One of the lesser discussed problems that is affecting our environment is the unethical practice of hill-cutting, or hill-razing, which relates to demolishing hills by excavating soil from hilly areas to pave the way for land development. This practice has been proven to be incredibly detrimental for the environment, and requires strict government approval under unavoidable circumstances.
Despite the prohibition, hill-cutting without any form of approval is still an incredibly frequent phenomenon and when the perpetrators themselves are aligned with the government it sets a dangerous precedent -- and a recent case of a ruling party leader who engaged in hill-cutting to construct a cottage and roadway in Bandarban attests to that.
Pleading ignorance on environmental laws and policies or even trying to finagle out of the consequences based on technicalities should not be tolerated. Unplanned and hasty urbanization has already taken an immense toll on our environment, and unless the government puts its foot down against unscrupulous practices such as hill-cutting -- that too at the hands of their own rank and file -- then all is lost.
From illegal tree felling to river encroachment and now hill-cutting, there appears to be an invisible war being waged by government officials in Bangladesh, who appear to be misguided at best and utterly corrupt at worst.
The minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, earlier this year, urged for an immediate end to the cutting of hills and hillocks -- our government officials need to take this to heart. Bangladesh is one of the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world and a vanguard in the fight against climate change, we cannot win that fight if we keep shooting ourselves in the foot.
Despite the prohibition, hill-cutting without any form of approval is still an incredibly frequent phenomenon and when the perpetrators themselves are aligned with the government it sets a dangerous precedent -- and a recent case of a ruling party leader who engaged in hill-cutting to construct a cottage and roadway in Bandarban attests to that.
Pleading ignorance on environmental laws and policies or even trying to finagle out of the consequences based on technicalities should not be tolerated. Unplanned and hasty urbanization has already taken an immense toll on our environment, and unless the government puts its foot down against unscrupulous practices such as hill-cutting -- that too at the hands of their own rank and file -- then all is lost.
From illegal tree felling to river encroachment and now hill-cutting, there appears to be an invisible war being waged by government officials in Bangladesh, who appear to be misguided at best and utterly corrupt at worst.
The minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, earlier this year, urged for an immediate end to the cutting of hills and hillocks -- our government officials need to take this to heart. Bangladesh is one of the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world and a vanguard in the fight against climate change, we cannot win that fight if we keep shooting ourselves in the foot.