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BOBLME-2011-Ecology-01

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BOBLME (2011) Country report on pollution in the BOBLME – Bangladesh. BOBLME-2011-Ecology-01

COASTAL POLLUTION LOADING & WATER QUALITY CRITERIA 2010

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National Report of Bangladesh On

Coastal Pollution Loading and Water Quality Criteria of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem

(BOBLME)(GCP/RAS/236/GEF)

Dr. Md. M. Maruf Hossain National Expert on Land-Based Sources

of Marine Pollution, BOBLME Program, Bangladesh & Professor,

Institute of Marine Sciences & Fisheries University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh.

E-mail: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


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National Report of Bangladesh On

Coastal Pollution Loading and Water Quality Criteria of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem

(BOBLME)(GCP/RAS/236/GEF)

Dr. Md. M. Maruf Hossain National Expert on Land-Based Sources

of Marine Pollution, BOBLME Program, Bangladesh & Professor,

Institute of Marine Sciences & Fisheries University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh.

E-mail: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


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CONTENTS……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1. Introduction: The Bay of Bengal Coast of Bangladesh……….……………………………………………...…… 06

1.1. Bio- Geographical Features………………………………………………………………………..….………. 07 1.1.1. Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs) …………………………………………………………….......... 09

1.1.2. Ecologically Critical Areas (ECA’s)………………………………………………………………….......... 10 1.2. Coastal Activities…………………………………………………………………………………………............ 11 1.3. Role of Fishery Resources……………………………………………………………………………..………… 12 1.4. Role of Mangrove Forest………………………………………………………………………………………… 13

2. Overview of Sources of Pollution………………………………………………………………………………..………….. 14 2.1. Land based Marine Pollution…………………………………………………………………………………… 14 2.2. Sea based Marine Pollution………………………………………………………………………........... 15 2.3. Priority Categories of Parameters……………………………………………………………………..……. 15

3. Existing Water and Sediment Quality Objectives & Targets………………………………………….………… 16 4. The National Program-Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction system…………………….……….. 18

4.1 Mapping Hotspots along the Coast……………………………………………………………….………….. 19 4.2. Time Series Analysis and Significant Findings…………………………………………………………

4.3. Role of Ministry of Environment & Ministry of Fisheries & Livestock……………..…………. 19 21

4.4. National Laboratories……………………………………………………………………………………………… 22 4.5. Education and Research………………………………………………………………………………….………. 22

5. Present Status of Marine Pollution………………………………………………………………………………........... 22 5.1. Nutrient Pollution…………………………………………………………………………………………..……….. 23

5.2. Oil Pollution and Oil Spill, Refinery Waste Water and Offshore Operations……………... 23 5.3. Heavy Metals……………………………………………………………………………………………….………….. 25 5.4. Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)……………………………………………………………..………… 26 5.5. Status of Municipal Waste in Bangladesh……………………………………………………..…………. 27 5.6. Industrial Pollution- Bangladesh……………………………………………………………………............ 28 5.7. Agriculture & Aquaculture Pollution………………………………………………………….…............. 29 5.8. Ship Breaking Activities in Bangladesh…………………………………………………………………… 30 5.9. Siltation and turbidity………………………………………………………………………..……....…………. 31

5.10. Major Pollutants and It’s Impacts………………………………………………………………............ 31 6.1. Trans-boundary Coastal Pollution Issues………………………………………………………..…………………… 32 6.2. Trans-Boundary Coastal Pollution Concerns……………………………………………………………….……….. 33 7. International Conventions & Current Status of their Implementation in the Country…............. 35 8. Existing Policies & Legislations for Pollution Control…………………………………………………….………… 35

8.1 Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act and Rules…………………………...….……….. 35 8.2 The Environment protection Act and Rules………………………………………………..….…......... 35 8.3 Water Quality Standards………………………………………………………………………………….......... 36 8.4. Agro-Chemical Pollution Control……………………………………………………………….…..……….. 36 8.5 Coastal Zone Policy and Strategy……………………………………………………………………………… 36

9. Institutional Mechanisms for Pollution Control & Enforcement of Existing Policies & Legislations……………………………………………………………..…..…………

37

10. Gaps…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………… 37 a. Basic information……………………………………………………………………………………………..………… 37 b .Standards………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….. 38


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10.1 Information / Data Gaps………………………………………………………………………………..………. 38 10.2 Gaps (Policies and Legislation)………………………………………………………………….............. 38 10.3 Gaps (Implementation Issues)………………………………………………………………………..……….. 38 10.4 Gaps (Report Card)……………………………………………………………………..………….............. 38

11.Priority Actions & Remedial Measures………………………………………………………………….….………….. 39 12. Summary & Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………….……..……….. 46 References…………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………….. 47 Annex -1: Brief Introduction to the BOBLME Project…………………………………………………………… 51

Figures

Fig.1. Map of Bangladesh and major river system……………………………………………………………............ 06 Fig. 2. LME boundary and Bio- geographical features of the BOBLME country …………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………...

07

Fig. 3. Coastal Region of Bangladesh………………..…………………………………………………………………….…. 08 Fig. 4. Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs)………………………………………………………………..…………….….. 09 Fig. 5: Graph of coastal activities ………………………………………………………………………………………..….… 11 Fig. 6. Land use patterns map of the Cox’s Bazar ………………………………………………………….………...... 11 Fig. 7. Extensive Shrimp farm and human settlement in Cox’s Bazar coast ………………………………… 12 Fig. 8. Distribution of mangrove forest areas and resources in Bangladesh ……………………………….. 13 Fig. 9 . Point & Non-Point sources of pollution ………………………………………………………….…….......... 15 Fig. 10. Water Quality of Buriganga River (1999-2007)……………………………….…………………...………… 17 Fig. 11. Water Quality of Balu River (2001-2008)………………………………………………………..…..………… 17 Fig. 12. Water Quality of Shitalakhya River (2001-2008)……………………………………………….….……….. 17 Fig. 13. : Recycling of Solid waste in Cox’s Bazar (BEMP).………………………………………………….………. 18 Fig. 14. Monsoonal sea level trend at Hiron Point located in the western coast of Bangladesh in Sunderbans. ……………………………………………….……………………………….………

20

Fig. 15. Monsoonal sea level trend at Char Changa located in the central region of Bangladesh coast …………………………………………………………….……………………….……...........

20

Fig 16. Monsoonal sea level trend at Cox's Bazar located in the eastern coast of Bangladesh…………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………….

20

Fig. 17 . Level of Oil contamination in coastal investigated area (mean)…………………………………. 24 Fig. 18. Fig 18: Average Physical Composition of Urban Solid Waste ………………………….…........... 28 Fig. 19: Some of the ship breaking activities that pollute the coastal environment, Sitakunda, Chittagong, Bangladesh………………………………………………...…………

31

Fig. 20: Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin………………………………..……………………………..…………. 33

Tables

Table 1 : Protected area in the Coastal zone of Bangladesh…………………………………………….………….. 10 Table 2. The existing land use pattern in the coastal area of Cox’s Bazar district……………………….. 11 Table 3: Land based sources of marine pollution (both point & non-point)…………………………….…… 15 Table 4: Approximate ranking of land-based sources of pollution in BOBLME countries from National reports ……..............................................................................

16

Table 5 : Water quality at St Martin’s Island, Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh …………………………………. 18


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Table 6 : Results of the least square trend analysis performed on the time-series of mean tidal level …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………..

21

Table 7: Operational Oil spill from land and ship sources in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh ………………………………………………………………………………………..…….

24

Table 8: Total Hydrocarbon level in water samples at some selected sites in the coastal area of Chittagong…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

24

Table 9: Showing the effects of pollutants on marine biota …………………………………………….………… 25 Table 10: Mean load of heavy metals in the coastal water of Chittagong ………………………………….. 26 Table 11: Comparison of PCBs, Pesticides and Mercury in different species of marine shrimp and fish collected in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh …………………………………………………………..

27

Table 12: Total Waste Generation in Urban Areas of Bangladesh …. .………………………………………… 27 Table 13: Characteristics of industrial liquid wastes of Bangladesh………………………………………….…. 29 Table 14: Yearly consumption (2004 -2009) of different types of Pesticides in Bangladesh ………………………………………………………………….….……………..………

29

Table 15: Some of the known shipments of toxic wastes that entered Bangladesh and India in the 1990’s from the developed world ……………………………………………………….……………….

33

Table 16: Transboundary environmental issues related to pollution……………………….…………….……. 34 Table 17: Summary of suggested actions and their location…………………………………………....……… 45


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1. Introduction: The Bay of Bengal Coast of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the coastal countries of the Bay of Bengal. The country is located between 20°34’ to 26°38’ north latitude and 88°01’ to 92°42’ east longitude. The total land area is 147,570 sq. km. and consists of low and flat land (BBS, 2009).The estimated distance of the coast of Bangladesh is 654 km (Snead, 1985, BBS, 2009). A network of 230 rivers with their tributaries and distributaries crisscross the country and, therefore, the country is virtually a conglomerate of islands (Fig.1).

Fig.1. Map of Bangladesh and major river system The Bay of Bengal marine ecosystem, blessed with vast resources. These resources are facing risks due to pollution and other anthropogenic activities as well natural calamities. Bangladesh along with seven other marginal coastal countries of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) (Fig.2) have realized that there need to be closer link and cooperation for sustainable management


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of its fisheries resources, habitat and environment. BoBLME Project Component 4 deals with coastal pollution loading and water quality criteria, more specifically, the development of a regional collaborative approach to identifying important coastal water pollution issues and to develop remedial strategies (4.2). The present Bangladesh country report on coastal pollution loading and water quality criteria, is an effort under the BOBLME programme to identify the common problems on the environmental issues of the large marine ecosystem of the Bay of Bengal (BOBLME) and to solve these problems through regional cooperation and participation.

Fig 2: LME boundary and Bio- geographical features of the BOBLME country (Source: Ramesh et al., 2009)

1.1. Bio-Geographical Features

The geo-graphical location and geo-morphological conditions of Bangladesh have made the country one of the most vulnerable ones to climate change, particularly to sea level rise (SLR). The detail of the bio-geographical features of the Bay of Bengal coast of Bangladesh can be seen in earlier BOBLME national reports by the same author (Hossain, 2004). So, a brief description of the geo-morphological conditions of Bangladesh, particularly of its coastal region, is given here. Bangladesh is situated at the interface of 2 different environments, with the Bay of Bengal to the south and the Himalayas to the north. This peculiar geography of Bangladesh causes not only life-giving monsoons but also catastrophic ravages of natural disasters, to which now are added climate change and SLR.


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The country has a very low and flat topography, except the northeast and southeast regions. About 10% of the country is hardly 1 m above the mean sea level (MSL), and one-third is under tidal excursions. The country has 3 distinct coastal regions—namely, western, central, and eastern coastal zones (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Coastal Region of Bangladesh

The western part, also known as the Ganges tidal plain, comprises the semi-active delta and is criss-crossed by numerous channels and creeks. The topography is very low and flat. The southwestern part of the region is covered by the largest compact mangrove forest of the world, popularly known as Sunderbans, named after the ‘Sundri’ trees. The mangrove forests act as deterrents to the furiousness of tropical cyclones and storm surges. The central region is the most active one, and continuous processes of accretion and erosion are going on here. The combined flow of 3 mighty rivers—the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and the Meghna (commonly known as the GBM river system and ranking as one of the largest river systems in the world)—discharges transports about 1060 million tons of sediments to the coasts of Bangladesh each year (Kuehl et.al.1989, Datta et.al.2008). This estuarial region has seen the most disastrous effects of tropical cyclones and storm surges in the world and is very vulnerable to such calamities. However, depending on the tidal fluctuations, salinity (soil, surface and ground water), cyclone and storm surge risk, the coastal zone of Bangladesh has been delineated administratively as considering 19 districts and 147 Upazillas and also the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The coastal zone covers 47,201 km2, 32% of the total land


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mass of the country, where 37 to 38 million peoples live in (Fig.3) (Islam, 2004, Sarwar, 2005). The eastern region, being covered by hilly areas, is more stable, and it has one of the longest beaches in the world. (Islam et al, 1999).

