History
The Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act was an act that was put in place by the Bengali government to conserve the nation’s environment. The act was put in place on May 30, 1995. Its main goals were to “provide for conservation of the environment, improvement of environmental standards and control and mitigation of environmental pollution.”(Bangladesh Environmental Conservation Act, 1995). The “mitigation of environmental pollution” means to reduce the amount of pollution as possible.
Contents
- History
- Enforcement and regulation
- Present day projects
- Effectiveness of Act
- Loopholes and criticisms
- References
Enforcement and regulation
Upon approving this act the government established the Department of Environment and the Department of Environment will be headed by a Director General (Bangladesh Environmental Conservation Act, 1995). The Director General can set up any rules and measures that he may consider will help conserve the country’s environment and may improve the environment's standards. The Director General can work with other agencies that the Director General thinks can effectively aid in their goal.
The Director General can introduce rules and regulations that can help prevent accidents that can potentially damage and pollute the environment, the Director General can also direct the cleanup of any spill or major environmental disaster and issue directions to undo the damage that was done on the environment. The Director General can issue directions and rules pertaining to the use, storage, transportation, import and export of any hazardous materials. The Director General can also conduct research on conserving and improving the environment and can receive assistance from any organization to effectively conduct the research. For example, the Director General may conduct research on the quality of drinking water and setup regulations that can improve the quality of the countries drinking water by working with the Bangladesh Water Development Board.
The Director General can use the media and newspapers to publicize any information about how to prevent and control the country's pollution. The Director General can also advise the Government from allowing the manufacturing of certain products that can damage the country's environment, like if the commodity is made out of an endangered species pelt the Director General can advise the Government to pass a law outlawing the hunting of the hypothetical animal.
The Director General can also fine and shut down any companies that are causing significant harm to the country's environment and can heavily regulate the way companies operate, before demanding that the company shut down the Director General must first send the owner of the company a written notice and give them a time limit to respond to the notice but if the owner fails to comply by the given time then the Director General may issue the closure of the company and also the Director General can also direct the electricity, gas, telephone and water provider of the company to stop servicing them because of their inability to follow the rules and regulations. The Director General may also request the help of any law enforcement or Government authority to enforce the rules and regulations set by the Director General.
Present-day projects
The Bengali Government has started building new sidewalks with surface drains so that garbage can be drained away and won't linger in the streets anymore and the new drainage system can help mitigate the country's problems with mass floodings. The Bengali Government has constructed air quality monitoring stations so that the government can effectively monitor the improvements of air quality in many different areas around the country. The Bengali Government has updated bus routes so that they can shorten the distance that the bus has to travel and in turn improve the area's air quality. The Bengali Government passed new Vehicular Emission Standards on December 31, 2014 which will help improve the country's overall air pollution problem.
Effectiveness of Act
Though the act was established in 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. 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.
Loopholes and criticisms
The Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995 and Rules, 1997 are not free from a number of loopholes or shortcomings. There is a maxim that “prevention is better than cure”, but the BECA of 1995 by the terms “improvement of environmental standards” and “mitigation of environmental pollution” in its preamble indicates that it is cure-oriented and it only copes with the curative measures rather than the preventive measures. The BECA, 1995,in true sense, deals with the post-harm situations. In Section 3, the term “Government” is a vague one. It creates the question in our minds – who is the Government under the BECA, 1995? There is no reference to any specific criteria for determining the “Government” who would set up the Department of Environment (DoE) headed by the Director General (DG). Section 4 of the Act gives unfettered and unlimited powers to the Director General (DG) of the Department of Environment (DoE). The wording ‘may’ in section 4 denotes that the DG is not bound to take necessary measures in order to conserve the environment and the DG can do anything at his sweet will. Section 5 of the Act requires the Government to declare the “ecologically critical areas”. It is palpable that the environment experts can play a vital role in declaring the ecologically critical areas. Section 5 has no reference to the matter. Section 12 of the Act speaks about “Environment Clearance Certificate”. It is yet unclear what will happen if the Department of Environment (DoE) is unable to meet the timetable to grant the Environment Clearance Certificate (ECC).