AN OVERVIEW OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS IN BANGLADESH.by Sumit Chowdhury | 04-06-2018 23:42 |
|---|
 Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. It is the equitable distribution of environmental risks and benefits; fair and meaningful participation in environmental decision-making; An alternative meaning, used in social sciences, of the term "justice" is "the distribution of social goods" The world community is very much concerned with the environmental degradation since 1850s. Many initiatives such as creation of the UNO, ASIAN, SARRC, EU, OAS, OAU etc have been taking in this regard. But the environmental context of Bangladesh is environmentally rich and known as greening country. At present, its tradition and heritage have been facing with numerous environmental problems such as air pollution, water pollution, exploitation of natural resources etc. Around 200 environmental laws directly or indirectly related to environment, in Bangladesh. These laws are almost scattered. However, the government of Bangladesh has passed some remarkable environmental laws such as the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995, the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Rules 1997, the Environment Court 2000 along with some policy such as Environment Policy 1995 and Environment Action Plan 1997 repealing the Environment Control Ordinance 1997. In the mean time, the judiciary of Bangladesh is also quite active for administering of justice to all including the flora and fauna. Some constitutional obligations may be discussed in this regard. Moreover, the government of Bangladesh is also very conscious about the environmental conservation issues. Very recently, the Government passed the Environment Conservation (Amendment) Act 2010 updating the all provisions in this regard. UNESCO also declared some areas such as the Sundarban, as heritage sites in Bangladesh. But it regrets that these laws and policies have not been properly implemented due to some problems such as non coordination, weak enforcement, customary attitudes etc. Source: ebscohost
|
