Special Correspondent :
Bangladesh has become a worst victim of environmental pollution that resulting in 3.4 percent loss of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and higher the number of untimely deaths and disability adjusted lives in cities every year, a World Bank (WB) report says.
The WB report said the loss of GDP and lives (foregone labour output due to untimely deaths) is creating obstacles towards achieving the targeted status of Upper-Middle-Income Nation.
The WB report noted that, in the global canvas, Bangladesh is one of the countries most affected by pollution and environmental risks. Across Bangladesh, 28 percent of all deaths are from diseases caused by pollution, much higher than 16 percent of global average.
“Urban environmental pollution is already imposing a significant cost on Bangladesh’s economy,” the WB said in the report styled “Enhancing Opportunities for Clean and Resilient Growth in Urban Bangladesh: Country Environmental Analysis 2018”. The report was released in Dhaka on Sunday (September 16).
“In 2015, the economic impact was estimated at US$ 6.52 billion in urban Bangladesh, which are equivalent to 3.4 percent of the national GDP of that year. Of the amount, estimated loss of US$ 1.44 billion was in Dhaka alone. In the same year, the total annual number of deaths was estimated at 80,000 and disability adjusted life years (DALYs) were 2.6 million attributable to air pollution, inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene, arsenic in drinking water and occupational pollutants,” it said.
Goldman Environmental Prize winner and Chief Executive of Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association, Syeda Rizwana Hasan said brick fields continuing operations around urban areas, big infrastructural works going on without safety coverage, occupational pollutants, impure water supply and weak sanitation at both the households and public infrastructures at cities are causing to the huge loss.
“Wetlands are filled and greeneries in and around cities disappeared. River waters also polluted seriously. Amid such a circumstances, how we would prevent the loss of lives and economy?,” Syeda Rizwana told The New Nation on Sunday afternoon.
According to WB report, the economic cost of this mortality in terms of foregone labor output estimated at US$1.40billion in all urban areas of Bangladesh, of which US$ 310 million in Dhaka alone.
“In tandem with its economic development, Bangladesh has been increasingly urbanizing-led by the massive growth of Dhaka. In this capital city, population grew at an average annual rate of 3.5 percent and is expected to increase from 28 percent of Bangladesh’s total population to 40 percent by 2025. At the same time, the population living in slums within the urban areas is growing at double the average urban rate-around 7 percent annually. “
The WB report stated, “Over the last two decades, Dhaka’s population doubled; yet because of land constraints, the city is now among the world’s most densely populated. In 2011, population density was already about 8,000 per square km in Dhaka’s metropolitan area (DMA), and 31,000 per square km in Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) area (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 2014). Population density in slums, meanwhile, is estimated at about 205,000 per square km in Dhaka and 255,000 per square km in Chittagong, the second largest city in Bangladesh.”
“Bangladesh pays a high price from environment degradation and pollution in its urban areas. This puts its strong growth at risk,” said Rajashree Paralkar, World Bank Acting Country Director for Bangladesh.
The WB official said the country must act to put in place the right policies and institutions for green growth and to ensure its industries adopt clean technologies.
The report focuses on three areas: cost of environmental degradation, clean and resilient cities and institutions for clean industrial growth.
It suggests that the country requires effective policies, a sound legal framework and stronger institutions at the national and local levels.
The country also needs to scale up green financing, promote clean technologies, improve hazardous waste management and raise awareness for environmental protection.
