As the world goes madly behind economic development it fails to notice the harm done to environment by the development activities. As it is true that the need for economic development is undeniable it is also true that if we continue the development without concerning the environment the result will be rather harmful.

Bangladesh is endowed with a unique natural resource base. About 80% of the country consists of floodplains and wetlands with over 300 rivers in the riverine network that sustains rare wildlife, flora and fauna and distinctive but diverse ecological systems across the country.These systems range from the unique mangrove forests of the Sundarbans in the Southwest (a world heritage) to coastal and marine ecosystems in the deep South deep natural water basins called ?haors? and ?baors? in the Northeast which remain inundated for half of the year and has a unique but changing ecology arid area in the upper mid-section to hill tracts in the Southeast and flat sandy or marshy riverine deltas in the middle down to South.

More than 700 kms of coastline in the South has a population of over 35 million who are most vulnerable to cyclones, tidal surges and salinity ingress. Floods are a regular phenomena as part of Bangladesh?s normal hydrological cycle and usually affects 22-30% of the country.The changing climate over the past 3-4 decades together with the changing and shifting pattern of rainfall has increased both the intensity and frequency of floods, cyclones, and droughts.

Although Bangladesh being an underdeveloped country has very little or no share in causing global warning, there are certain environmental violations going on inside the country that is causing negative impacts on the country?s economy. The natural environment has been under continuous pressure due to various human activities directed to modern development. The major drive for development involving founding of infrastructural facilities, large industrial factories, and mechanization of agriculture were initiated in the early sixties. Though Bangladesh has not achieved the desired infrastructural and industrial development, a lot of damage has already been caused to the local environment from such development efforts. This is largely because of poor planning and failure to incorporate environment in designing of projects. Industrial wastes are now a major source of both air and water pollution in the country. Introduction of mechanized irrigation, chemical fertilizer, and pesticides to boost rice production for an expanding population are increasingly being identified with contamination of both surface and ground water as well as loss of bio-resources including fish. Lifting of underground water for irrigation on a massive scale has led to mineralization, degradation of soil properties and consequently lower yield of crops. Rapid urbanization and concentration of population in some large cities especially the capital city of Dhaka over the past two decades has emerged as a serious environmental threat. Urban air pollution in the large cities has already taken serious turn due to rise in the number of motor vehicles most of which are inefficient causing emission of pollutants. Bangladesh has experienced a high rate of deforestation over the years through conversion forest areas into cropland, human settlement, industrial estates etc. This has led to serious environmental problems and natural imbalance including erosion, siltation, and degradation of soil fertility and increasing natural calamities like floods and draughts. Scarcity of land and other resources fail to cope with an expanding demand for basic facilities like housing, water supply, and sanitation. Human health is exposed to threatening challenges owing to poor environmental conditions. The ship breaking business and the salinity of the south western region of Bangladesh due to unplanned shrimp farming is burning example of this.  But the environmental governance mechanism still remains very weak. Moreover they developed countries have been putting more and more importance towards green economy. If Bangladesh does not adopt green economy there are chances that Bangladesh will face isolation in the global economy. so, it?s time Bangladesh takes the ?green? way to development.