The tannery industry in Hazaribagh (relocated to Savar from 2017), a densely populated area in Dhaka city, is a fitting example of how industrial wastes in some instances can be dangerous and disastrous. Of the 270 tannery units, 90% were located on 25 ha of land in Hazaribagh. The physical look and smell of the area is frightening and annoying. Trimmed leather, pieces of flesh from cow and buffalo hides, hair, liquid and solid wastes generated at different stages of production are spread and piled all over Hazaribagh in large quantities. Slabbed by the Dhaka protection embankment, the large quantities of wastes, both solid and liquid­, are accumulated in the low land on the east side of Hazaribagh. Liquid waste makes its way on the other side of the embankment round the clock. This liquid waste ultimately goes into the water of the Buriganga River and causes immense harm to the fish and other species in water. Toxic materials in liquid waste seep into the surrounding cropland and underground water. Eventually, the tannery waste poisons the soil, water and air round the clock. Tannery wastes also poison the health, houses and utensils of those situated around.

The environment inside the tannery factories is also obnoxious. The machinery used in the small and the medium sized tanneries are obsolete in the industrialised countries. Many of the chemicals used in these tanneries are very harmful for human health and any life form. A portion of these chemicals is disposed of as waste, which mixes into the water and soil. The labourers in the tanneries normally work with bare hands and feet and do not wear protective masks. There is ample evidence of the fatal impact of these chemicals on those working in the tanneries.

Leather Industry: Environmental Pollution and Mitigation Measures is the result of a one-year survey, study and laboratory tests. The report documents unprecedented environmental pollution in the tannery industry and compiles recommendations for mitigating pollution.

Publication Details
Published: 1998
Language: English and Bangla
Paperback: 68 pages
Compiled by: FMA Salam and Shah Md. Billah
Price: Tk.100 / US$5

Note: The tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar has been relocated. But waste treatment remains a big challenge. The Central Treatment Plant (CEP) has not been operational and all the wastes are being dumped into the river and inside.  

The atlas is intended for conservationists, scientists, journalists, forest and law enforcing authorities, NGOs, legal resource users, boatmen, tourist companies, guides and visitors. They are provided with names and locations of creeks, rivers, islands, landmarks, and stations for all 55 Forest Compartments in Bangladesh, compiled from historical and more recent maps. This facilitates communication and orientation in the vast mangrove forest. Most of the names were collected in British time from local sources and got then transcribed into English. Here, the names are given in two languages, in English as well as re-transcribed into Bengali, along with local deviations. The Sundarbans Atlas contains also an index gazetteer for tracing the origin of each name and for finding the places in the compartment maps. The lines shown in the maps are minutely scanned contours derived from satellite images.

     Enabling various people and communities in the Sundarbans, outsiders and insiders, to communicate more easily with each other, the authors and publisher hope to build a bridge over troubled waters and social barriers. The Sundarbans needs close corporation of all concerned groups to meet the challenges of the future.

     A folded outline map of the entire Sundarbans (India and Bangladesh) is found in the pocket at the end of the book and should help to imagine the total extent of this huge transboundary forest to the west beyond the national border.

Together with the Sundarbans, the world’s largest contiguous mangrove forest, the coast of Bangladesh is one of the top wonders in nature. Nowhere else in the coasts do people live with man-eating tigers like the people of the southwestern part of Bangladesh. The people living in the coastal districts and islands witness some of the most devastating storms and cyclones that hit periodically. During the past few decades these storms and cyclones have taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the coasts and have caused enormous damages to the biomass that the mangroves sustain. Aside from natural calamities, man-made disasters have also caused serious damage to the coasts and the unique mangroves.

The book, Shores Of Tear edited by Philip Gain and published by the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD) compiles reports, features, and scientific analyses that explain the ever-changing coasts of Bangladesh, its characteristics, and the threats it faces.

Different articles of the book deal with the unique coastal geography, life and struggle of the coastal communities, impacts of two recent storms and cyclone (Sidr and Aila), consequences of prawn aquaculture, scientific analysis of biomass loss of the Sundarbans caused by Sidr, mangroves and key underlying factors for their destruction, the extent and aspects of human-tiger conflict in the Sundarbans forest, and the mitigation measures to combat damages done or may be done due to human actions and climate change effects.

