Chapter One

Introduction
1.1 Background

At the beginning of the human civilization, science and technology tends to be advanced. When
science and technology developed day by day, the environment started to get polluted. Now
Bangladesh is experiencing serious environmental degradation. Absence of environmental
planning is one of the main cause of environmental degradation. In many respect, the situation has
reached crisis proportions. Several factories of Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable to
environmental damage. Peoples are now giving importance to environment for survival. Because
environmental degradation threaten all development endeavor. There are many kinds of pollution
causing threat to our development, Such as: Arsenic contamination of ground water, floods and
dying of river, industrial and medical waste, household waste, chemical run off to surface water
bodies, noise pollution, deforestation, loss of bio-diversity etc. In our country, a large number of
populations are not aware of environment. In Bangladesh 44.7% of our people live below the
poverty line (Bangladesh economic review, 2000). Their awareness about environment is very
low.

In fact, the poverty stricken people contribute mostly to environment pollution. On the other hand,
the civil societies are much more conscious about environment. Bangladesh is making some efforts
to confront environmental problems. However, these efforts are not proving adequate for the
challenges. The intelligentsia and members of the civil society will have to play a leading role in
building up the necessary social movement, which will help to control environmental degradation.

1.2 Defining civil society

Civil society is the organized group who spontaneously meet together to achieve their civic rights
from the govt. This society delivers their opinion to the govt. against any authority that illegally
interferes to the civic rights. They also deliver their opinion about what will be the govt. role in
this respect. The civil society may be any organization, professional association, pressure group
etc. This society may be permanent or temporary or may be formed by on any issue. Civil society
can be formed on any issue on any time, such as about education, health, employment, game,
election conservation etc. Even they can give opinion on any international and national issue also.

Civil society plays an important role as a mediator between govt. and individual. On any special
case civil society plays a vital role to minimize the coordination between govt. and public. The
civil society delivers their opinion to govt. about any social, economic, political and cultural issues.
And if necessary, this society tries to motivate govt. on that particular issue.

Non-governmental organizations refers to independent non-profit groups of citizens that build on

voluntarism and whose activities generally have an altruistic purpose have a long history. Many
of the educational or social services provided by the state in modern secular societies were in
earlier times provided by churches and religious orders (for example, the medieval Christian
church in Europe from 1200). The earliest example of the modern type of NGO was the
International Committee of the Red Cross, formed in Switzerland in 1865 (Toulmin 1994). Since
World War II there has been a continuous growth in the number and variety of NGOs.

Many NGOs are viewed as being free of ulterior motives-grinding no axes, acting according to
equitable principles rather than favoring one country or group over another, speaking not for any
government but for the people, and so on. Some international NGOs have the ability to mobilize
responses around the world through their advocacy of humanitarian, environmental, medical, or
human rights causes (Toulmin 1994).

Civil society is defined as referring to the arena of “uncovered collective action around shared
interests, purposes and values” by the Centre for Civil Society of the London School of Economics
(London School of Economics 2004), and includes, along with the more traditional NGOs, trade
unions, business associations, some research institutes, grassroots organizations, women’s groups,
and others. Its role has evolved and expanded due to political trends causing a diminishing of “big
government” across the world. It has also contributed to greater participation of non-government
stakeholders in the policy arena. In developing countries, grassroots organizations and NGOs have
been encouraged to scale up their operations to take on delivering services that would normally be
the responsibility of the state (Zazueta 1995). This has usually resulted from the government’s lack
of ability to provide basic facilities such as health and education. Holmes and Scoones (2000)
observe that since the 1980s, these organizations have begun to take on a greater advocacy and
collaborative role, for example demanding that citizen’s voices be heard during the formation of
government regulations and policies. According to Zazueta (1995), the role played by NGOs in
awareness raising on critical issues has expanded the environmental knowledge of the public and
policymakers alike. NGOs often bring expertise, commitment, and the public’s views of issues to
the policymaking process. They also provide early-warning and information-gathering services
that help in setting the policy agenda and carry out independent monitoring of policy
implementation. NGOs bring to policymaking a much greater range of information, perceptions,
and potential solutions than official bodies could hope to generate on their own, since they work
more closely with people on the ground. These functions are increasingly valuable to governments
in developing countries as more of them are elected by popular vote and thus depend on developing
policies to meet the needs and aspirations of the people they serve to stay in power (Tamang 1994).
According to the NGO Freedom House, 122 of the world’s 192 nations were electoral democracies
in 2006 (Puddington 2006).

