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Development of Environmental Law and Policy in Bangladesh: An Overview

Noor Mohammad

Abstract


Bangladesh achieved her independence in 1971 from the West Pakistan, which was a legacy of the British Colonial authorities as whole. Since the independence, it is observed that the Government of Bangladesh was very aware about the environmental conservation issue. After few years passed, the Government passed ‘the Environment Pollution Control Ordinance, 1977. Later on, the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995 due to its inadequacy repealed this law. In nineties, some severe environment pollutions relating to air, water, soil and food, deforestation, soil degradation, biodiversity, loss of ecosystems, draught etc; were found to over population, over harvest and degradation of resources, unplanned industrial development and management, indiscriminate use of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizer, improper management of solid waste in urban areas, unwise use of ground water etc. Therefore, the Government formulated and passed the Environment Policy, 1992; Environment Action Plan, 1992 etc.; covering all sectors such as the forestry, fisheries, agriculture, urbanization, population, science and technology, legal aspects etc. In order to proper implement and execute of the environmental issues, the Government passed the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995; the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Rules 1997 and the Environment Courts Act 2000 etc. The judiciary in Bangladesh is also healthy to the environment by applying and encouraging the public interest litigation and gradually developing in this regard. Some environmental non-governmental organizations also have been working in this field along with the help of civil society. In addition, the Government passed some important international environmental initiatives such as the Rio declaration 1992, the Stockholm Conference 1972; the UNFCCC 1992, Kyoto Protocol 1987, Johannesburg Conference 2002 to tackle the external and internal environmental problems of the country. However, the study finds that there are some constraints and problems such as the non-coordination, shortage of expertise, lack of commitments, corruption etc., in this regard. These problems should be solved by enacting co-coordinating Act and developing other mechanism as suggested in the study. The study examines and provides an overview the development of the environmental laws and policy in Bangladesh including the sectoral laws and based on the primary and secondary sources.

Keywords


Environmental Law and Policy

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