Yet another impact that the unplanned, scattershot urbanization of our capital city has had is on its overall population of crows -- where once the city echoed the cawing of crows, that sound has now been replaced by the unending blaring of car horns and of rampant construction work.
While this may not appear as an immediate detriment to the average citizen, the drastically lower number of crows in Dhaka paints a dire picture on the state of the city’s rapidly homogenizing ecology Due to drastic changes in habitat and a shortage of food, ceaseless urbanization, and the vigorous rise of mobile towers strewn across rooftops, many animals -- most noticeably crows -- are on the brink of extinction in Dhaka.
To say that this is disheartening would be underselling the severity of the prevailing situation.
The state of our capital city’s overall urbanization has clearly been without a concrete plan, which is further exacerbated by the division of the city’s administration into two distinct city corporations. We witnessed last year how the Dhaka South City Corporation completely picked an entire strip of Dhanmondi’s Satmasjid Road clean of trees in the ill-conceived pursuit of “beautification” -- such actions invariably affect the overall ecology of the city as it means less refuge for birds and animals.
As a nation that is championing the fight against climate change, it behooves Bangladesh to be far more environmentally conscious when it comes to our own country. Yes, our carbon footprint is nowhere near that of most other countries, but the way the government is allowing unchecked urbanization to take root shows a clear disregard for the environment or indeed any living creature.
This needs to change.
The slow disappearance of crows within the city is emblematic of our wider problems with rapid urbanization. Yes, urbanization is indeed inevitable, especially given our long-term economic ambitions, but that urbanization can be carried out conscientiously in keeping the well-being of all living beings in mind.