Artists and
players
Media and Political
press parties

Scientists
and Professionals
researchers

Civil society
Literacy and
Professionals
cultural
associations
organization

Bureaucrates Women's Trade union

and
children's
org.

Fig: Organogram of civil society

 Chapter Two
Major Causes and Effects of Environmental Degradation
2.1 Causes of Environmental Degradation

Environmental degradation at present is a global problem. If the present century is marked by

socio- economic, scientific and technological development on the one hand, it is plagued by serious
problems of environmental problems on the other hand. Several forms of pollution are the causes
for environmental degradation.

Population
Explosion

Increasing
Discard of Civic
Number of
Norms
People

Causes of
Environmental
Multiplicity of the Degradation
Increasing
Means of
Urbanisation
Transport

More Rapid Modernisation of

Industrialisation Agriculture

Fig: Causes of Environmental Degradation

(1) Population Explosion:

One of the main causes of environmental degradation is the tendency of population explosion in
India. As a result of it, pressure of population on land has increased very much and land is being
exploited ruthlessly. Population explosion has caused large-scale deforestation to make use of the
land for:

(i) Agriculture,

(ii) Construction projects that is (a) construction of houses for urban population, (b) construction
of river-valley projects for irrigation and power supply.

(2) Increasing Number of People:

Number of persons living below the poverty line is very large in India. These people cut trees for
their subsistence and thereby exploit natural capital.

(3) Increasing Urbanization:

Tendency of urbanization has gained momentum after independence. As a result, demand for
houses and other public amenities has increased tremendously. To meet this increasing demand,
land and other natural resources have been excessively exploited.

(4) Modernization of Agriculture:

Consequent upon modernization of agriculture, effect of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has
increased very much. It has also contributed to the rise in pollution.

(5) More Rapid Industrialization:

After independence, Indian economy has witnessed rapid industrialization. It has added to air
pollution, water pollution and noise pollution.

(6) Multiplicity of the Means of Transport:

Increasing multiplicity of the means of transport, in the wake of independence, has also been
another main cause of the problem of environment. It has resulted in large-scale air and noise
pollution.
(7) Discard of Civic Norms:

General public in India is not a respecter of civic norms. People abuse it. For instance, no
cleanliness on roads, littering of roads with rubbish, drains remaining choked with silt and refuse,
excessive use of loud- speakers, etc. All these factors add to environmental pollution. In short,
whereas on the one hand,’ environment has degraded as a result of rapid industrialization and
urbanization. On the other, due to neglect of civic norms by the people, the process of pollution
has assumed a permanent character.

2.2 Effects of Environmental Degradation

1. Impact on Human Health:

Human health might be at the receiving end as a result of the environmental degradation. Areas
exposed to toxic air pollutants can cause respiratory problems like pneumonia and asthma.
Millions of people are known to have died of due to indirect effects of air pollution.

2. Loss of Biodiversity:

Biodiversity is important for maintaining balance of the ecosystem in the form of combating
pollution, restoring nutrients, protecting water sources and stabilizing climate. Deforestation,
global warming, overpopulation and pollution are few of the major causes for loss of biodiversity.

3. Ozone Layer Depletion:

Ozone layer is responsible for protecting earth from harmful ultraviolet rays. The presence of
chlorofluorocarbons, hydro chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere is causing the ozone layer to
deplete. As it will deplete, it will emit harmful radiations back to the earth.