There are number of ecosystem of global conservation value, such as the Sunderbons (the world’s largest single tract of compact mangrove forest), the coral island of St. Martin’s, the GBM estuarine systems and numerous productive islands of the coast of the Bangladesh. These are potential natural renewable resource for the inhabitants and the country and also important biodiversity hot pots and provide ecological foundation for the fishery resources of the Bay of Bengal (Islam, 2004, Hossain, 2004). The rivers contributing to the coastal Bangladesh have deep sea connection through the “Swatch of No ground” (a deep sea canyon) and thus have the potentiality to influence the tropical marine ecosystem (Ittekkot et.al.1986) due to its chemical load, which has far reaching spatial and temporal environmental (Dutta et. al..2008) and ecological consequences in the coast of Bangladesh.

1.1.1. Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs)

Based on the significance and ecological sensitivity, Ministry of Environment & Forest (MOEF) has declared a number of areas as” ECAs “and “Protected Areas”, but there is not much information or study on the Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA’s) of different coastal and marine Ecosystem and its habitat as in fig.4.

Ecologically Sensitive Areas

Mangroves Coral Reefs Sandy Beaches and Sand Dunes Mudflats Marine Wildlife Protected Areas Coastal freshwater bodies Salt Marshes Turtle Nesting Grounds Horseshoe crab Habitats Sea grass Bed Seaweed bed Nesting Ground of Bird

1.1.2. Ecologically Critical Areas (ECA’s) In 1999, the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) declared some area as Ecologically Critical Areas (ECA’s) in marine and freshwater ecosystem. They are: i. Sunderbans, ii.Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf sea beach, iii. St Martin’s Island, iv. Sonadia Island, v. Hakaluki Haor, vi. Tanguar Haor, vii. Marjat Baor, viii. Gulshan Lake and ix. Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Turag and Balu River. Later Sunderbans was withdrawn from the list and instead outside of Sunderbans Reserve Forest a 10 km extent was declared as ECA. In addition, MoEF, government of Bangladesh declared some area as Environmentally Protected Areas (PA’s) with a view to save the natural habitat and to save the biotic

Fig 4: Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs)


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flora and fauna of the area. Considering the high biodiversity value of Bangladesh coast, some parts of the zone has declared as protected areas (Table 1).

Table 1: Protected area in the Coastal zone of Bangladesh

Type Name Area (ha) Location Effects of 1-m Sea Level Rise

(SLR) Reserved

Forest - 885,043 Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat,

Bhola, Patuakhali, Noakhali, Chittagong, Cox’s bazar

Yes

National Park Himchari 1,729 Cox’s bazaar No

Wild life Sanctuaries

Nijhum Deep 4,232 Hatiya, Noakhali Yes

Sundarbon south 36,970 Khulna Yes

Sundarbon west 71,502 Satkhira Yes Char Kukri-

mukari 2,017 Bhola Yes

Chunati 7,761 Chittgagong No

Ramsar Site Sunderbans 601,700 Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat Yes

Environmental Critical Areas

Sonodia 4,916 Cox’s Bazar Yes

Teknaf 10,465 Cox’s Bazar Yes

St. Martin’s Island

590 Cox’s Bazar Yes

World Heritage Site

Wild life sanctuaries of

the Sunderbans

Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat Yes

Marine Reserve

69,800 Bay of Bengal, Yes

Source: Islam 2004; (in Hussain & Haq (eds.), 2010) 1.2. Coastal Activities Land in coastal Bangladesh is used for agriculture, shrimp and fish farming, forestry, salt production, ship-breaking yards, ports, industries, human settlements and wetlands (Figure 5). Land use in the coastal zone is diverse, competitive and often conflicting ( Islam, 2006a). Diverse Agriculture (59%) Shrimp + Fisheries + Aquaculture +

Wetlands (13%) Forest (11%) Urban & others (17%) Salt Industries EPZs, Ports, Ship breaking, BSCIC estates Infrastructures (polders, roads, railways)

Fig 5: Graph of coastal activities


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Tourism(beaches, recreation areas) Environmentally important areas (ECAs,

Parks & Others) Special Areas (Char lands)

Existing Land Use Pattern in the Cox’s Bazar Coast Major land use pattern in the coastal area of Cox’s Bazar can be seen in fig.6 and a study (Hossain et.al, 2001) shows the land suitability and potentiality of the categories in comparison to existing land use pattern of that area (table 2). The result shows that most of the areas of existing shrimp farming, salt bed and coastal tourism activities were developed within the suitable area (Table 2). As these activities are being practiced traditionally along the coast for quite a long period, the local people utilize their experience on the local environment and the knowledge gathered from researchers in selecting suitable areas. But the most suitable area for mangrove afforestation is being under-utilized and salt production area utilization is almost optimum, where the suitable area for shrimp farming is tremendously over-utilized causing intrusion of saltwater, because of people’s interest in shrimp farming than other activities. On the other hand, there is informal management for land use zoning with respect to time-sharing i.e, most of the salt

beds are used for extensive shrimp culture with very low stocking density (5,000 to 10,000 post larvae/ ha) during monsoon months (June-November) (Table 2).

Table 2. The existing land use pattern in the coastal area of Cox’s Bazar district.


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Figure 6. Land use patterns map of the Cox’s Bazar 1.3. Role of Fishery Resources

Fishery resources play a vital role in the economy in terms of nutrition, income, employment and foreign exchange earnings of Bangladesh. Fisheries resources play a vital role in the economy of Bangladesh (4.57% of GDP in 2008-09) (BBS,2009). It is not only plays an important role as a source of animal protein (63%) but also provides employment (9%) to its population. It is the second most important source of the foreign exchange earning (5.71%) commodity (DOF, 2009). However, due to the high population growth without keeping pace with the fish production, the per capita consumption of fish dropped from 33 g in 1963-64 to 20.5 g in 1989- 90 as against the recommended level of 38 g per capita per day. Recently, the per capita fish consumption has increased to 26 g but still lies much below the recommended level. As a whole, the total fish production , especially from culture and marine sector is increasing each year being 1.4 million tons in 1997-98 and 1.9 million tons in 2001-02 and 2.56 million tons in 2007 (Hussain & Rahman, 2010). Thus, marine sector represent 19.98% of the total fish production (BBS, 2009). The role of fisheries in the livelihood of population is likely to fall further in foreseeable future, but because of tremendous potential of the fisheries sector, the scientists and dieticians believe that better health of the people of the country can be ensured more quickly and economically through harnessing production potentials of the sector. There are about 1.28 million fishermen, 3.08 million fish farmers and 0.44 million fish and shrimp seed collectors in the country for livelihood and trade at subsistence and commercial level (DOF, 2009). The Marine and coastal capture fisheries sector of Bangladesh is the only primary source of income and nutrition for over 484,000 households and 2.7 million family members in the coastal region of Bangladesh ( DOF,2009).


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Figure 7. Extensive Shrimp farm and human settlement in Cox’s Bazar coast Foreign Currency Earning:

Although the foreign currency earned by Bangladesh through the export of prawn and shrimp has been showing an increasing trends, but the overall picture has been far from satisfactory (DFID, 2003, DOF, 2009). The quantity of exported Frozen Fish and Shrimp was 40,000 tons (2003-04), 53,000 tons (2004-05) and 58-70,000 tons (2005-06) and the earning Taka (million) was 19,565 (2004-05), 27,394 (2005-06) and 38,669(2006-07) respectively (BBS, 2009).

1.4. Role of Mangrove Forest

The Sundarbon is the largest single continuous productive mangrove forest of the world, spreading over the southern part of Bangladesh and West Bengal State of India. The Sundarbon is a unique ecosystem and have great interest in a number of ways. Global mangroves are calculated to be just over 1,80,000 km2, a small area compared to other forests. Bangladesh is the 8th country in the world, which possess a vast mangrove forest (Fig.8). This is the place where the mainland Bangladesh meets the Bay of Bengal, making the area a globally unique ecological niche.

Out of the global total true mangrove species numbering 35, Sundarbon has 12-13 sp. It is mentionable here that the World Heritage Convention (WHC) declared ‘Sundarbon as a natural and cultural site of outstanding universal value’. A total of 334 species of (Spermatophytes and Pteridophytes) belonging to 245 genera were identified from the Sundarbon forest and the adjoining areas. Of these no fewer than 123 occur in the present reserve forest of the Bangladesh Sundarbon(Hossain,2004). In addition to ecological significance, the utilization of forest products have significant commercial value. The Sunderbon comprises 45% of the total productive forest in Bangladesh, contributing 50% of the forest related revenue. Several Industries depend upon the Sunderbon for raw materials, the most important being Newsprint Paper Mill & Hard Board Mill, Khulna. In addition match factories, furniture makers, boat builders and saw mills greatly depends on these resources. Since 1989, however, timer extraction has been banned in order to conserve the natural resources, although exemptions have been made for the harvest of some species for poles, sawlogs and hard board (e.g. H. fomes), pulp wood (E. agallocha) and some species for fuel wood.


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Forest type

Location Area million ha of country’ total (%)

Growing stock million m3 (tree cover density m3/ha)

Remarks

i) Mangrove evergreen a) Sunderbans b) Coastline

South west Coastline

0.57 (0) 0.11 (0.76)

13.19 (23.1) 5.05 (4.59)

Includes 0.17 million ha water area.

Fig 8: Distribution of mangrove forest areas and resources in Bangladesh (Haque & Elliott, 2005)

Only a few authors have studied this vast animal resource of Sunderbon’s and they have mainly investigated the species composition. Numbers of existing species in the area and population density of each also vary in the available reports. The Sunderbon is rich in biotic diversity comprise 210 sp. of fin fish, 38 sp. of crustaceans, including shrimps and crabs, 34 sp. of mollusca that include snails, mussels and oyster, 53 sp. of reptiles, over 315 sp. of bird and 50 sp. of mammals(Haque & Elliott, 2005,Hossain,2004).

The dependency of local peoples on Sunderbon is very high, with about 150,000 fishermen both commercial and artisanal are engaged in fishing, while 200,000 peoples are engaged in shrimp larvae collection and nearly 100,000- 200,000 peoples drive all or part of their income from different activities (e.g. fish drying, transportation, honey gathering etc.) and collecting wood and non-wood forest products from the area. The fishery value has been estimated to be US $ 209.9 million, with the stock of fish at 2.9 to 3.7 t/km2 ( Haque & Elliott,2005). In addition, this mangrove forest also plays an important buffer in protecting the agricultural hinterland from the onslaught of frequently occurring cyclones and tidal surges.

