The Awami League has highlighted various promises to protect the country's environment in its manifesto for the upcoming election.
Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the manifesto at Pan Pacific Hotel Sonargaon in Dhaka on Wednesday.
She said Delta Plan-2100 is an adaptation-based technical and economic master plan, which has considered the effects of water resources management, land use, environment, and climate change, and its interaction on the development results.
The party mentioned that this plan has been formulated as the key to the future development of Bangladesh with the advice and cooperation of the European country Netherlands.
The vision of the plan is to develop safe, prosperous deltas resilient to climate change.
The mission of the master plan is to adopt robust, integrated, and time-changing effective strategies, and to ensure equitable water management, addressing natural disasters, climate change impacts, and other delta-related issues to ensure long-term water and food security, economic growth, and environmental stability.
In line with national development, Delta Plan-2100 aims to:
- Eradicate extreme poverty by 2030
- Achieving upper-middle income country status by 2030
- Achieving the status of a prosperous country by 2040.
Delta Plan-2100 has six desired goals. These are:
- Ensuring security from floods and climate change-related disasters
- Ensure significant water efficiency and safe water
- Ensuring integrated and sustainable river basin and estuary management
- Ensuring the conservation of climate and ecosystems and its appropriate use
- Building effective institutions and good governance for the sound management of intra- and inter-regional water resources
- Ensuring optimal integrated use of land and water resources.
The manifesto says that to control the negative impact of plastic products on the environment, the use of environmentally friendly and biodegradable plastic will be made mandatory in the use of plastic products.
It also said that 10,000 megawatts of electricity will be produced from clean energy. The process of modernizing the grid to transmit electricity generated by renewable and nuclear power plants has started. Vigorous efforts will be taken to achieve a 20% share of renewable energy in the country's total energy by 2041.
Besides, rational use of surface water will be ensured.
The party promises that effective measures will be continued to protect the country's forest resources, forest creation, wildlife, guest birds, and other biodiversity with priority on forest conservation of the Sundarbans and Chittagong Hill Tracts.
According to the manifesto, measures will be taken to expand irrigation facilities, and curb salinity, and alleviate freshwater scarcity in the Sundarbans and other river basin areas.
The Awami League said that short and long-term projects will be taken up to protect the natural environment of the vast Haor and Bhati regions of the country.
Besides, efforts will be made to achieve a fair partnership in the Saptakoshi project with Nepal and India.