ought to shift the tannery diligence from the Hazaribagh, Dhaka. The chemical waste from the tanneries is a major polluter of these rivers. It’s important that The DoE research had been found that the level of DO at the Hazaribagh area of Buriganga River was 1.06, 0.50 and 1.0 mg/l in January, February and March gradually. And the Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is also very high in these waters.