2. Overview of Sources of Pollution

There are several sources of marine pollution in Bangladesh those can be broadly placed under two categories- 2.1. Land based Marine Pollution

Land based pollution is discharged directly into the sea, or enters through rivers, floods, tides, ground water or by atmospheric deposition. This means that pollution sources can be located far away from coastal areas and still have an impact, despite an on-going process of attenuation that


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might be occurring on the way. What is a point source and what is a diffuse source of pollution is also partly a matter of scale. Point Source: Point sources of pollution are those for which a particular point of entry of pollution into the environment can be identified. They can be associated with localize gradients in the concentration of pollutants and can often be traced and found in this way. Point sources are usually found for industrial plants, sewage outfalls, reclamations and other earth works, but can occur in other pollution categories not normally thought of as point sources, such as ground waters exiting in a lagoon. Point sources of pollution may only account for a fraction of the land-based sources affecting marine environments. From an ecosystem perspective and in terms of the entire Bay of Bengal, a whole city could be considered a point source of pollution into the LME, while on a decreasing scale, one might focus on a particular river or creek, or at the smallest scale on a particular factory or sewage plant (Fig. 9). Non-point Source: Non-point or diffuse sources are harder to identify and result from broad-scale activities that cannot be as readily identified as originating from a single source (GESAMP, 2001). These are harvested from large areas within which polluting activities are occurring and are usually mobilized by water or air. They usually are carried by urban storm water runoff, overflow discharges, and run-off from forests, agriculture and aquaculture (UNEP 2000) (Fig.9). Table-3 shows some of the major point and non-point sources of marine pollution.

Fig 9 : Point & Non-Point sources of pollution

Table 3: Land based sources of marine pollution (both point & non-point).

Point Sources Non-Point Sources

Wastewater Treatment Plants Untreated Sewage- Outfalls Partially Treated/ Untreated Industrial

Effluent Outfalls Aquaculture Effluents

Agricultural Runoff (pesticides, fertilizers and animal wastes)

Oil, grease and toxic chemicals from urban runoff and energy production Coliform Bacteria and pathogens

Sediments (from Construction), Hill cutting & deforestation.

River runoff


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2.2. Sea based Marine Pollution

It is a potential threat to the coastal and marine environment. Result mainly from the crude oil transportation systems, water-oil from different sea cargo, ships and mechanized vessels, workshop, refinery handling loss, dumping of ballast and bilge water etc. Besides this, in Bangladesh more than 50% of the marine oil pollution comes from urban activities and throw river run-off (UNEP 1986, Alam,2004). In addition, a number of accidental spillage or discharge of crude petroleum was also reported at the coast of Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh or recent offshore hydro carbon drilling operation in the EEZ of Bangladesh could be a factor of marine pollution, though not much reported. Some important sea based sources of marine pollution are given below-

Crude Petroleum- (PAHs) Antifouling Agents- (TBT) Volatile Organic Compound (VOC)- PCBs, DDTs, Dioxins, Furans Oil Spill, Bilge from Ship, Boats Dumping of Wastes Introduction of Alien species through ballast water etc.

2.3. Priority Categories of Parameters, BANGLADESH

Based on the pollution sources in the coastal water body of Bangladesh, the Priority Concerns parameters should be :

Heavy metals: Hg, As, Pb, Cr, Cd, Ni etc. Nutrients & Fertilizers : BOD, Nitrate, Phosphate etc. PAHs and other hydrocarbons, including tar balls, oil, grease etc. Total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS) etc. Microbes & health hazards bacteria (e.g. F. coliform, F. streptococci, Salmonella etc.) Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and pesticides. Marine litters etc.

An overview of the ranking of land based sources of pollution in BOBLME countries based on their national reports is shown in table 4. The categories here were all mentioned by at least one country (including oil which has no ranking at all). The priorities indicated in the ‘All’ countries column were derived by averaging the rank for a source across countries and dividing by the number of countries giving a rank to that source (combination of rank and signal strength).

Table 4: Approximate ranking of land-based sources of pollution in BOBLME countries from National reports (Kaly, 2004).


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3. Existing Water and Sediment Quality Objectives and Targets

Environmental quality objectives and targets of the Department of Environment (DOE), GoB mainly focused on air quality monitoring in big cities and control air pollution from auto-mobiles, monitoring of industrial pollution, enforcement of ETP and EMP, Environmental Clearance (NOC) and compliance of EIA for newly set up of industry, set up of water quality standards for different water body, underground water quality monitoring and water quality monitoring of the major rivers of the country and program on biodiversity conservation and Climate Change. A recent presentation by DG, DOE on the vision and mission of the Department of Environment (DOE) (Vision, 2021) and on going program, project/activities also reflected that, there is still not much attention paid to coastal /marine water monitoring in Bangladesh. The water quality status of some of the polluted rivers (Buriganga, Balu, Sitalakha) as reported by DOE (DG, DoE presentation to Parliamentary Comm. on Env. 3rd August, 2010, Personal Comm.) and the time series analysis can be seen in fig.10,11 and 12.

Fig: 10. Water Quality of Buriganga River (1999-2007)

Fig: 11. Water Quality of Balu River (2001-2008)


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Fig: 12. Water Quality of Shitalakhya River (2001-2008) Most of the busy coastal area or ecologically significant island of the country does not have water quality status data or year round monitoring to see whether water quality is degrading or improving. However, the following table shows the present water quality status at St. Martin’s Island, BOB, Bangladesh (table 5). Table 5 : Water quality at St Martin’s Island, Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh (Hossain et al., 2009)

Air Temperature : 25.2⁰C to 32.20⁰C (Premonsoon and postmonsoon) Water Temperature : 31⁰C to 24.10⁰ C (Premonsoon and postmonsoon) Water PH: 7.3 and 6.4 (Premonsoon and postmonsoon) Salinity: 33 ppt to 26 ppt (Premonsoon and monsoon) DO : 6.89 mg/l to 4.56 mg/l(Premonsoon and postmonsson) CO2 values : 17.00 mg/l to 7.89 mg/l (Premonsoon and postmonsson) Water transparency : 490cm to 313cm (Premonsoon and postmonsson). TSS values : 3.20 mg/l to 2.00 mg/l (Monsoon and premonsoon) TDS values : between 29.10 mg/l and 12.78 mg/l Nitrogen(NO3-N) : between 1.90 mg/l and 0.18 mg/l (Monsoon and postmonsoon) Phosphate Phosphorus (PO4-P) : 0.498 mg/l and 0.021 mg/l (Monsoon and postmonsoon)

4. The National Program-Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System

Except few relevant programme or / initiatives / project have taken by MoFL & MoEF on coastal & marine issues. Examples: BGD/99/G31 - Coastal and Wetland Biodiversity Management at Cox's Bazar and Hakaluki Haor (CWBMP) -on going program by MoEF, GoB (funded by UNDP-GEF) and as mentioned in the vision of DOE (presentation by the DG, DOE,2010), national program on Coastal Ocean monitoring and predication system is still minimal.

National Pollution Control Plan

• National Clean-up of Existing Industrial Pollution • National Water Quality Monitoring • National Fisheries Master Plan • National Fish Pass Program • Improved Water Management in the Haor Basins

of the NE Region • Environmentally Critical Areas and Integrated

Fig 13: Recycling of Solid waste in Cox’s Bazar (BEMP).


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Wetland Management • Improved Water Management and Salinity

Control in the Sundarbon • Sustainable Environment Management Program (SEMP) • Sundarbon Biodiversity Conservation Project (SBCP)

On-going programs of the Department of Environment (DOE), MOEF, GoB.

i. Coastal and Wetland Biodiversity Management at Cox’s bazar and Hakaluki Haor. ii. Bangladesh Environmental Institutional Strengthening Project(BEISP)

iii. National ODS Phase Out Plan UNDP Components iv. Formulating the National Strategies on Waste Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (3R) for

Bangladesh v. Institutional Strengthening for the Phase Out of ODS

vi. Transitional Strategy for The Phase Out Use of CFC in the Manufacturing of Metered Dodge Inhaler in Bangladesh

vii. Partnership for Clean Fuel and Vehicles and viii. Bangladesh Environment and Climate Change Outlook (ECCO) Report.

4.1. Mapping Hotspots along the Coast

No national monitoring / investigation and quantification of coastal pollutants and mapping of hotspots along the coast of Bangladesh have done yet, except few fragmentary study or reports on coastal pollution at Chittagong coast, Sundarbon, St. Martin’s island, Cox’s Bazar etc (UNEP,1986, Holmgren,1994, ESCAP,1998, Hossain,2004, DoE,2005, MoEF, 2010). 4.2. Time Series Analysis and Significant Findings

There is scientific evidence that the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, global mean temperature and mean sea level are rising. (Singh, 2001,Sarwar, 2005). Gornitz et al. (1982) have estimated that during the last century the global sea level has risen by 10 ± 15 cm. But there has been considerable spatial variation in the rate of relative sea level change ( Singh et al., 2000). Bangladesh, a disaster prone country, experiences natural disasters like tropical cyclones, storm surges and inundation due to the monsoonal floods every year (Ali, 1999). Global warming and the changing patterns of climatic conditions, resulting in sea level rise are likely to aggravate the situation further . About 10% of the country is hardly 1 m above mean sea level and one-third is under tidal excursions (Ali, 1999). The Bangladesh coast, which lies on the consequence of three mighty rivers, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna, with the Himalayas to the north and the Bay of Bengal to the south, is an ideal zone for sea level rise due to enhanced rainfall during the monsoon season from June to September. An attempt has been made by SAARC Meteorological Research Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh (Singh, 2001) to look into the cause-effect relationships between observed trends in sea surface temperature (SST) over the Bay of Bengal and the trends in monsoon rains and sea level in Bangladesh. The study utilizes the 14-year satellite-derived SSTs over the Bay of Bengal for 1985±1998, the tide gauge stations data along the Bangladesh coast for 1977±1998 and the 31-year monsoon rainfall data for Bangladesh, 1961±1991. Figures 14-16 and table 6 depict the variabilities of mean tidal levels in the western, central and eastern regions.


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Fig. 14. Monsoonal sea level trend at Hiron Point located in the western coast of Bangladesh in Sunderbans.

Fig. 15. Monsoonal sea level trend at Char Changa located in the central region of Bangladesh

coast.

Fig. 16. Monsoonal sea level trend at Cox's Bazar located in the eastern coast of Bangladesh

Table 6. Results of the least square trend analysis performed on the time-series of mean tidal level


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4.3. Role of Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Fisheries & Livestock

Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Fisheries have set out certain policies for the development of the sector. Unfortunately not enough initiative has yet been taken to formulate and implement the required regulatory and supportive policies broadly on the prevention or abatement of coastal and marine pollution. Policies taken by the MOEF are briefly as follows: Ministry of Environment& Forest (MoEF)

Implementation and enforcement of environmental law through Polluter Pays. Ensure environmentally sound conservation and development coastal and marine eco-

system and resources. Inspire the green growth. Introduce of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (3R) Management. Make CDM program for all cities and towns. Prevent all internal and external activities polluting the coastal and marine areas.

Strengthening necessary research to preserve and develop coastal and marine environment and resources.

Coastal and marine fish catch within tolerable limit (regeneration/re-spawning limits). Enforcement of Laws, Monitoring, Inspection, Census, Examination and Approval of EIA.

