Bangladesh Environment: Facing the 21st Century

Bangladesh Environment: Facing the 21st Century

Nov 21, 2002 | Environment

Reports, background and analysis on important environmental issues in Bangladesh.
2002 (2nd edition), English, 341 pages, Hardback – Tk.600 / US$20

BANGLADESH Environment: Facing the 21st Century is a citizen based country report on the state of Bangladesh’s environment. SEHD published the first edition in 1998 and the second edition in 2002.

The report, essentially a compound of crucial and critical information, expert analyses, critiques and field reports on major environmental issues of Bangladesh, makes an obvious attempt to provide a context to understand Bangladesh and its environment.

The book has more than 140 photographs, 29 maps and satellite images on major aspects of Bangladesh’s environment, uniquely presents the state of the country’s environment. Each section of the report is comprehensive and presents an issue in a unique style.

The areas covered in different sections of the report are: land, soil and landscape; river, water and wetlands; agriculture; forests; fisheries; wildlife biodiversity and its resource potential; genetic resources; energy resources; industrialization and industrial pollution; air pollution; disasters: issues and responses; arsenic contamination; jute and polythene; health; habitat; environmental laws in Bangladesh; selected environmental issues; and citizens’ responses to environmental issues.

Publication Details

Published: 2002 (2nd edition)
Language: English
Hardback: 341 pages
Editor: Philip Gain
Price: Tk.600  US$20

The Last Forests of Bangladesh

The Last Forests of Bangladesh

Sep 21, 2002 | Environment

Factors that have lead to the deforestation of huge parts of Bangladesh forests, the role of various actors and the impact on the forest people. 2002 (2nd Edition), English, 224 pages, Paperback – Tk.350 / US$15

Bangladesh is amazingly green with great biodiversity. But at the same time it is a forest-poor country that has lost its forest cover from about 20% in 1927 to a mere 6% today. Outside the Sundarbans, only tiny patches of forests remain.

What factors have led to this situation? The typical response of the Forest Department (FD) is that those who live in and around the forests are encroachers and despoilers of the public forests. International financial institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and companies engaged in the forestry sub-sector argue that growing population, poverty, migration of landless people into the forest areas, shifting cultivation, illegal felling, fuelwood collection, etc. cause the degradation of forests.

But why would the people, materially and spiritually intertwined with the forests, destroy what is so important for their life and environment? Are the forest-dwelling ethnic communities, who have lived in the forests for centuries really encroachers?

The Last Forests of Bangladesh focuses on the factors, deep-rooted in our colonial past and in the globalization of capital that contribute to the destruction of our public forests. The author argues with background information, facts and stories on how the reservation of the public forests by the governments, monoculture plantation, extraction of raw materials from the natural forests for pulp and paper mills, industrial plantation, rubber in place of native forests, the so-called “social forestry” and export-oriented prawn aquaculture, etc have greatly contributed to the rapid destruction of the forests.

This book is a valuable source book for anyone interested in understanding what has been happening to our alarmingly limited public forests and the forest-dwelling people whose lives are doomed without forests.

Publication Details

Published: 2002 (2nd edition)
Language: English
Paperback: 224 pages
Author: Philip Gain
Price: Tk.350  US$15

 

The CCHRB Election Observation Report: The Eighth Parliamentary Elections

The CCHRB Election Observation Report: The Eighth Parliamentary Elections

Apr 1, 2002 | Other

Information, analysis and insights on the events, legitimacy, violence, fraud and election observation efforts of the eighth parliamentary election. 2002, English, 202 pages,  Paperback  | Tk.200 / US$10

The eighth parliamentary election, held on 1 October 2001, was unique in the electoral history of Bangladesh. It was held in the trail of seven parliamentary elections, three ­­­presidential elections, and three referendums since Bangladesh became independent in 1971. Given the tumultuous political history the voters shrugged off all the fears and trepidation and went to vote with the high aspiration that this election would contribute to stabilizing democracy.

The CCHRB Election Observation Report 2001, was prepared by the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD) for Coordinating Council for Human Rights in Bangladesh (CCHRB) in a very challenging situation. It presents information, analysis and insights on events, behavior of the political parties and politicians, legitimacy questions of the political parties, electorate, election violence, fraud, election observation efforts, etc.

The report tries to explain how important it is to make genuine efforts by all quarters for building democratic institution in this country. The caretaker government, a unique institution, which came into being because of political parties’ credibility crisis, was put to the real test. The Awami League, which ruled the country for its full five-year term alleged this interim government was not right in performing its duties. What we learn in the end is that the caretaker government must remain absolutely neutral in holding a “free and fair election” and building confidence among the electorate.

