The pandemic provides us an opportunity to consider a new recovery path that can decouple economic development and environmental degradation. It becomes more essential as Bangladesh sees opportunities in the international call to diversify the supply chain, and its internal call for self-reliance. To do so, we must strengthen our production and manufacturing functionality.
Bangladeshi urban areas are among the most polluted in the world, and the country has a very low standard of living. Simultaneously, any discussion of additional production capacity, mining, utilities, and construction raises concerns of where we're going wrong.
We have all of the necessary environmental legislation, but the biggest gap is in monitoring and enforcing them.
Consider the disposal of solid waste regulations. The regulations' current status is visible to all, two decades after they went into effect. A more recent regulation, centered on Extended Producer Responsibility, has also presented monitoring and implementation challenges. The judiciary recently ruled not only against the industry, but also against the officials responsible for enforcing the laws.
This is not going to help us maximize on the current opportunity. Governmental facilities are intended to serve as a trust bridge between the community and industry. If the bridge is unstable, the community and industry suffer, and the impact eventually spreads to the country.
Unless there are very serious issues, no community wants an industrial facility, a major economic machine, to close. Besides an unfortunate incident, issues of that kind do not occur in a single day. When early warning signs from the environment are ignored, they can lead to a community uprise. The political system then steps in. It is a battle that no one can win. Even as a nation, we have exhibited an inability to demonstrate long-term growth.
Reducing regulatory standards is not a solution; in the long run, it will have more negative consequences, leading to a greater community upsurge. The emphasis must be on improving the system's ability to monitor and implement regulatory requirements. Greater transparency and accountability are required, and there is no shortage of technology to facilitate this.
We are also debating another issue of extreme surveillance all over the world. Because someone is always watching, pinpointing, noticing, or identifying, the problem should be easy. However, what happens next is a challenge. It is critical to have the intention and ability to act, rectify, and diffuse.
The correct ecosystem between the industry, community, and regulator is critical -- if the three stakeholders remain isolated and only become active during a crisis, we will not make any progress toward solving the problem.
We need an alliance, or increased trust, between the regulator, the community, and industry when it comes to environmental safeguard. The traditional approach of waiting for an agitation, investigating, and then knocking on the doors of justice is not a path to long-term development.
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Any human impact has consequences. It is critical to understand whether we have a net positive effect from the perspectives of all stakeholders, including coming generations. I previously stated that the solution is to decouple economic development and environmental degradation. Nevertheless, it would be more accurate to say that we must balance growth with protection of the environment. In the future, environmental health will be a critical enabler of socioeconomic growth.
It is essential that we get this privilege as soon as possible.
Community activism regarding damage to the environment is increasing, and we will see more court judgments. In the long run, no one benefits from such results. We need to develop in order to progress, and we need industries to do so. There are more agitations when trust between the industry and the community deteriorates.
I am not trying to subvert the role of industry and the community by focusing on the bridge component of the legal mechanism. Industry must recognize that it is a component of an ecosystem, rather than the core of it. Communities are affected in both positive and negative ways. They must educate themselves in order to be free of the agendas of individuals with vested interests.
We must recognize that implementing environmental rules will be difficult. The community does not believe the industry is meeting its compliance obligations. The role of the regulatory system is to increase this trust quotient. A more effective implementation encompassing all stakeholders, as well as a clearer monitoring system, is required. Thus, an alliance system is required.
We have a good chance of establishing a new normal as we intend our recovery from the pandemic. We must unite behind a common purpose and set of goals. We must not pass up this opportunity.
Afsana Rubaiyat is a freelance contributor.