Ministry of Fisheries & Livestock (MoFL)

Management and minimization of pollution from industry Conduct surveys on marine resources assessment and extend the information to marine

resource exploiters. Utilization of trash fish. Provide alternate employment for fisherman during fishing holiday. Regulate industrial and artisanal fishery to reduce overfishing for sustainable production. Strengthen for marine fisheries development. Prevent indiscriminate exploitation of marine fish. Control marine pollution by preventing dumping of harmful chemicals and radioactive

materials in the sea. Critical areas, permits, standards, emissions Development and safety of water resources To operate NWP(national water policy), Management, clean water, protection of water

ecosystems (Environment & Aquatic Resources) Conservation, improvement, control of pollution Implementation and enforcement of environmental law through Polluter Pays Enabling coastal-zone management, policy-framework, institutional environment

4.4. National Laboratories

No ISO certified laboratories-except few national laboratories (e.g.- Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission laboratory, BCSIR, ICDDRB laboratories). Bangladesh Standard Testing Institute (BSTI) is a remarkable institute in Bangladesh for controlling the quality of foods and industrial products. Set


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up of a well equipped environmental laboratory in DoE, Chittagong is under process supported by the global Climate Change fund (CCF). Some private and public organizations also have modern laboratories to ensure their products in international markets. 4.5. Education and Research

Education and research on the marine biology/environment are still inadequate in Bangladesh. This is due not only to the scarcity of higher educational institutions and research organizations, but also to poor facilities, lack of skilled manpower and an absence of forceful programs in the national policy levels and in the existing institutions. Until recently; resource exploitation and biota were the only focal points. Concern about the environment was practically nonexistent. With a global awareness of environmental matters growing, there is in Bangladesh an increasing national emphasis on environmentally sound development. Government, universities, research organizations and NGOs have all embarked on academic and research programs to study environmental pollution and protection as well as examine environmental impact assessments and related issues. But initiatives for coastal and marine environmental studies are few. The Institute of Marine Sciences & Fisheries (IMSF), at the University of Chittagong, is the only place which awards a degree in marine sciences. The University of Khulna and new established Noakhali Sci. & Technology University has a department focusing on education and research in Marine Fishery. The BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology) provides limited courses in coastal engineering. The formation of a national institute primarily concerned with oceanographic research and marine environmental problems is still in the planning stage. Because of a lack of sea-going facilities at the IMSF, University of Chittagong, and because they happen to coincide with Bangladesh’s current needs, Estuarine Ecology, Fisheries Biology , EIA, Marine Pollution and Coastal Aquaculture have been the major focus of both academic and research programs there. Research work and courses on marine pollution focusing mainly on the impact of industrial and domestic wastes on the water quality and the habitat. Some milestone studies have been undertaken on the following:

Oil pollution from ships in and around Chittagong port. Heavy metal concentration & PoPs in some commercially important shell and finfish in

the Karnaphuli River Estuary/coastal area of the Bay of Bengal. Monitoring of effluents discharged by the KPM and KRC and their effect on biota, with

special reference to plankton and fish in the Karnaphuli River. Deposition of toxic metals in the shore bed at Faujdar Hat (Ship breaking Zone). Study on the water quality and biodiversity of St. Martin’s Coral islands. The sea level rise on the Bangladesh coast.

5. Present Status of Marine Pollution

Rivers of Bangladesh are heavily contaminated with untreated municipal sewage, industrial effluent, agricultural run-off and sediments. One of the most serious impacts is the decline in estuarine and coastal water quality caused by rising levels of nutrients from land-based sources. Expansion of intensive agricultural practices has resulted in increasing agrochemical pollution, particularly in developing countries of the region. 5.1. Nutrient Pollution

Measurable pollution is evident in most Bangladesh rivers associated with large population centers, although quantitative differences exist. Concentrations of nitrate, phosphate and silicate vary from 0.16 to 8.98 μg-at/1, 0.08 to 2.33 μg at/1 and 0.67 to 63.31 μg-at/1 reported at Karnafully river to St Martin Island, BoB (Holmgren,1994). Chlorophyll-content varies from 0.19 to 12.62 μg/1. The primary productivity of the Bay also reported very high during northeast monsoon, 0.15-1.45 g


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C/m2/day (Sivasubramanium, 1985). However in a recent report also, significant amount of inorganic nitrogen (~ 0.03 to ~ 0.10 mg. g-1 )have been observed in the bottom sediments in the Bay of Bengal drainage basin and in and around Sunderbans (Dutta et.al.,2008). Some Bangladesh river tributaries, reportedly, receive municipal waste from urban centers and become sewers seasonally as low stream flow becomes inadequate for flushing the waste load. In Bangladesh, only part of Dhaka city has wastewater collection and treatment facility and the Sewage treatment facility in port city of Chittagong is under process. Hence untreated or inadequate treated wastewater directly or indirectly reaches the river systems and finally finds their way into the bay through different canals, drains and estuary. The health impacts stemming from inadequate stream flow for flushing sewage has severe health consequences predominantly for the poor who live in slum area of the major cities in Bangladesh. All these suggest that each year significant amount of nutrients are derived to the coast of Bangladesh, however, no flux study has done yet .

5.2. Oil Pollution and Oil Spill, Refinery Waste Water and Offshore Operations

Dissolved /dispersed hydrocarbons in the BOB : Dissolved /dispersed hydrocarbons and particulate petroleum residues (tar balls) in the Bay of Bengal vary depending on shipping routes as reported by Alam (2004). In the coastal area, it is about 0-2.3 to 0-3.4 ug/kg on the surface of the water. In the tanker routes, it is about 21.7 to 11.2 ug/kg on the surface and the value of the same varies from 23.2 to 13.6 ug/kg at 10 m deep water (Alam, 2004). The concentration of dissolved and dispersed petroleum were almost uniform, excepting some occasional high values. However, some seasonal variation may be due to differences in the intensity of tanker traffic from month to month and because of the changes in metrological conditions.

However, the average concentration of dissolved petroleum hydrocarbons were 28.2 ug/kg in the upper 20 m of the tanker routes in the Bay of Bengal. Calculating the volumes in the upper 20 m from the total area, the quantity of petroleum hydrocarbons from the surface to 20m of the water column would be about 0.4 x 10 6 tonnes in the Bay of Bengal tanker route(Alam, 2004). The total consumption of oil products also increases from 33,99,000 tons in 2002-03 to 3657,000 tons in 2003-04 to 37,68,000 tons in 2004-05 , with an import of 10,63,000 tons in 2004-05 and 12,53,000 tons of crude oil and petroleum products through the tanker route (BBS,2008).

Oil spills in the Bay of Bengal as well as along the river navigation route may happen along the coast and the SRF by flowing water. At both Chittagong and Mongla ports, there is also risk of collision between vessels and of grounding due to engine breakdowns, navigational error or dragging of anchors. Other risk of marine pollution considered here are illegal disposal from ships, waste water from industries, farming, domestic waste water etc. The operational Oil spill arise from the ships and land sources and the spilled quantity may not exceed 2500 tonnes/yr. in Bangladesh as shown in table 7. A recent study on the dissolved hydrocarbon in coastal water in and around ship breaking area (St.2, 3 & 4,Ship breaking area; St.5 & St.6 adjacent to SBA area and St.1, outside SBA area ) of Chittagong coast shown in table 8 and fig. 17.To prepare contingency plan for oil spill, sources, operation and quantity should be studied to have an idea about the seriousness of the problem and the measures and preparedness to solve the problem.Bangladesh has no public oil residues reception facilities as prescribed by MARPOL 73/78, and only has a private company’s reception facilities for Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) and a Power plant (Alam, 2004). The plan for installing oil


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residues reception facility by Chittagong Port Authority is under process and Mongla Port still need to be carried out. However, there should have a national coordinating authority and task force involving all the relevant stakeholders, like Bangladesh Coast Guard, Bangladesh Navy, Port Authority, DOE. DOF, Fire Service & Civil Defence and other relevant organization/persons to combat the risk of any major accidental oil spillage or pollution from Oil in the coast of Bangladesh.

Table 7. The Operational Oil spill from land and ship sources in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh (Alam,2004).

Sources Location and Operation Quantity (tons/Yr.)

Remarks

Land sources ERL, Oil depots, power Station (oil), and other oil handling

facilities on land.

200-300 Not including Loading/Unloading operation from /to ship

Ship sources Ship braking area, 500 Sitakunda coastal area, Chittagong Loading/Unloading, , 100-200 > 40,000 times/yr.

deballasting, 600 - 1,200 0.02 % remaining

debilging 100 -200 0.2% discharged Other routine operation -100 Bunkering

Total = 1500- 2500 tons/yr. Table 8: Total Hydrocarbon level in water samples at some selected sites in the coastal area of

Chittagong (Hossain, 2010).

92.552.5 22.5

94.5

108.5123.5

Muradpur (Barubkunda) SonaichariSitalpur MadambibirhatFauzdarhat Salimpur

Fig 17: Level of Oil contamination in coastal investigated area (mean)


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Impacts of oil pollution:

Oil pollution has serious damaging impact on mangrove ecosystem and its coastal and marine resources. Oil spills cause mortality to mangroves trees, and damage to nursery ground of marine fish and crustaceans in swamps. The penumatophores (breathing roots) of the trees covered by thick tar of oil resulting in defoliation and it is anticipated that with the increase in port activities and consequent increase of accidental oil spills, the mangrove of Bangladesh and its ecosystem may be irreversibly damaged. It is reported that Bangladesh has sustained a loss to the tune of over US $100 million owing to 1,44,00,00 m3 of timber loss caused by death of Sundri tree Avecina sp. alone since 1976. Table-9 shows the effects of Oil contamination on marine biota.

Table 9: Showing the effects of pollutants on marine Biota:

5.3. Heavy Metals Heavy metals are serious pollutants because they are stable compounds, not readily removed by oxidation, precipitation or by any other natural process. Heavy metals have seasonal variation during rainy and dry season in the coastal area of Chittagong. There are some studies and reports of marine fish analysis from the Bay of Bengal for As, Cr, Hg, Se, Zn along with K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Ni, Cu, Pb, Sr and Rb (Sharif et.al.1991, Sharif et.al.1993, Hossain, 2004 ) and the results shows that the concentrations of those elements are much below the permissible limit for toxic elements. At seven locations in and around Sunderbons, the concentrations of Cu, Zn, Fe, Pb, Cr, and Ni in river and

Pollutants Organisms Effects Discharged Oil

Phytoplankton Reduced Carbon fixation, cell photosynthesis and finally death.

Zooplankton Clogged by the oil and sink to bottom Mangrove vegetation

Mangrove swamps are highly vulnerable to oiling and oil residue.

Marine Mammals Hampered on breeding. May die from ingestion oil causing liver damage

Algae and sea weeds Cell division is inhabited at oil concentration of 0.01ppm Sea weeds are clogged and smothered by oil.