4. Loss for Tourism Industry:

The deterioration of environment can be a huge setback for tourism industry that rely on tourists
for their daily livelihood. Environmental damage in the form of loss of green cover, loss of
biodiversity, huge landfills, increased air and water pollution can be a big turn off for most of the
tourists.
 Chapter Three
The Role of Civil Society

Environmental protection in Bangladesh had so far remained the business of only the govt.
agencies like ministry of environment and forestry and department of environment. Some NGOs
make and organization named Coalition of environmental NGOs (CEN) which are closely
involved to improve the environmental condition. The broader section of the society does not
consider the environmental problem as a major issue. In this respect, a social movement is
essential. The civil society can play the role to build up this social movement and also can lead
that social movement. The major role of civil society are stated below:

 Bureaucrats

Bureaucrats are involved in policy planning, decision making and implementation. For any
development, these issues are very important. Hence, to protect the environmental degradation we
need proper policy, proper decision and implementation. So, bureaucratese or high officials can
play a vital role.

 Political Parties

Recently environment is treated as a global issue. The developed countries are expending huge
amount of money to control the environmental degradation. The developing countries are also
giving first priority in this issue. In Bangladesh ministry of Environment and forest is responsible
to make policies and programs and the Department of Environment executes the programs of the
ministry. The political parties also can collect fund from donor’s countries.

 Media and press

The media can manage some programs, which is related with environmental degradation, and its
bad effect on plants and animals. There programs aware the people to contribute the environment.
The press can publish some feature to aware the people and arrange table talk about environment.
 Scientists and Researchers

Policy makers have called upon scientists to predict the occurrence, magnitude, and impacts of
natural and human induced environmental phenomena ranging from hurricanes and earthquakes
to global climate change and the behavior of hazardous waste. In the United States, billions of
federal dollars are spent each year on such activities. These expenditures are justified in the large
part by the belief that scientific predictions are a valuable tool for crafting environmental and
related policies.

The principle reason why decision-makers and the attentive public look to science for information
and guidance is confidence and competence of scientists as producers and custodians of advanced
and reliable knowledge. Similarly, one main reason why they often collectively accept the
conclusions produced by research as valid is confidence in scientists as ‘truth-seekers,’ strongly
committed to the professional methods and norms of scientific inquiry, and collecting and
analyzing evidence independent of any substantive interests that a government or other parties may
pursue.

 Economists

Economists can investigate the process of environmental degradation and evaluate its impact and
determine investment needs for the considerable development and work out methodology of
determination from environmental degradation. After it, they will suggest primary methods of
solving the problems.

 Sociologists

Sociologists can study interaction of individuals of groups of people with the nature and determine
its social consequences.

 Engineers

Engineers can investigate the possibility of introducing new mechanism and technology capable
of improving the environment in the country.
 Doctors

Doctors can study the condition of human and other living organisms under different
environmental conditions, their psychologically genetic changes and diseases caused by
environmental degradation. There is a voluntary civic organization in the country named Doctor
for Health and Environment (DHE). This organization is trying to mobilize the doctors for the
cause of environmental improvement.

There are others several civil society organizations who plays major roles in promoting awareness
about environmental degradation. They are:

 Literacy and cultural organizations

 Women’s and children’s organizations
 Trade Union
 Artists and players
 Non-Residence Bangladeshis

An opinion based survey research was conducted (Alam, 2018). The participants of this research
are the members of civil society. From the members of civil society, ten groups of the members
have been selected as respondents. They are Researchers, media & press, artists & sportsmen,
politicians, professionals, cultural activists, trade union members, women & children organization
members, bureaucrats and professional associations. 10 respondents from each group are selected
randomly.

Table-1 represents the average score of five statements opined by the members of civil society
regarding environmental degradation. As per table data, statement-1 obtains the average highest
score of 4.29 followed by statement-5 (4.20), statement-3 (4.09), statement-4 (4.07) and statement-
2 (4.04) respectively. It shows that depletion of water resources is the major environmental
degradation in Bangladesh while forest resources depletion is the lowest by industrial pollution.

Source: Data analysis [Note: Stat= Statement, Statement-1: Industrial pollution causes depletion
of water resources, Statement-2: Industrial pollution causes depletion of forest resources,
Satement-3: Industrial pollution causes degradation of land resources, Statement-4: Industrial
pollution causes bio-diversity reduction, Statement-5: Industrial pollution causes deterioration of
air quality.]

