Children should know why environmental pollution should not be done- BD Deputy Minister.
Habibun Nahar, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Bangladesh, advised the school teachers to teach “How the environment can pollute.” She said, “Children believe the words of teachers more.”
“So, if the issue can be ingrained in the children’s hearts, they can correct their parents. Air-conditioned or AC sitting in a round table meeting, which has not been done in 50 years, may be done in a few years if done this way,” she added.
She said these things in the recent speech of the chief guest at the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) dialogue entitled ‘Reducing Pollution for Greening Cities’ at BRAC Center in the capital.
She said, “If those making plastic do not understand its harm and do not move away from it, then it is difficult to stop this work. Plastics are also being produced at home with small machines.”
“Almost every person is polluting the environment; if we are incorrect, it will not be possible to reduce environmental pollution,” She added.
In the dialogue, Fahmida Khatun, executive director of CPD, said, “The country’s economic development has taken place. Development by destroying the environment will not be sustainable. Air pollution plastic pollution is increasing gradually. It hurts human health. Children are dying from various diseases due to air pollution.”
“People should be aware to prevent air and plastic pollution. It should take the initiatives by the policymakers should be communicated to the people, ” she further added.
The relevant institutions should be strengthened to implement the laws. The work should not be done by a single ministry or in isolation; it should be done in an integrated manner. To prevent environmental pollution, importance should also be given to changing people’s behavior,” she added.
At the beginning of the dialogue, CPD Research Fellow Syed Yusuf Sadat summarized a plastics and air pollution study. He said that two studies were conducted to find out the opinion of the people of 500 families of the two city corporations of Dhaka about air and plastic pollution.
The study was conducted from May 31 to June 25. Seventy-six percent of the people who participated in it think air pollution has increased in the last two or three years. Seventy-three percent of people said this about plastic. Air pollution-related illnesses cost Tk. 4,000 per person yearly to see a doctor.
Fahmida Khatun said, “Those who are directly involved in environmental pollution should be brought under punishment.
Those who will take various initiatives to prevent pollution, such as producing plastic alternative products and using renewable energy, should be encouraged in different ways. Loans should be arranged on easy terms. And no initiative will succeed if it is impossible to ensure good governance and accountability.”
In the dialogue, Acting High Commissioner of the United Kingdom in Dhaka, Matt Cannell, emphasized greening and implementing laws and policies to prevent environmental pollution.
He mentioned, “It is necessary to change people’s behavior through education, people’s participation in various activities to prevent environmental pollution and inform people.
” He said, “It will not be beneficial to work alone in Dhaka or Bangladesh to prevent environmental pollution; regional coordinated initiatives should be taken.”
World Bank health specialist Wamek A. Raja highlighted the negative impact of environmental pollution on the lives of women and children. He said air pollution is causing pneumonia, low birth weight, and premature births.
In this dialogue organized by the Green Cities Initiative of CPD, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh Professor Samia Salim, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) Legal Researcher Barish Hasan Chowdhury, participated in the discussion.
Apart from this, the representatives of various organizations presented their recommendations in the open phase of the dialogue.