The report contains information on all major aspects of the election in Bangladesh such as: election observation, caretaker government, election schedule, political parties and candidates, preparation of the Election Commission and analysis of results. A chronology of important events centering on the election is included, as well as annexes with relevant and useful information i.e., the code of conduct, results, political parties and their symbols and management of CCHRB election monitoring.

Publication Details

Published: 2002
Language: English
Paperback: 66 pages
Editor: Philip Gain, Q. A. Tahmina and Shishir Moral
Prepared by: Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD) for Coordinating Council for Human Rights in Bangladesh (CCHRB)
Price: Tk.200 / US$10

The Chittagong Hill Tracts: Life and Nature at Risk 

The Chittagong Hill Tracts: Life and Nature at Risk 

Dec 22, 2000 | Adivasis and Forests

Information, analysis, photographs and arguments on how land, life and nature in the Chittagong Hill Tracts are at risk today.
2000, English, 121 pages, Hardback | Tk.500 / US$20

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), which is 5,093 sq. miles in extent or 10% of Bangladesh, is a unique territory. While most of the country is flat and a few feet above the sea level, the CHT in the southeast is mountainous with beautiful landscapes. The indigenous hill peoples are also unique with their distinct and different cultures.

Once noted for its ‘majestic natural beauty’, the region has lost much of its original landscape because of ill-conceived development initiatives and human greed. Most of the hills that were covered with thick forests now lie denuded or covered sparsely with bushes and small trees. To many it is no more than a hill park.

The factors that have contributed to this sorry state of the region include: the Kaptai Hydroelectricity Project that has created a massive lake, occupation of the traditional homeland of the indigenous peoples and their subsequent massive displacement, plantations of exotic species, in-migration of the Bengalis, heavy military presence for about three decades, etc. Immoral human actions have broken the chain of nature and put life at risk. One can still be charmed by the spectacular scenic beauty of the Kaptai Lake and the mountain landscapes but this beauty cannot hide the catastrophe caused to the hill people.

In the book, The Chittagong Hill Tracts: Life and Nature at Risk, a host of writers present information, analyses, photographs and arguments on how land, life and nature in the Chittagong Hill Tracts are at risk today. This book intends to provide basic information on the Chittagong Hill Tracts and stimulate discussion around critical issues. It also enhances understanding about the CHT’s unique legal and administrative system that has no parallel in other parts of Bangladesh.

Publication Details

Published: 2000
Language: English
Hardback: 121 pages
Editor: Philip Gain
Price: Tk.500 / US$20

Discrepancies in Census and Socio-economic Status of Ethnic Communities 

Discrepancies in Census and Socio-economic Status of Ethnic Communities 

Dec 22, 2000 | Adivasis and Forests

Analysis of the discrepancies in the census of ethnic communities.
2000, English, 73 pages,  Paperback | Tk.150 / US$5 

Undercounting of the Adivasis of Bangladesh, grouped in at least 27 communities, is an often-heard complaint. The survey of the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD) substantiates this complaint. According to the SEHD survey on the Adivasis in five thanas (sub-district) the margin of error in the government population census of 1991 has been found to be 14.89%.

The five thanas covered under the survey are Bhaluka in Mymensingh District, Jhenaigati in Sherpur District, Kamalganj in Moulvibazar District, Ghoraghat in Dinajpur District, and Godagari in Rajshahi District. The survey was conducted from November 1996 to March 1997.

The ethnic communities found in the five thanas are Santal, Monipuri, Oraon, Koch, Garo, Rajbangshi, Munda, Khasi, Paharia, Hajong, Mahato, Tripura, Chakma, and a few other smaller communities.

According to the 1991 census, the total ethnic population in five thanas was enumerated at 43,219, which was 4.8% of the total of 8,98,485 people. If an average population growth is estimated at 2% per annum from 1991 to 1997, the ethnic population in the five thanas would have been 48,403 in 1997. But the SEHD findings in 1997 recorded the ethnic population in the five thanas at 56,872 indicating a margin of error by 14.89%. However, the margin of error is not uniform in all thanas. In Bhaluka the margin is 55.68%, which is 26.96% in Jhenaigati, 18.52% in Kamalganj, and 5.64% in Ghoraghat. The margin of error in Godagari was found to be a negative one [with 2.78%].

The survey also exposes important information about socio-economic conditions of the Adivasis such as their literacy, land question, access to common property, safe drinking water and other necessities.

The SEHD findings recommend that the government authorities responsible for official census take note of the discrepancies in the official census that the SEHD survey has identified so that such discrepancies are eliminated. The SEHD findings also suggest that generation of further information about numbers and socio-economic conditions through study, research, and analysis will play a key role in understanding the Adivasis of Bangladesh.

Publication Details

Published: 2000
Language: English
Paperback: 73 pages
Editors: Philip Gain, Shishir Moral & Snigdha Emelda Tigga
Price: Tk.150 / US$5