Eggs and larvae At concentration of 0.01 ppm crude oil hatching of fish eggs is irregular, late and deformed At 1 ppm of oil creates abnormal development of young lobsters

Fish and shellfish Locking of gills of fishes Retardation of growth Reduction by defence

Benthos Oil residues as tar balls creates acute toxic condition at the bottom Aromatic hydrocarbons cause pronounced mortality to the burrowing organisms

Sea birds Reduction of flying capacity due to excessive mixing oil with feather Loss of buoyancy of birds Reduction of shell thickness of eggs Loss of breeding capacity


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estuarine water vary from 0.025- 0.136, 0.002-0.154, 0.695 to 19.54, 0.205 to 0.598, 0.0045 to 0.013, 0.064 to 0.245 and 0.0085 to 0.01065 mg.l-1 respectively (Ahamed et.al. 2003, Datta et.al. 2008). There are some study on the contamination level of heavy metals in water and in sediments along the Karnafully estuary and its adjacent coastal area ( Sarker,1998, Sanjoy, 2007, Tammana & Hossain, 2010, Hossain, 2010). But there is no compilation of that works or any standardization and validation check of that data or report were not done to use that data for national purpose. A recent study report on the contamination levels of heavy metals in the coastal water at Sitakunado Ship breaking area of Chittagong, Bangladesh shown in table 10. Table 10: Mean load of heavy metals in the coastal water of Chittagong (Tamanna & M.M.Hossain,

2010) Metals Mean load of metals (µg/l)with

seasonal variation Standard limit

(µg/l) RAINY DRY

As 3.746 3.981 2.60 Co 8.989 11.937 0.50 Cr 23.346 25.085 50 Cu 57.423 62.336 08 Fe 536.371 583.042 300 Mn 20.349 23.104 100 Ni 7.844 12.106 01 Pb 23.778 24.015 8.50

5.4. Persistent Organic pollutants (POPs) In 1992 the number of pesticides registered for use in Bangladesh was 253 for agriculture and 85 for public health use (Sattar 1985 in Hossain 2004) and more than 100 of them are dangerous for public health in Bangladesh. The import of most organo-chlorine pesticides (OCPs) was banned 10 years ago, but some are still being used in the sugar industry and for mosquito control. There are also reports that banned OCPs are being sold on the black market, where they are hidden in a range of formulations, and that some are being used in fish processing plants (Hossain, 2004). It is thought that as much as 1,800 tons of pesticides could be entering the Bay of Bengal each year (BUP 2001 in Hossain 2004). The consistent presence of POPs (PCBs and OCPs) in fish and shrimp species in the Bay of Bengal and estuaries (Hossain 1989, 1994, Hossain et. al. 1994 in Hossain 2004) shows that the chemicals, like other parts of the world is a huge problem and are clearly entering and bioaccumulating in the marine food chain (Table 11). Table 11: Comparison of PCBs, Pesticides and Mercury in different species of marine shrimp and fish

collected in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh (muscle ng.g-1 dry weight (dw); PCBs: as sum of congeners (IUPAC no. 28, 52, 101, 118, 153 & 180).


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5.5. Status of Municipal Waste in Bangladesh Municipal wastes comprise household (domestic), commercial, industrial, agricultural, street sweeping, construction debris and sanitation residues etc. Literally, disposal of solid and semisolid materials resulting from human and animal activities that are useless, unwanted or hazardous to human are termed as solid waste. Urban solid waste management is considered to be one of the most serious environmental problems confronting urban areas in Bangladesh. Total waste generation in urban areas of Bangladesh in 2005 shown in table 12 and physical composition of urban solid waste shown in fig. 18.

Table 12 :Total Waste Generation in Urban Areas of Bangladesh in 2005 (Iftekhar and Hashmi,2006).

*WGR= Waste Generation Rate, ** Including 10% increase for floating population, ***TWG= Total Waste Generation, which increases 46% in wet season from dry season Source: 1 JICA (2004), 2 Chittagong City Corporation, 3 Field Survey, 4 Sinha (2000), 5 Field Survey, 6 Sylhet City Corporation, 7, 8 Field Survey. Average per capita urban waste generation rate is estimated as 0.41 kg/capita/day. It is assumed that in 2025 total waste generation would be 47,064 tons/day with WGR of 0.6 kg/cap/day.


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Fig 18: Average Physical Composition of Urban Solid Waste (Iftekhar and Hashmi,2006), 5.7. Industrial Pollution- Bangladesh

The major point sources elemental contribution to the coast of Bangladesh is generated from one or the other anthropogenic sources; such as untreated industrial wastes (also includes waste from ship Breaking yards), sewage disposal, solid waste, agrochemicals, waste due to land use changes, oil spillage etc. There are more than 8,542 industrials establishments dealing with jute, paper and pulp, textiles, fertilizers, rubber and plastic, tannery, food and beverages, sugar, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, distilleries, cement clinker, ship breaking etc. on the coastal zone of Bangladesh. They are mainly confined around two metropolitan cities such as Chittagong (8 industrial zones) and Khulna (3 industrial zones) (Islam,2004, DOE,2010). Absence of discharge data, the load from such industrial establishment can not be calculated. However, an ADB study reported effluent flux of 150,000 litres/day from tannery Industry at Kalurghat, Chittagong, and discharge of about 0.35 tons of China clay/day from Karnafully Paper Mills (KPM) at Chittagong(MoEF,2005). The textile industries discharge waste water of 40,000 m3.day1 and pollution load of these industries is 26,000 kg.day1 (Faroq, 2001). A rough estimation of PCBs released from Ship breaking yards Sitakunda, Chittagong is 22.5 tons annually has also been reported (Islam,2004). Similarly, there is an estimate of about 9000 metric tons of human waste released from two major coastal cities, e.g. Chittagong and Khulna to the coast of Bangladesh. However, this estimation is not much helpful for calculating elemental industrial flux to the coast of Bangladesh. The major industrial facilities adjacent to rivers and estuaries are power, paper and pulp, textile, fertilizer, tanneries and cement sectors. The polluting industries discharge their liquid effluents and solids wastes into the adjacent canals, rivers, estuary and finally into the Bay of Bengal. It is estimated that the high organic load (measured as BOD) entering the river system is well beyond the assimilation capacity of the river. Thus, the river system is polluted by many point and non-point sources. The effluents are ammonia, chromium and other heavy metals from fertilizer and tanneries, phenols from pulp and paper, refinery, plastic, pharmaceuticals and paint industries (Table 13). There are also other acids, alkalis, organic and inorganic waste materials. Domestic wastewater contributes mainly towards organic pollution, whereas industrial wastewater is responsible for both organic and inorganic pollution and in certain cases, to toxic and hazardous pollution as well.

Table 13 : Characteristics of industrial liquid wastes of Bangladesh


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(Source:Unnayan Shammannay 2003)

(a) Max. conc. among 17 textile

(b) Max. conc. among 16 tanneries

(c) Max. conc. among 3 Paper & pulp industries

(d) Effluent standard for surface water body

Parameters (mg/L)

Textile waste Water (a)

Tannery waste water (b)

Pulp and paper waste water (c)

Effluent standard (GOB, 1997) (d)

BOD 5 8100 36000 600 50 COD 17100 56400 1700 200 Suspended solids 15221 7498 2024 150 Nitrate 200 700 - 10 Chloride 80000 62500 5900 600 Chromium 0.47 3818 - 0.5 Sulfide - 1500 - 1.0

5.8. Agriculture and Aquaculture Pollution Pesticides have been used in farming in Bangladesh since 1957 and in 2009, 45,172.43 tons of pesticides being used, compare to 22,115.85 tons in 2004, which is more than double yearly consumption rate within 5 years (Table 14, BBS,2009). If an estimated ¼ of all these pesticides used reaches the coast (ESCAP, 1988, Hossain, 2004), the amount of yearly pesticide load entering into the Bay of Bengal would be about 11,2293 tons. Fertilizer use is also thought to be increasing, as in BBS (2008) import of fertilizers (Urea, T.S.P & S.S.P) for the year 2002-03 was only 8,42,000 ( MT.) , whereas in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06, it was 2,021,000( mt.), 2,531,000 (mt.) and 2,234,000 (mt.) respectively i.e usage pattern is more than 2.5 times higher than that of 2003. Though, there is no estimates of how much of the fertilizers used find their way to the sea, but certainly a significant portion of excess and unutilized fertilizers from agriculture lands finally finds their way into the Bay and contributes to chemical pollution in terms of nutrients and pesticides.

Table 14. Yearly consumption (2004 -2009) of different types of Pesticides in Bangladesh (BBS, Oct. 2009)

Period

Insecticides Meticides Fungicide Herbicide Rodenticides Total ( in mt.) Granular Liquid Powder

2004 12113.40 2008.27 191.40 37.64 4279.23 3462.83 23.08 22115.85 2005 14061.65 2511.05 267.33 56.18 5771.74 2774.94 23.54 25466.43 2006 15918.46 3159.13 514.26 - 8710.02 3205.40 14.73 31522.00 2007 19963.24 3104.17 519.95 62.11 10227.56 3825.29 10.36 37712.08 2008 25230.58 4190.40 694.20 64.28 14417.78 4024.77 68.18 48690.19 2009 22118.87 4274.89 606.80 55.97 14353.67 3699.85 62.38 45172.43 (Source: Bangladesh Crop Protection Association, ( value in ‘MT”). (*Meticides included in Powder)

Harmful algal blooms (HABs), toxin producing and disease out break in aquaculture industry:


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Mass mortality of shrimps in coastal shrimp farms is occurring almost every year in our country losing millions of dollars in the industry. One of the causes of this mortality is believed to be due to harmful algae. In most cases eutrophication triggers noxious and toxic algal blooms which cause severe economic losses to aquaculture and fisheries. Thus the presence of potentially harmful species and mortality of marine fish and other animals suggest that Bangladeshi marine resources are at serious risk. The fish kill events of different years coincided with the appearance of different harmful algal blooms but without thorough study, it is very difficult to say the exact reason (S. Khan, undated). Human illness and death of other animals were also found to be in increasing trend with the increase of coastal pollution, but nothing is known about DSP, PSP and other toxicity. A thorough investigation on pollution, harmful algae and algal toxin may give the important information on the relationship between algal toxin and different diseases in Bangladesh as well as we will be able to utilize the coastal and marine fisheries resources efficiently as a safe resource free from the danger of food poisoning. Therefore, it is an urgent need to make database on coastal resources, coastal pollution, biology and toxicology of harmful algae. At the same time efforts should also be made to manage and minimize the negative effects of this pollution and harmful algae to save our natural resources.

5.9. Ship Breaking Activities in Bangladesh

The ship breaking activities of Bangladesh began in 1969. It has earned a good reputation for being profitable but at a great environmental cost. Various refuse and disposable materials are being discharged and spilled from scrapped ships and often get mixed with the beach soil and sea water which in turn has a negative impact on our coastal environment and biodiversity. The last 20 years has seen this industry boom, with more than 150 companies established in Chittagong (Hossain & Islam, 2006, Hossain, M.M. 2010). In addition to damaging intertidal habitats and localized deforestation, the industry is associated with pollution by oil, petrol and other hydrocarbons, garbage, sewage, scrap metals, asbestos, radio-active materials, foam and other plastics, wood and PCBs (a group of POPs) (Hossain,M.M.2010). These pollutants directly enter the coastal and marine environments through dumping, rain and tides (Fig 19).

Fig. Some harmful Phytoplankton (S .khan)


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Fig 19: Some of the ship breaking activities that pollute the coastal environment, Sitakunda, Chittagong, Bangladesh

5.10. Siltation and turbidity

According to Hossain (2004) a total of around 2.2 billion metric tons of sediments is carried to the sea each year by the Ganges-Meghana-Brahmaputra river system. This figure does not however give us any indication of how much of the sediments transported are mobilized naturally and how much caused by human activities and would therefore be considered a form of pollution. Siltation and increased turbidity of the coastal and marine areas of the Bay of Bengal probably result not only from elevated river inputs, but also run-off, floods (⅓ of the country floods each year) and some tidal movements. The main causes are deforestation, earthworks associated with coastal development projects and the rapid expansion of other land use practices (e.g. aquaculture). For example, the flattening and scarping of hills and foothills in the Chittagong region must have changed the sedimentary process of the area in the recent past. With only 7.9% of its original forest cover remaining, Bangladesh has had the greatest deforestation of all the BOBLME countries (Hossain , 2004).