Table-1: Opinions of members of civil society regarding environmental degradation

Statements Statements

Members of civil Stat- Stat- Stat- Stat- Stat- Average

society 1 2 3 4 5

Researchers 4.6 4.5 4.3 4.6 4.7 4.54

Media & press 4.4 4.0 4.1 4.3 4.4 4.24

Artists & sportsmen 3.9 3.8 4.0 3.8 4.1 3.92

Politicians 4.1 3.6 3.8 3.9 4.0 3.88

Professionals 4.7 4.4 4.4 4.3 4.7 4.50

Cultural activists 4.1 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.2 4.12

Trade union 3.9 3.6 3.8 3.3 3.6 3.96

Women and children organization 4.2 4.1 4.0 3.9 3.6 3.96

Bureaucrats 4.4 4.2 4.2 4.1 4.3 4.24

Professional associations 4.6 4.2 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.07

Average 4.29 4.04 4.09 4.07 4.20 4.14

The role of civil society is measured and represented in the Table-2. In this table, members of civil
society measure the role of civil society in preventing and controlling industrial pollution.

Table-2: Role of civil society towards environmental pollution aspects

Statements

regarding pollution Stat- Stat- Stat- Stat- Stat- Stat- Stat- Stat- Stat-

prevention

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Stat-10

Members of civil

society

Researchers 3.6 1.2 4.1 2.1 1.8 1.4 2.4 2.0 2.8 1.4

Media & press 4.3 1.4 2.6 2.6 1.7 1.4 3.0 3.0 2.0 1.2

Artists & sportsmen 2.6 1.2 2.6 3.0 1.4 1.2 1.8 2.2 2.4 2.2

Politicians 2.6 2.4 2.8 2.4 2.1 3.0 2.4 2.0 2.6 2.4

Professionals 3.0 1.6 3.2 1.6 2.6 1.4 2.0 2.4 3.0 1.8

Cultural activists 1.8 1.6 2.2 1.8 1.8 1.6 1.8 3.2 2.2 1.6

Trade union 2.8 3.0 1.8 1.8 1.8 2.2 1.6 2.0 2.0 2.0

Women and children 2.7 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.0 1.3 2.0 2.4 1.8 1.4

organization

Bureaucrats 2.6 1.8 2.6 1.8 2.6 1.6 3.0 2.2 2.0 1.6

Professional associations 2.8 1.4 2.7 2.0 4.0 1.6 2.0 2.0 1.8 1.8

Average 2.88 1.76 2.67 2.13 2.18 1.67 2.20 2.34 2.26 1.74
Source: Source: Data analysis [Note: Stat= Statement, Statement-1: Media and press play vital
role , Statement-2: Trade union creates pressure, Satement-3: Researchers detect and publish
threats of pollution, Statement-4: Sportsmen create awareness, Statement-5: Professional
associations create pressure to reduce pollution, Statement-6: Politicians create pressure to
government to prevent pollution, Statement-7: Bureaucrats make plans and implement to save
environment, Statement-8: Cultural activists create awareness about environment, Statement-9:
Professionals play vital role creating awareness, Statement-10: Women and children organization
work for preventing pollution.]
 Chapter Four
Conclusion

Environmental conservation is a top most concerned issue for the world at present. Various
alliances in this regard and summit like cop-20 prove its urgency. As like as other countries,
Bangladesh is also trying to cope up with these treaties and agreements. Although Bangladesh is
a small and developing country, but geographically it is in great danger due to pollution. It is not
possible to reduce pollution only by introducing some regulations. It is essential to create
awareness among the stakeholders about the impacts of pollution. It is not only the duty of
government to create awareness towards stakeholders but also every stakeholder. One of the major
stakeholders is civil society. As we know, civil society consists of several groups such as
researchers, artists, media, cultural activists, politicians, bureaucrats etc. thus it represents the
whole society in a whole.

Considering the alarming condition, environmental degradation in Bangladesh concerted efforts

have become indispensable. It has become so acute that the future of mankind is threatened with
destruction. We must have to be careful about it and use all means to protect and develop the
environment if we want to survive at all. In this regard, civil society as whole must come forward
with their agenda along with the government for protecting environment. The overall situation
suggests that environmental protection movement is required. Such movement can effectively be
organized by the civil society in Bangladesh. In this way civil society can play a vital role to control
the environmental degradation.
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