The key message this book communicates is that the shores of Bangladesh are in a sorry state. Natural calamities are inevitable. They hit, kill, and devastate. However, nature recovers from such damages eventually. But the exploitation and disasters that man has inflicted upon the shores seem to be irreversible. This needs to be reversed as much as possible.

Contributors to the Book:  S.G. Hussain, Philip Gain, Abdullah F. Rahman, Bassil El-Masri, A.H.M. Ali Reza, Gertrud Neumann-Denzau, Helmut Denzau, Shekhar Kanti Ray, Partha Shankar Saha, Shanjida Khan Ripa, Ainud Sony, Tania Sultana, and Sabrina Miti Gain.

Publication Details

Published: 2013
Language: English
Paperback: 134 pages
Editor: Philip Gain
Price: Tk.200 / US$5

The local people felt deceived in not being clearly told by the government and the company that an open-cut mine was being planned and they did not see pragmatic approaches for compensation and how to handle an open-cut mine in a densely populated and an agriculturally very productive area.

As time passed, in 2006, the discontent began to heighten. The day, 26 August 2006, was sort of the final day when at least fifty thousand people took to the streets of Phulbari town. The people’s demonstration with sticks and musical instruments in hand was peaceful and unprecedented. It was surprising that the security personnel, all on a sudden, began to shoot, teargas and to baton-charge the demonstrators. Three people were shot dead and many injured. This led to stronger resistance. The company officials had to leave Phulbari and the government came to an agreement with the people represented by the National Committee to Protect Oil Gas Mineral Resources Port and Power.

This was a dramatic development in the history of the resistance movement in Bangladesh. The people’s power was vividly demonstrated. In one section of this compendium, SEHD reports, relevant facts, analyses, images, Prof. Anu Muhammad’s anatomy of the people’s resistance movement, and British mine expert Roger Moody’s critique of Asia Energy’s Environment and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for the Phulbari coal mine project have been put together. This section of the book helps understand the sentiment of people of Phulbari mine area and the factors that underlie the grassroots revolt.

With the Phulbari coal mine, the local communities and the whole nation is in a crisis and dilemma. In the face of many energy challenges with a very low per capita commercial energy use, the coal is an important discovery for the energy solution. Now how do we seek a balance in this situation? Contributions from some experts on energy help the laity understand energy issues and possibly help form informed opinions, very important in a country like Bangladesh.

Prof. Badrul Imam, Prof. Ijaz Hossain, and Sajed Kamal present overview and analyses on the energy status in Bangladesh, crisis and the factors behind; energy efficiency potentials in Bangladesh; and revolutionary scope of renewable energy.

A brief review of selected literature and documentary films on energy, web resources and a glossary also add value to this compendium. We trust this compendium will make people think and act prudently in dealing with energy issues.

Contributors to the Book: Prof. Badrul Imam, Prof. Ijaz Hossain, Anu Muhammad, Philip Gain, Roger Moody, Sajed Kamal, Partha Shankar Saha, Aneeka Malik, Shekhar Kanti Ray, Tania Sultana, and Ainud Sony.

This publication introduces the coalition, Bangladesh Water and Food Security Partnership (BWFSP) and its activities. The coalition is comprised of six Bangladeshi non-government organizations that all partner with ICCO, a Dutch development agency. Each of the BWFSP members has its unique work area, but the issues they address are inter-related.

Six organizations and their issues as part of the partnership programs are:
BCAS – promoting the role of the poor women in coping with the drinking water crisis in drought prone villages in its work area in Rajshahi District.
RDRS – introducing pariza rice contributing to food security.
UST – contributing to food security through organic farming that reinforces the significance of saving nature by avoiding chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
UBINIG – focusing on biodiversity-based ecological agriculture for water and food sovereignty of the people.
SEHD – exposing the underlying factors for the destruction of the Modhupur sal forest, promoting the rights of the indigenous peoples to land and forests, and engaging the indigenous communities in ecological farming.
GBK – promoting and engaging in simple cost effective economic activity through rabbit culture that helps the poor by increasing their income

The write-ups are telling of a commitment that these organizations make towards securing access of the poor, marginal and indigenous communities to food and water. This is a difficult commitment to fulfil in Bangladesh, a country of around 164 million people with approximately 40% poor and 20 extremely poor. These realities make it obvious that development actors, government, donor communities and the common man must work hand in hand.

Publication Details

Published: 2010
Language: English
Paperback: 66 pages
Editor: Philip Gain
Price: Tk.100 / US$3