5.11. Major Pollutants and It’s Impacts

(a) Liquid : Oil, Lubricants, grease, TBT, Harmful effect: -Coating and asphyxiation, -Reduction of light intensity and oil coating inhibits photosynthesis; reduce exchange of oxygen

and carbon dioxide. - Damage of bird population, coating the feathers by oil, causes buoyancy and insulation losses. Acute toxicity: Sometimes spillage may cause wide spread mortality amongst the population of fish,

worms, crabs and mollusk. (b) Metals: Mercury, Copper, Lead, Cd , Fe etc. Harmful effect:

(Photo: M M Hossain,2010)(Photo: M M Hossain,2010)(For details: www.ypsa.org)


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- Mental disorders, Nervous system break down (e.g. Minamata disease, Itai itai disease in Japan),

- Anemia, Kidney disorder, sterility & carcinogenic, (c) Gaseous: CO2, CO, SO2 ,Cl2 ,NH2, Acid fumes, Isocyanide Harmful effect: - Increases of toxic gases in air, - Adverse impact on human beings (e.g. Asthma & other respiratory diseases) (d) Solid: PAHs ,PCBs, PVC, Plastic materials, Glass wool, Asbestos etc

Harmful effect: PAHs: Cause malignant tumors, interfere with enzymatic breakdown affecting the lungs, stomach,

intestines and skin. Highly toxic and bioaccumulate in the environment. Dioxins: Carcinogenic, can suppress the immune system. Suspected of prenatal and post natal affects on

children’s nervous system. PCBs: Have been linked to cancer, liver damage, reproductive impairments and system damage. Highly

biomagnified & persistent in the higher trophic level of marine food chain. (e) Harmful Microbes : Pathogenic bacteria and viruses and its adverse impacts on fishery resources and

human health.

6.1. Trans-boundary Coastal Pollution Issues

The most important trans-boundary issues in the region in order of priority are: 1. Sewage; 2. Agriculture and aquaculture; 3. Industry; 4. Rivers and run-off; 5. Floods; and

6. International rivers.

Priorities 1-3 – Sewage, Agriculture/Aquaculture & Industry: Prioritization among numbers 1-3 is relatively arbitrary in the sense that the relative importance of each of sewage, agriculture and industry has not been established by quantitative means. Environmental monitoring would identify priorities among these three sources and where effort should best be spent.

Priority 4 – Rivers and run-off: Rivers and run-off are priority 4 because, although not actually generators of pollution, they are the main mechanism by which pollutants generated even far away from the coast find their way to the sea. Run-off and rivers were discussed by most of the BOBLME countries (except Maldives) as part of the pollution problem in the region. Coupled with monitoring, actions taken to clean up rivers will benefit countries in general, and the Bay of Bengal, Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca in particular (Kaly, 2004).

Priority 5 – Floods: Episodic pollution mobilization through floods may be a significant and catastrophic source of pollutants into the coastal areas. Actions taken to limit mobilization of pollutants and attenuate them on site between floods are likely to benefit the entire region.

Priority 6 – International Rivers: Special focus should be given to international rivers that collect pollutants and convey them to the Bay of Bengal from upstream countries, some of which are not BOBLME members. Some developed countries also responsible for the sea pollution of Bangladesh as well as Bay of Bengal (Table 15). The major focus here would be on rivers such as the Ganges Brahmaputra-Meghna System (GMB).


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Table 15: Some of the known shipments of toxic wastes that entered Bangladesh and India in the 1990’s from the developed world (Source: SOE South Asia 2001) (Kaly, 2004).

Bengal Basin (GMB)

The Bengal basin (Fig. 20) lies partly in India with a substantial portion in Bangladesh. The GBM river basin covers an area of about 1.75 million km2 stretching across Bangladesh (7.4 %), India (62.9 %), Nepal (8.0 %), Bhutan (2.6 %) and China (19.1 %). The mean annual precipitation is 1,200 mm and 2,300 mm in the Ganges and Brahmaputra-Meghna river basins, respectively. The system carries a peak flow of 141,000 m3/s at its estuary, emptying about 1,150 billion m3 of water into the Bay of Bengal (Ramesh et. al. 2009). The Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers rank tenth and twelfth in the world, respectively, in terms of the discharge they carry. The estimated basin population is approximately 535 million (75.8 % in India; 20 % in Bangladesh; 3.5 % in Nepal; 0.2 % in Bhutan; and 0.5 % in China). The Himalayan rivers form large catchment basins. On 2 May, 2008, the delta suffered extensive damage from Cyclone Nargis, a category 4 storm that caused large scale coastal flooding.

Fig. 20: Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin (www.nasa.gov, 2008)

6.2. Trans-Boundary Coastal Pollution Concerns

Human activities are causing serious environmental degradation, threatening the sustainable management and health of the near-coastal waters. Among the major threats to the LME’s health and productivity is pollution from land-based sources, particularly related to sewage, agriculture, aquaculture and industries (Kaly, 2004). These are also the main land-based pollution categories of transboundary significance in the region. The mobilisation of pollutants through rivers, run-off and


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floods, as well as cross-border movements of pollutants through international rivers, is of concern (Kaly, 2004, Martosubroto & Willmann 2003) (Table 16). Table 16 : Transboundary environmental issues related to pollution (Extracted from Martosubroto & Willmann , 2003).

Oil spill arises from various sea-based activities, including marine transportation as well as offshore mineral exploration and production activities. Beach tar is also considered a severe problem along the west coast of India, with total deposits of up to 1,000 tons a year. The Western part of the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ); Lakshadweep and the Nicobar Islands, lie close to one of the major oil tanker routes, originating from the Gulf countries to reach South East Asia. Nearly 500 million tons of crude oil is carried by about 3,500 tankers along this route. Any major oil spill occurring in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal can lead to large scale damage to marine environment. The GBM river system is a major recipient of waste from industries in Bangladesh and India. High levels of pesticides can be found along the coast, especially near cities and ports . Pollution by suspended solids is common to the entire LME, including the Andaman Sea. In the GBM basin, 70 % of the industrial wastes are dumped untreated into surface waters. Surface water shortage in Bangladesh and India, particularly in drought prone areas, has driven intensive extraction of ground water (Kaly, 2004). Arsenic problem

Arsenic contamination in West Bengal, India and in Bangladesh is now recognized as a trans-boundary issue. Arsenic and fluorides mobilized from minerals by extracting groundwater below a threshold depth has now become a serious problem. Prolonged consumption of arsenic and fluorides in groundwater is recognized as a severe health problem among rural communities. The problem originated with intensive tapping of groundwater in West Bengal for irrigation. The arsenic rich minerals are distributed in an area of about 35,000 km2 extending from West Bengal, India to the Ganges Delta in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable because the Ganges Delta is hydrologically connected to soil with similar depositional history in West Bengal, India (BUP, 2001. SOE Bangladesh, 2001).

7. International Conventions & Current Status of their Implementation in the Countries

The government of Bangladesh has adopted a number of policies and plan concerning environment and development. Specially, after Rio-Summit in Brazil (Earth Summit, 1992) like all other participating nations, Bangladesh also prepared program, the blue print of action towards


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sustainable global development in the first “National Environment policy and Action program”. To implement the policy and action program; and to achieve sustainable development, till then Bangladesh government has taken a number of steps on the preparation of rules, regulation and action program what is needed. Similarly, under the arena of International Convention, Treaties, Protocols (ICTPs), the government of Bangladesh signed a number of treaties, convention, protocols, each having a number of commitments and consequent implications- UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), Cartagena Protocol on Bio-safety Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete Ozone Layer Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and

their Disposal The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) South Asian Cooperative Environmental Program (SACEP), Asian Disaster Preparedness

Centre (ADPC), etc. 8. Existing Policies and Legislations for Pollution Control Bangladesh has 35 laws that exclusively deals with environmental issues and also has over a 100 laws that deal with the various aspects of the environmental issues (DG/DoE, 2010). The following are the major legal instruments related to pollution control and conservation of biodiversity:- 8.1. Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act and Rules

Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1974: The main provisions of this Act aim at prevention and control of water pollution as well as restoration of water quality, through the establishment of State Pollution Control Boards. Some salient features of this Act are- • No person shall knowingly cause or permit any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter determined in accordance with such standards as may be laid down by the State Board to enter (whether directly or indirectly) into any stream or well or sewer or on land. • No person shall knowingly cause or permit to enter into any stream any other matter which may tend, either directly or in combination with similar matters, to impede the proper flow of the water of the stream in a manner leading or likely to lead to a substantial aggravation of pollution due to other causes or of its consequences. 8.2. The Environment Protection Act and Rules

a. Environmental Conservation Act, 1995 (amendment 2000, 2002) - It is a powerful law for ensuring conservation and sustainable use of the biological resources of the country and protection of its environment.

b. Environmental Conservation Rules, 1997- Under the provisions of the ECR 1997, it is mandatory for industries to carry out and EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment), ETP (Effluents Treatment Plant) confirm to the environmental quality standards, report accidents or unfortunate unforeseen discharges of pollutants and take remedial measures, as warranted.

c. Environmental Court Act, 2000 (Amendment 2002) - The act provides for the establishment of one or more Environmental Courts, initially in every division of the country, with specific terms of reference to deal with environmental offences.

d. The Wildlife (Preservation) Order, 1973 and Wildlife Preservation (Amendment) Act 1973-The wildlife laws provides for the protection of wildlife as well as their habitats.


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e. The Forest Act, 1927 (Amendment 1990, 2000)-The act empowers the Government to declare any area of forest as Reserved and by doing that it may take measures for in situ conservation of biodiversity.

f. Biosafety Guidelines of Bangladesh, 2007 -To save the country’s biological base from the possible negative impact of biotechnology highly advanced over the passed decade, biodiversity guidelines entitled “Biosafety Guidelines of Bangladesh” has been formulated by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 1999 and update by Ministry of Forest and Environment in 2007 in line with the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety- 2000.

g. National Biodiversity Framework, 2007-Bangladesh developed “National Biodiversity Framework” in 2007 to institutionalize the Biosafety regulations and strengthen infrastructural facilities for risk assessment and management of GMOs.

8.3. Water Quality Standards For maintaining the water quality, the Ministry of Water Resource has set out certain policies. Unfortunately not much initiatives has yet been taken to formulate and implements the required regulatory and supportive policies. Policies under each are briefly as follows: National Water Policy (NWP), 1999- It works for the development and safety of water resources. National Policy for Safe Water Supply and Sanitation (1998) - It is formulated to ensure the safe water and ensure the proper sanitation among the peoples. National Water Management Plan (NWMP), 2001- View of NWMP was to ensure, clean water, protection of water ecosystems (Environment & Aquatic Resources). No emphasis of this plan is visible on restoration or management of threatened areas due to lack of involvement by experts. 8.4. Agro-Chemical Pollution Control Excessive and improper use of pesticides and fertilizers in the cropped area may pose significant risk to coastal waters with surface soil erosion and wash out of the agricultural field by rainfall. Below represents some of the problems and existing policy responses on agrochemical in coastal zone of Bangladesh.

• National Agriculture Policy, 1999 • Pesticides Law,1985 • Integrated Pest Management

8.5. Coastal Zone Policy and Strategy, 2005 More specifically, the following development objectives have been determined:

Economic growth; Basic needs and opportunities for livelihoods; Reduction of vulnerabilities; Sustainable management of natural resources; Equitable distribution; Empowerment of communities; Women’s development and gender equity; and Conservation and enhancement of critical ecosystems. (Islam, 2006.)

Ongoing Ordinance, Rules & Guidelines (DG, DoE presentation to Parliamentary Comm. on Env. 3rd August, 2010, Personal Comm.)

