Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995

Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act (BECA) is set of laws enacted by the government of Bangladesh in 1995.

The Act gives operational definitions of terms that historically did not exist, including ecosystem, pollution, waste and hazardous substance. Seven areas in Bangladesh are defined as Ecologically Critical Areas under this law beyond the scope of the Forest Act of 1927 enacted by the British Raj. Other major preservation laws enacted by the government of Bangladesh include the Bangladesh Wild Life (Preservation) Order of 1973, the Marine Fisheries Ordinance of 1983 and the Brick Burning (Control) Act of 1989. Other major preservation laws enacted before the independence of Bangladesh include the Public Parks Act of 1904, the Agricultural and Sanitary Improvement Act of 1920, the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act of 1950.

In September 2009, the four rivers around the capital city Dhaka - Buriganga River, Shitalakshya River, Turag River and Balu River - have been declared by the Department of Environment as ECAs.

The Act followed the establishment of the Ministry of Environment and Forest in 1989 and the National Environment Management Action Plan (NEMAP) in 1992, as well as the Forest Policy in 1994 and the Forestry Master Plan (1993–2012) in 1993. Despite the Act and its supporting laws and policies the environmental degradation of Bangladesh continues principally under the population pressure.

Even though the act was establishedin the year of 1995, Bangladesh has not seen much improvement environmentally. In the year of 2011, the capital city of Bangladesh – Dhaka - had been ranked as the world’s 2nd least livable city in the world only beating Harare in Zimbabwe with an overall ranking difference of 1.2%. Though the scenario changed in 2012, when Dhaka was ranked 140 – the last among the livable countries in the world. Even though the overall ranking of livability did not change (was constant at 38.7%), but it did not improve like the other cities like Harare did, which was announced the 4th least livable city unlike the previous year. The humidity/temperature level of Dhaka was rated as ‘uncomfortable’ and so was the quality of water. Overall it achieved a rating of 43% in terms of culture and environment (100% being ideal) and a 27% in infrastructure (100% being ideal). This proves the inefficiency of the establishment of the environment law.

According to the environment act,the Government shall establish a Department, which shall be called the Department of Environment whose job is to identify the zones in the country,which are environmentally in critical condition. Being the least livable country in the world and the capital of the country, Dhaka obviously is on the top of their list. But it is easier said than to be done. One of the laws in the act includes, “Restriction regarding vehicles emitting smoke injurious to health”. This law is nearly impossible to establish since Dhaka alone is the home to 7 million people given the fact that the area of the city is only 1463.60 km2. Not to mention most of the people living here are in the working class of the society. Most of them cannot even feed their family properly let alone buy a car for themselves, thus mostly rely on public transportation. Due to huge amount of debt to foreign countries, the Governmentcan can only afford to give a little attention towards the public transportation system, which resulted in decades old buses emitting thick black smoke which results in further degradation of the environment.

Another law to be mentioned is the “Remedial measures for injury to ecosystem”. If we move further down the map of Bangladesh to the Southwest side, the region of Khulna is the hometown of the biggest mangrove forest Sundarbans in the world, which is estimated to cover an area of almost 4100 km2. It is an open secret that local people have been clearing out the forests to have a chance to use the wood to earn a living and feed their family and the Government has taken little or no measures to prevent so.