BANGLADESH ENVIRONMENT: FACING THE 21ST CENTURY is a citizen-based country report on the state of Bangladesh's environment. SEHD published its first edition in 1998 and the second 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.
In recent times enthusiasm about the environment has been enormous and there exist many reports and books on Bangladesh's environment. But "Unfortunately, a comprehensive and balanced analysis of our environmental issues that is easily comprehensible to the average reader is not easy to come by. The just-published excellent compendium under the title, BANGLADESH ENVIRONMENT: FACING THE 21ST CENTURY, edited by Philip Gain and published by the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD), will fill that void," wrote eminent writer and educationist, AM Sharafuddin, in a newspaper review of the first edition of the report.
The report with 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 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.
The sections on agriculture, fisheries, forestry, wildlife biodiversity and genetic resources illustrate how modern agriculture can damage soil and the farmers' knowledge systems; how and why the forests of Bangladesh have quickly vanished; and how mistaken development approaches and activities have caused destruction of much of the wildlife biodiversity and genetic resources.
Energy, industrialization and industrial pollution, air pollution and disasters are a cluster of issues that concern Bangladesh and its people in their daily life. Heavy dependence on traditional energy resources has long been concerning because it contributes to resource depletion and deforestation. Despite its size, the industrial sector causes enormous environmental problems. Inferior technology, threat of industrial waste, banned or condemned chemicals and pesticides, indiscriminate discharge of wastes into water sources have posed serious problems. Air pollution, particularly in Dhaka city has become menacing. Disasters, apart from the natural ones, are sometimes linked with ill-planned industrialization and development interventions. Pollution from tanneries right in the heart of the capital city Dhaka is an example of how ill-planned industrialization and inferior technology can become disastrous. A new chapter on arsenic [in the second edition] briefly discusses the causes and expanse of arsenic contamination of ground water and how people can protect themselves from arsenic poisoning.
Reports on jute and polythene, habitat and selected environmental issues provide additional information and try to make up the inadequacies in the previous sections. A section discusses the environmental laws that are intended to provide safety-net and how these laws can be of help for the protection of the environment. The last section of the book takes into account how different citizens' groups, government agencies, donors and political parties respond to the environmental issues and problems.
A list of selected private, non-government, government, and international organizations dealing with environment has also been annexed at the end of the report.
Contributing writers: Prof. Raquib Ahmed, Prof. Haroun Er Rashid, Prof. MM Akash, Prof. M. Salar Khan, Mr. M. Anisuzzaman Khan, Mr. Moazzem Hossen, Mr. Afsan Chowdhury, Dr. Mohiuddin Farooque, Ms. Rizwana Hasan, Mr. Philip Gain, Mr. Shishir Moral, Ms. Priscilla Raj, Mr. FMA Salam, Ms. Rumana Siddique, Mr. Mostafa Kamal Majumder, Dr. K. Ikhtyar Omar, Ms. Karin Gregow, Ms. Farida Akhter, Mohammod Joynal Abedeen, Mr. Hossain Shahriar, Mr. Masud Kamal, Dr. Yusuf Sharif Ahmed Khan, Mr. Sahidullah Lipon, Mr. Ruhul Matin, Ms. Q.A.Tahmina, Mr. Shafiul Alam, Mr. Uttam Kumar Das, Mr. Goutam Buddha Mondal, Mr. Gouranga Nandy, Mr. Shafiqul Islam Chowdhury, Mr. A. Halim, Mr. Humayun Kabir, Mr. Rafiqul Islam Sabuj, Ms. Najma Ali, Ms. Lucille Sircar and Md. Kamruzzaman.
Editing by Philip Gain
Published 1998 (first edition) and 2002 (second edition)
341 pages in offset Price: Tk.600 US$20
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