Solid Waste Management Ordinance,2010 Ship Breaking and Hazardous Waste Management Rule, 2010 Biosafety Ordinance, 2010 ECA management Ordinance, 2010


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Durable Development and Tourism Policy of St. Martin Island 2010 EIA Guidelines for others Sectors Guidelines on Environmental Management, Waste treatment and Workers Occupational

Safety & Health (OSH) for Ship Breaking Yards in Bangladesh, 2010. 9. Institutional Mechanisms for Pollution Control & Enforcement of Existing Policies & Legislations Different Ministries of the Government have announced, over the years, their respective policies for carrying out the mandates. The Ministries implement various programs directly and indirectly through their concerned agencies and the coastal issues are being adopted directly or indirectly with the policies. Until the mid-1980s, few NGOs were active in the coastal zone, but since then, their number and coverage has increased. There are national NGOs such as ASA, BRAC, and the Grameen Bank, and smaller local NGOs and internationally funded activities such as Danida’s water supply and sanitation program. The consensus is that NGO activities have helped reduce the severity and extent of poverty. 10. Gaps There are two types of knowledge gaps in the region pertaining to pollution. There is a real lack of scientific information required for managing and reducing pollution in the region. This includes information on pollution hotspots, and on how and where pollution is attenuated on land, in rivers and in the sea. There is also a perceived lack of information. This is information that does exist, but is not widely known or available in the region, or is not in a useable form. This type of information includes knowledge on clean technologies for industry and treatment of wastes, and best practices for agriculture and aquaculture. a. Basic information: Information on the extent and types of pollution in the Bay of Bengal LME, including the sea, coastal zones of the region, rivers, land and other ecosystem elements, is fragmentary at best. Although there are several national initiatives aimed at monitoring the coast (India, Malaysia) and rivers (Malaysia), for most countries information comes from ad hoc sources. Without the ability to see which areas are most polluted (‘Hot spots’) and by which pollution types (nutrients, silt, heavy metals etc) determining the most important sources of pollution that will require action is largely guesswork. Although we may be able to guess at how much pollution is actually produced by land-based sources, we have no information on how much is mobilized, or how much is metabolized on land and in rivers and how much actually reaches the sea. There is similarly little information on where pollution goes once it enters the Bay of Bengal. From the known current circulation patterns (Sherman et al. 1998), it may be said that persistent pollution entering the Bay of Bengal in the west from India and Bangladesh would tend to flow towards the countries on the eastern side (Sherman, K., Okemwa, E.N. & Ntiba, M.J. (eds). 1998). b. Standards: In many BOBLME countries there are still knowledge gaps for the establishment of allowable limits of toxic discharge (e.g. Malaysia). Having permissible limits to discharges, however, addresses only part of the problem since even if discharge rates are low, if there are enough industries or people discharging them, environmental limits can still be exceeded. There is a need to establish the relationships between specific activities, the types and amount of pollutants they discharge and attenuation rates or carrying capacity of receiving environments. Without this information it is difficult for even the best-equipped institutions to enforce permissible limits and polluter pays policies. For example, the Ship breaking industry in Bangladesh has three institutions controlling it. Despite this attention there is almost no consideration of environmental issues, including limits on importation of ships or the pollution produced (Hossain, 2004 , Kaly, 2004).


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Key Gaps for Bangladesh: 10.1. Information / Data Gaps Scientific information – pollution hotspots, how & where pollution is attenuated Basic information – only fragmentary data Standards : most of BOBLME countries don’t know allowable limit of toxic discharge (e.g.

Bangladesh) No standard policies to collect data BOBLME countries don’t share proper data regularly Data is not updated

10.2. Gaps (Policies and Legislation) No strong net-working among the policy makers No integration at operation level Wide gap in GO-NGO collaboration Deteriorating of laws & poor management systems. Blindness of laws & legislations among the peoples.

10.3. Gaps (Implementation Issues) Lack of trained man-power Lack of awareness Financial problem Lack of proper instruments at BUET, IMSF, BSTI etc. No National marine environment research institution in Bangladesh yet, although National

Oceanographic Institution (NORI) is under process. 10.4. Gaps (Report Card) No postering Lack of Publicity through TV channels. No remarkable report card of pollution status to public.

There are major concerns over the influence of the powerful local elite, discussed above, and the barriers to effective institutional harmonization (between government agencies and among NGOs). Addressing these concerns, which are essentially about governance issues, is fundamental to the future development of pro-poor policies in coastal areas and demonstrates how these issues cannot be separated from the wider social and political conditions of countries such as Bangladesh. The policy and institutional arrangement and coordination between relevant sectors are extensively required at the beginning to implement NPA. Training, educating, awareness program, legal enforcement mechanisms, financial mechanisms, contingency planning, research and monitoring, and public participation are necessary for Bangladesh to achieve this goal. 11. Priority Actions & Remedial Measures

Effective ecosystem-based actions need to integrate social, economic and environmental concerns, the so-called 3 pillars of sustainable development. The actions needed are broad and need to approach the main issues from different angles, including changes in the way people think, through to empirically analyzing the problems of pollution, and making interventions at a range of governmental and geographic scales. Most of the actions suggested below are unlikely to work, if applied by only one country, without the support of people, or without the support of at least some of the remaining actions. Specific Actions on Specifics Problems


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11.1. Ecology

Legislations and policies to regulate conversions of mangrove lands. Introduction of sustainable technologies for shrimp cultivation. Strict enforcement of laws and policies. Wherever needed amendments to the existing

legislation be carried out to ensure the objectives of this strategy. Projects recommending mangrove destruction to be appraised in the context of not merely

financial returns from such projects but in the overall context of economic value of mangroves. Alter development program / policies to incorporate this essential principle of natural resource management.

An intensive program for aforestation and restoration of degraded mangrove areas to be taken up. In contiguous areas spreading over more than one country, efforts to be made to ensure exchange of information, best practices and developing synergies between institutional processes in concerned States.

Conservation, Protection and development of mangroves are central to the any action program for coastal areas. Launch scientific National Action Plan on Mangroves and a strategy for its implementation. The action plan will include action on-

• Identification of existing mangrove areas for conservation and management • Identification of degraded mangrove areas for regeneration an rehabilitation • Plantation of mangroves on non forest and community lands through involvement of

local people • Encourage compensatory mangrove a forestation program • Strictly regulate and control deforestation of mangroves in the coastal areas • Discourage and prohibit developmental activities in mangrove areas • Ensure that exploitation and harvesting of coastal marine resources including mangroves

are sustainable • Regulate and control the deliberate, accidental, unintentional or malicious introduction

of alien species and genetically modified organisms into the coastal environment • Encourage the local people for documentation of traditional knowledge related to

sustainable utilization and management of mangroves at various levels • Establish guidelines on the sharing and application of such knowledge • Effectively acquire baseline information on the status of mangroves and related

ecosystems • Share existing scientific and technical knowledge and promote relevant research and

development to address management requirements

11.2. Water Management and Rivers

• Intensification and greater involvement of stakeholders in ongoing program for water conservation and management.

• Take a comprehensive look at water management issues, participate in learning processes and exchange knowledge and information on better water management practices.

• Initiate a time bound program for use of economic instruments in management of water and develop appropriate legislation for the purpose.

• All investment decisions relating to water and sanitation management to incorporate environmental health costs to reflect real costs.

• Make planned efforts to take a holistic approach towards management of marine environment rather than concentrating on coastal areas alone without integrating upstream management issues with coastal management plans. This effort would involve land use planning, regulation of deforestation, education and awareness, alternative technologies and promotion of sustainable traditional practices.


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• River conservation program have direct linkage with coastal habitat conservation. However, very little efforts have been made at linking river conservation program with coastal conservation activities. A comprehensive approach to river conservation in terms of land use planning, scientific urban management, industrial sitting, transportation of chemicals, and discharge of effluents needs to be adopted.

• Establish planning and operational linkages between mountain conservation, river conservation and coastal conservation program. Develop institutional mechanism to look into the vertical linkages among these three conservation efforts.

• Motivate citizens to contribute financially for implementation of river conservation program. This will improve accountability of service providers as well as make citizens own these programs so that arm chair criticism is avoided.

• Fresh water management is an essential input in management of coastal waters. Irrigation efficiency in agriculture is one of the lowest in South Asia. To initiate conservation program by the use of scientific methods of saving water, use economic disincentives to avoid misuse of water in agriculture and introduce dry land farming practices, technology and salinity tolerance varieties of crops wherever necessary.

• To initiate program for spreading awareness about scarcity of water and introduce better management practices in agriculture, urban and industrial use.

• To take immediate measures to develop legislation for regulating with-drawl of ground water on a sustainable basis.

11.3. Pollution Sources on Land

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be used as a benchmark tool for appraising and reviewing all development projects rather than its one time utility as a tool for appraising projects alone. Similarly, all projects of predetermined size, before expansion, to carry out risk assessment.

• Participate in technology development program which will aim at learning from local adaptations, developing alternatives, exchanging methods improvements and skills and sharing documentation. Strive to set up an operational mechanism under the umbrella of an existing institution for such activities.

• Organize Ship recycling industry in respective countries by introducing systems and technology improvements and providing training to the workers in the industry.

• Build capacities of the entrepreneurs in the ship recycling industry so that they can better appreciate environmental consequences of their activities.

• Proactively participate in the international negotiations on preparing more effective and environmentally friendly guidelines, so that accountability of each stakeholder including the ship owners is clearly developed and accepted.

• Take measures to improve infrastructure in the areas where recycling industry is located to ensure sanitation, waste management, and effluent discharge in an environmentally benign manner. And also to fulfill all commitments made in relevant international conventions through national legislation and proactive policies.

• Large areas of the region are prone to potential sea level rise due to climate change. Coastal areas are extremely sensitive to climate change. The integrated coastal zone management plans must take in to consideration the likely effects of sea level rise due to climate change and put in place program and investment plans for future to cover vulnerability of coastal areas and population residing there. Adaptation potential of these areas will be enhanced by taking timely action to spread awareness and information and take technological, policy and economic and social measures to improve resilience of the area, to likely consequences.


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11.4. Integration and Coordination

• Make intensive efforts at educating decision makers and planners, at various levels to mainstream GPA concerns in the planning process.

• Develop national and sub-regional policies for conservation, protection and sustainable development of ocean and marine resources. They will integrate these policies with their larger national and sub-regional sustainable development policies, so that they synergies achievement of the larger objectives.

11.5. Institutions

• Review institutional structures, so as to bring about institutional integration both horizontally and vertically.

• Authorize and empower institutions at all levels to perform in correspondence with mandate of this strategy and relevant legislation and policies.

• Structure, information, education and communication program for developing capacities for decision making at all levels as well as capacities to implement specific program elements at each level. In order to achieve these objectives, bring about institutional development through legislative process, wherever necessary.

• Structure program jointly to facilitate capacity development, through regional cooperation and information and experience sharing within the sub-region.

11.6. Legislation

Following principles govern the development of environmental legislation: • Primacy of environmental legislation. • Integrity of environmental legislation where issues are not seen in isolation but are

integral part of a larger framework of environment and development. • Legislation must look at issues in a comprehensive sense which implies that both supply

and demand side should be addressed as well as the source and the sinks of natural resources must be accommodated within legislation.

• Legislation should be practically enforceable which would imply its positive synergy with basic objectives of governance, namely, providing livelihood security, food security and sustainability. All development activities to have environmental assessment / environmental impact assessment conducted to ensure environmental viability of the project.

