CPD-UNFPA Programme on Population
and Sustainable Development
Paper 12 (Summary)
Population and Environment in
Bangladesh:
Designing a Policy Accounting
for Linkages
Fahmida Akter Khatun
INTRODUCTION
The
link between population growth and
the environment is not simple. Population
growth contributes to the depletion
of natural resources and degrades
environmental quality, which induces
poverty and reduces human welfare.
In Bangladesh, both rapid population
growth and a degraded environment
create serious threats to the economic
development. This leads to other
serious problems such as poverty,
malnutrition and illiteracy. On
the other hand the environment is
extremely vulnerable to damage and
degradation as a result of factor
such as increasing population outstripping
the carrying capacity of the local
resources. Since the majority of
people in Bangladesh derive
their livelihoods from the use and
extraction of natural resources
the living condition in Bangladesh,
especially of the poor, becomes extremely
vulnerable to environmental damage.
Population control, migration and
poverty reduction are therefore
suggested to improve environmental
quality. However, these measures
can solve the problem only partially
and temporarily as the root of these
problems lies in unfavourable policies.
This emphasises the need for an
integrated policy, which could control
population growth and reduce poverty
as well as lead to sustainable natural
resource management. Realising the
implications of the problems and
their inter-linkages, a study was
undertaken by CPD on "Population
and Environment in Bangladesh: Designing
A Policy Accounting for Linkages"
to articulate some policy measures
which can help in gaining control over
both these problems at the same time.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
main objectives of the study were
to
-
Explore the population-environment
relationship in order to examine
how environmental degradation
affects the population and how
the people are the agents of degradation
in the context of Bangladesh.
-
Suggest a set of policies
which will solve both population
and environmental problems in
Bangladesh.
METHODOLOGY
The
study was based on available secondary
information.
FINDINGS
Population
Growth and the Environment
Existing
literature on population growth
in Bangladesh reveals that despite
the successful lowering of total
fertility and growth rates over
the past few years, the population
has shot up from 89.9 million in
1981 to 111.45 million in 1991,
growing at a rate of 2.17% per year.
Accordingly, the density of population
has increased from 609 in 1981 to
756 in 1991. The population projection
shows that the absolute number of
population will increase even if
the replacement level fertility
rate is achieved and that a stable growth
of population in the country remains a distant goal to be achieved.
The
degraded environment in Bangladesh
is being manifested mainly in land
degradation, water pollution, water
and sanitation problem, soil erosion,
air pollution, deforestation, wetland
loss, loss of biodiversity and degradation
of the coastal environment. Increasing
population, industrial and vehicular
pollution, intensive agriculture,
excessive use of chemical fertilser
and unsustainable commercial exploitation
of resources coupled with market,
institutional and policy failures
are the major causes of environmental
degradation.
Interaction between Population
and Environment
The
theoretical literature of sustainable
development suggests that rapid
population growth will seriously
impair the chances of truly sustainable
development. More people means more
mouths to feed and more resources
to be exploited, which brings poverty.
Poverty leads to population growth
as more family members mean more
labour to perform household activities,
more economic opportunities and
higher income. Thereby, it increases
the burden of dependency, illiteracy
and health problems. Population
growth creates pressure on the availability
of natural resources like land,
forests, fisheries and natural gas.
Deforestation and lack of drinking
water can increase the time cost
to fuel wood gathering, livestock
pasturing and water logging.
On
the other hand, an increased population
can indirectly enhance output and
productivity; it can be a spur to
technological advance. Therefore,
the sustainable development
argument could
expect some pessimism, as it does
not capture the complex interactions
that exist between population growth,
technology and productivity. More
people may bring a higher number
of entrepreneurs. In addition, there
may also be a pressure for more
efficient provision of infrastructure
for a bigger population.
Number of Sustainable People in
Bangladesh
It
is quite understandable that there
are too many people for too few
resources, and the present population
growth is not sustainable for Bangladesh.
Vigorous efforts and measures are
needed to control the population
growth and to bring it down to a
sustainable level. The limits of
population growth must be in accordance
with the carrying capacity of natural
resources. Carrying capacity is
a concept used to understand the
critical limits of population growth
and thresholds of environmental
degradation. It assumes that there
are a finite number of people who
can be supported in a given area
without degrading the natural, cultural
and social environment. It can be
used for understanding the land-population ratio without much quantification.
The carrying capacity improves as
the technological assumptions improve.
In this context, with high input
levels Bangladesh will be able to support
about 185 million people, a figure which will
be reached around the year 2020
as projected in the national population
policy 2000. Only 3.5 percent of
the current population is sustainable
if the fuel wood demand is to be
met. Environmentally, it implies
that population is a limiting factor
for the sustainable development
of the country.
POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
•
Policies should be formulated to
control population growth and maintain
it at a sustainable level, and to
ensure long-term maintenance of
the livelihood of these people through
the sustainable management of natural
resources.
•
Emphasis should be given to develop
human capital which supports an
environmental perspective of population
and health issues, through education,
family planning and public health
programmes. The purpose of education
should be to excel quality and to
improve the ability of people to
use natural resources efficiently
and productively, and to diversify
their sources of income, which will
not be solely dependent on natural resources.
•
Preventive measures, which are capable
of reducing the environmental health
risks of people originating
from degraded environment such as
polluted water and air, lack of
sanitation and others, should be
incorporated in the public health
programmes.
•
The poor should have access to low-cost treatment of diseases such
as diarrhoea, respiratory problems,
skin diseases, and cancer from environmental
hazards.
•
Property rights and price should
be defined to replace uncertain
ownership in order to conserve resources.
•
Access to exploitation of the natural
resources needs to be managed efficiently
with the involvement of the local
communities.
•
Macroeconomic policies should be
developed for the long-run benefit of the population as well as environmental
problems to promote stable and broad-based income growth for
the large section
of the population who have to depend
on the extraction of the natural
resources for their livelihood.
This will help alleviate poverty
as well.
•
Equal access to services, infrastructures
and resources among the poor needs
to be ensured for reducing poverty,
environmental degradation, and population
growth in turn.
To
obtain the full text of this report
please contact:
Centre for Policy Dialogue
Dialogue
and Communication Division
House No 40/C, Road No 11,
Dhanmondi R/A, Dhaka-1209
GPO Box 2129, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
Tel: (+880 2) 8124770,9141734,9141703; Fax: (+880 2) 8130951
E-mail: cpd@bdonline.com
Price:
Tk. 50.00 (The price quoted does
not include postal charges)
Pages: 28
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