Progress in Bangladesh (no surprise)
As goes Bangladesh, so goes the world...

DHAKA, June 9 (OneWorld) - Air and water pollution coupled with human encroachment in Bangladesh's forests are destroying flora and fauna and endangering the country's long-term economic sustainability, warn environment experts. A World Bank study estimates that at least 15,000 people have died of diseases caused by air pollution in four major cities — Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi -- and an estimated 6.5 million people suffer from acute respiratory infections. The Asian Development Bank puts the economic cost of such deaths and illnesses at US $800 million a year.

According to the Department of Fisheries, as many as eight species of fishes have become extinct and the existence of nearly 42 species is threatened in Bangladesh's rivers due to pollution, the loss of habitat and excessive fishing.
In the last century, five out of 650 bird species in Bangladesh were wiped out, and many fear the rate of extinction will accelerate in the years to come, especially because of the loss of habitat. In and around Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, the Environment Department found nearly zero levels of oxygen in the rivers Buriganga, Shitalakhya and Turag in recent times.

According to the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authorities, the ground water table -- the source of drinking water for one third of this city's 10 million people -- has become contaminated with harmful bacteria. The reason? Huge amounts of human excreta have been left untreated for years, allowing harmful bacteria like e-coli to seep into the sub-soil water reservoir. Warns the municipal body's chief ANH Akhter Hossain, "We discovered e-coli in the groundwater of Old Dhaka and Narayanganj. This is a big threat to residents of the city." The virus causes gastrointestinal diseases.

The Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authorities' lone waste treatment plant treats just about 30,000 cubic meters of waste a day, despite having the capacity to treat 120,000 cubic meters. This is because excreta does not reach the facility due to poorly maintained sewerage lines. Consequently, most of the human waste generated daily is left for nature to take care of. In addition, arsenic poisoning is prevalent in ground water tables across Bangladesh. Experts say 85 million people are exposed to drinking water contaminated by arsenic.

Says professor Anawarul Islam of the zoology department of the University of Dhaka, "Our future is very uncertain because our social and natural environments are in danger due to pollution and unplanned land use." Islam claims human beings are endangering about half the country's 1,600 vertebrata species and several of its 5,000 types of flora, mainly by encroaching on their habitat and poaching.

Ainun Nishat, country director of the World Union for Conservation (IUCN), Bangladesh, projects a bleaker picture. "Not only are we polluting water resources, we are also facing the great danger of a rise in sea water due to global warming." He points out that since Bangladesh's entire eco-system is river and sea based, pollution of the water bodies would drastically impact the ecological and economic health of the country, apart from causing a variety of diseases.

- nostradamusfunkadelic, 11:13 AM | |