• No development activity to be allowed on the coastal areas without its sanction under the integrated coastal zone management plan.

• Community involvement including public hearings to form part of the impact assessment procedure.

• Carrying capacity considerations should precede any consideration of a tourism project. • Adopt the FAO code for responsible fisheries. Fisheries constitute an important segment

of livelihood security in the South Asian region. Take all executive and legislative measures to ensure compliance with the code of conduct at the national level.

• Actively consider and adopt a system of market based economic instruments for regulating over exploitation of marine resources.

• Consider expanding marine reserve areas and operational sing scientific management plans for these areas on a time bound monitorable basis.

• Develop policies to ensure participation of stakeholders at all levels to ensure sustainable fishing.

• Impose legislative ban on unsustainable consumption of corals and jointly work towards identifying alternative building material to substitute the use of corals in construction industry.


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• Wherever necessary develop legislation to carry out inventorisation of coastal resources. 11.7. Financing and Economic Management

• Whereas regulatory arrangements for various aspects of GPA management have been emphasized and parties have decided to develop a desirable regulatory framework, the use of economic instruments has not yet been sufficiently made at national levels. Parties recognize the role of economic incentives and disincentives and market based instruments in management of natural resources. There is a recognition that States of the sub-region suffer from acute poverty and large population of the sub-region is under international poverty line. Use of economic instruments, therefore, has to be judiciously made with adequate amount of spread of information and awareness.

• Water is the most critical natural resource and its management would require an evolutionary framework of regulation and economic instruments. Parties, in their own national program regime, will endeavor to develop a framework towards this objective.

11.8. Information, Awareness and Knowledge Management

• There is a strong need for not only creating a greater stakeholder involvement but also to create and support the existing program for spreading awareness and educating stakeholders about the three pillars of sustainable development. The campaign would require association of several small grass root based organizations. Building awareness is the foundation for a large scale voluntary compliance regime. The youth and the school going children are the most critical targets for spreading education and awareness. This endeavor is not to be restricted to coastal areas alone, as whatever is done in the upper reaches, ultimately, influences coastal environment. School curricula will be reviewed in order to ensure mainstreaming of environmental issues in to various subjects.

• Parties will associate and encourage media, both audio and visual, to contribute towards spread of awareness through various means. Media will also exercise responsibility in its reporting on environmental issues with an objective of informing and educating instead of merely sensationalizing.

11.9. Capacity Development

• Develop joint program for training of personnel working in municipal institutions with a view to facilitate experience sharing and develop transboundary program for developing a better understanding of respective national circumstances.

• Develop program to provide better orientation to office bearers of local self governance institutions in environment and natural resource governance.

• Develop program within countries and facilitate participation in foreign training program for the relevant employees of the municipal corporations and rural institutions so that they can discharge their responsibilities in a more effective way.

• Create capacities within education systems of respective countries, so that teachers as well as students are not merely made aware of environmental issues but they can effectively participate in management of these issues.

• Most municipal institutions are not adequately equipped with modern management practices and equipments, therefore take measures to equip these institutions adequately through national budgets or through donor funding or other innovative measures.

• In order to make municipal institutions more accountable, enter in to Memorandum of Understanding backed by appropriate institutional, financial and human resource support so that these institutions can adequately discharge their functions and be answerable to their constituents.


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11.10. Research and Science and Technology

Some of the ideas for research projects are as follows: • There is a woeful inadequacy of appropriate data at the national and the regional level.

Oceans and coastal areas offer interplay of numerous natural and man-made factors for study. Unfortunately, very little survey and research work has been done. Important information such as chemical run-off from inorganic fertilizer and pesticides to water bodies, economic valuation of important features such as wetlands, studies on pollution loads of rivers and major water bodies in the region are lacking. Similarly, data on physico-chemical property of coastal water and their biotic influence on eco-system also need to be studied. To make efforts at joint study / research program on some of these critical issues.

• Modern technology will play a crucial role in implementation of GPA. All States in different proportions are using satellite based remote sensing technologies for Geographical Information System (GIS). Their use of this technology is at variance depending upon their indigenous capacities. Whereas there are program, both at national and international level, which facilitate use of remote sensing based technologies, there is a need to subject national implementation positions to comprehensive reviews at sub-regional level and plan a time-bound program for sharing of best practices, skills and hardware capacities to bring about critical difference in use of technology for management of GPA.

• There is a strong potential for developing joint program for research and development in the sub-region. Technology development is another critical area for joint cooperation, particularly in waste water management, water supply management and natural resource utilization techniques. The emphasis would be on area specific technologies which are not dependent either on huge financial resources or which have inherent operational handicaps or which do not conform to socio-cultural practices of the region.

• Promote, develop and support initiatives on technology development and use which supports friendly sustainable extraction of natural resources. Participate in cooperative program which will facilitate sharing of traditional knowledge as well as protection and documentation of the traditional knowledge for use from generations to generations.

11.11. International and Regional Cooperation

• All States in the region are signatory to the major international conventions concerning hazardous chemicals such as the POPs Convention, Basal Convention and the Prior Informed Consent Convention. Adequate national and local legislations to implement international commitments have to be put in place. The States would look into their international commitments and identify special areas for legislation, so that legislation can be developed in these specific areas within a time bound manner as per the requirement of the international convention.

• Indian subcontinent has several rivers which run through more than one State. The flow of water in these rivers is governed by respective bilateral agreements. States would in the context of these bilateral agreements look at the need for further regulation on movement of hazardous chemicals, pollutants and other environmentally destructive material on a bilateral basis.

• In order to establish a workable program of action, States would also deliberate on a bilateral basis jointly implementable program for management of trans boundary pollution through rivers.


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• States would jointly launch research program to study physical processes governing sediment budgets in the river systems so that implications of water regulation and other man made influences on accretion / erosion rates on the delta are better understood.

• The States will strive towards developing a regionally binding program over a period of agreed time frame. It is acknowledged that the typical developmental character of these States does not, at this stage, necessitate a binding agreement

• The sub-regional participating States will take appropriate measures to ratify relevant international conventions and agreements so that obligations under them are adequately integrated into national and sub-national legislations. They would further develop program for implementing these obligations within national boundaries. (Kher, 2003)


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Table 17: Summary of suggested actions and their location

(Kaly,2004)

12. Summary & Conclusions

The country report is an effort to identify the present status of coastal pollution loading and water quality criteria for Bangladesh, following the TOR and guidelines of BOBLME regional program for


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preparing a national report on land based sources of marine pollution. The report mainly addresses, the brief bio-geographic features of the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, along with the criteria and status of ecologically critical (ECA’s) and ecologically sensitive areas (ESA’a), the major coastal activities based on the resources, its role and contribution to national economy, livelihood for local people and human wellbeing and its global significance. This report also tries to give an overview on the up to date information of the major causes and sources of land and sea based marine pollution and the priority categories of parameters, what should be monitored to assess the status of coastal and marine pollution in Bangladesh. This study also deals with the national rules, policies and guidelines on the existing water and sediment quality objectives and targets; and on the shortcomings and limitations, specifically on coastal and marine pollution related issues. Thus, the report also discusses the role and activities of concerned ministry, departments, research organizations and on their ongoing activities, program, and projects related to environment and biodiversity conservation, linkage to other regional and international organizations. Finally, this report tried to identify the major gaps, in relation to data, policies and legislation, implementation issues etc. for a sustainable regional management of the Bay of Bengal, based on the data, report, studies by the BoBLME countries and through participating BOBLME regional and national workshop/conferences and sharing experiences, an attempt was made to identify the priority actions, that need to be taken nationally and regionally among the 8 BoBLME countries and the remedial measures, that should be taken for a rigorous management and control of pollution and conservation of biodiversity in the Bay of Bengal LME.

Despite a limited area - 144,045 km² - and a population over 110 million, Bangladesh has not hitherto paid adequate attention to environmental degradation and pollution which are, at present, affecting the coastal marine environment and its major protein resources. This has, however, now become a key policy issue and a major problem area in the country. Government has, as a result, adopted an environmental policy and action plan with a view to continuing Bangladesh’s developmental process on a sustainable basis. It is apprehended that current problems associated with land-based sources of pollution in the region will continue to deteriorate unless radical measures can be introduced in a short period of time. The main forces operating to worsen the existing problems of pollution include increasing population’s pressure, urbanization, coastal migration, development imperatives and improving lifestyles, shifts in industry, expanding tourism and intensifying methods of agriculture and aquaculture.


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Annex -1

Brief Introduction to the BOBLME Project:

The Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystems is a relatively shallow embayment in the northeastern Indian Ocean encompassing the Bay of Bengal, Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca. It is boarded by Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri-Lanka and Thailand. This LME covers an area of about of about 3,660,130 Km2 (Sea Around Us, 2007, NOAA, 2010). Over 400 million people in the Bay of Bengal area are dependent on coastal and marine resources for their food, livelihood and security. Rapid population growth, high dependence on resources and increased land use has resulted in over exploitation of fish stocks and habitat degradation, and has led to considerable uncertainty whether the ecosystem will be able to support the livelihoods of the coastal populations in the future. Most of the Bay of Bengal’s resources are shared by two or more countries and therefore trans-boundary or multi-country collaboration is required to ensure their sustainable management and conservation. Despite the large number of international, regional and sub-regional bodies and programmes operating in the Bay, none have a clear mandate, geographical scope and/or capacity to support a regional initiative that would effectively address the issues confronting the coastal communities of the BOB. Furthermore, the current existence of many ineffective policies, strategies and legal measures at the National level would likely impede the development of any regional arrangements. Other major constraints include weak institutional capacity at national levels, insufficient budgetary commitments, and lack of community stakeholder consultation and empowerment (Sherman & Hampel, 2009). Maldives, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, have declared their willingness to work together through the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) Project and lay the foundations for a coordinated programme of action designed to improve the lives of the coastal populations through improved regional management of the Bay of Bengal environment and its fisheries.

Out of the 74 LME Component in global wide, Bay of Bengal represent 34 LME and under the ongoing BOBLME program (2009-2013), focused will be given broadly in five(05) key areas. They are:

1. Development of a Strategic Action Plan (SAP) to protect the health of the ecosystem and manage the living resources of the Bay on a sustainable basis to improve the food and livelihood security of the region’s coastal population

• Finalizing an analysis of trans-boundary issues • Establishing regional management arrangements with sustainable financing • The adoption of a SAP by member countries to address the issues identified above

2. Improving Coastal/Marine Natural Resources Management and Sustainable Use

• Promoting community-based management • Improving policy harmonization • Devising regional fishery assessments and management plans for hilsa, Indian mackerel and

sharks • Demonstrating collaborative critical habitat management in selected areas

3. Better understanding of the BOBLME Environment • Improving understanding of the large-scale processes and dynamics affecting the BOB • Promoting use of Marine Protected Areas to conserve regional fish stocks • Improving regional cooperation with regional and global assessment and monitoring

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4. Maintenance of Ecosystem Health and Management of Pollution • Establishing an effective ecosystem indicator framework • Developing a regional approach to identifying and managing important coastal pollution

issues 5. Project Management

• Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation system for the Project • Developing a Project information and dissemination system.

The Regional Coordination Unit (RCU) is currently based in the FAO Offices in Bangkok, Thailand. Under the day-to-day direction of the Regional Coordinator (RC), the RCU is responsible for the implementation and management of the project to its successful conclusion in accordance with the rules and procedures of the FAO as executing agency, GEF as the major donor, and the technical guidance of the Project Steering Committee (PSC).


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