Editorial
Environment under threat
Wetlands disappear from landscape
The real estate industry has emerged as a major challenge to the environment. At least that is the case for most marshlands around the Dhaka-Mawa highway. Without batting an eyelid on existing laws and regulations with regards to environmental protection, land developers are busy filling up the majority of wetlands and natural water bodies in the area.
As per newspaper reports, we are seeing thousands of acres of land being filled up and made ready for construction in Srinagar and Lauhagonj in Munshiganj district. With signboards advertising the future plans for one "city" or another, sticking out of many remaining water bodies and claiming ownership, one can only imagine how long before these too disappear from the landscape! It is not only water bodies and marshland that are under threat, farmers are being uprooted at will, either by force or compelled to sell their property at dictated prices. With authorities strangely silent on the issue, the practice continues unabated.
According to one study, some 10,000 acres of wetland have been transformed into housing projects over a decade (1999 – 2010). The preceding decade saw the loss of 13,000 acres. With croplands, wetlands, and rivers either disappearing or being forced to change direction to accommodate these "developments", it is hardly surprising that flood mitigation problems are facing problems. Unless the government is serious about enforcing laws it has enacted, like the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995 (as amended in 2010), neither the environment nor agriculture can be saved from disaster in the long run.
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