State of the Environment

1. Land Degradation: There are many driving forces compelling people in Bangladesh to over-exploit natural resources like land. The main ones are the poverty with rapid population growth, improper land use, absence of a land use policy, and ineffective implementation of existing laws and guidelines. Unplanned agricultural practices, and encroachment on forest areas for agriculture and settlements, also put pressure on scarce land resources. Unplanned or inadequate rural infrastructure development and the growing demands of increasing urbanization are also devouring productive land.

Emphasis on high-yielding varieties to grow more food has resulted in the loss of many traditional varieties of rice and other crops. Also the large scale practice of mono cropping has caused deterioration of soil fertility. Degradation of soil quality in the floodplains is mainly attributed to improper use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to boost agricultural production.

2. Water: For water resource analysis and planning, water demands have been categorized into consumptive and non-consumptive uses. Consumptive demands are those where water is lost from the resource pool and non-consumptive demands are those where used water is returned to the resource pool, and can be re-used (WARPO, 1999b). The consumptive use of water is increasing due to the growth of different economic sectors - agriculture in particular. Water quality in the coastal area of Bangladesh is degraded by the intrusion of saline water that has occurred due to lean flow in the dry season. This affects agriculture significantly, as well as other consumptive uses of the water. Excess water in the monsoon causes floods and riverbank erosion, which result in loss of land and people being left homeless.

3. Air Pollution: There are two major sources of air pollution in Bangladesh, vehicular emissions and industrial emissions. However, these are mainly concentrated in the cities. Other than that there are numerous brick-making kilns used seasonally (in dry season) all over Bangladesh. Almost all of these kilns use coal and wood as their source of energy, resulting in the emission of particulate matter, oxides of sulfur, and volatile organic compounds. In addition to these usual sources of fuel, spent or used rubber wheels of vehicles are also burnt, which emit black carbon and toxic gases. These are hazardous for health. The emissions caused by these sorts of practices sometime exceed the mechanisms for the natural rate of purification of the local atmosphere giving rise to severe episodes of local air pollution.

4. Biodiversity: In Bangladesh only about 8-10 per cent of the land area is under good canopy cover. It supports approximately 5000 species of angiosperms, out of which about 300 species are being cultivated. Bangladesh’s inland water bodies are known to be the habitat of 266 species of indigenous fish, 13 exotic fish, 56 prawns, about 26 freshwater molluscs, and 150 birds. The depletion of biodiversity is the result of various kinds of human development interventions and activities, especially in the areas of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, urbanization, industries, chemicals, minerals, transport, tourism, and energy
5. Natural Disasters: Bangladesh is most vulnerable to several natural disasters and every year natural calamities upset people's lives in some part of the country. The major disasters concerned here are the occurrences of flood, cyclone and storm surge, flash flood, drought, tornado, riverbank erosion, and landslide. The effects of a natural disaster, or a combination of more than one natural disaster may be direct loss of life, and certainly damage to physical properties. This requires large resources for disaster management including mitigation, recovery and preparedness.

6. Energy: In rural areas biomass is a primary source of energy. It makes up 57% of the total energy consumption in the area. Increased use of biomass fuel for domestic consumption has deprived the soil of natural fertilizers.

7. Forests: Bangladesh has approximately 8 % forest cover of from its total surface area. Only 6-8% has good canopy cover, which is far below the desired level. Forests are vulnerable due to a population explosion, illegal resource extraction and land conversion.

Status of Youth:
They are recognized as the most important component of the population. However, poverty is threatening the livelihood of the youth as they indulge in life threatening habits such as drug abuse, and indulging in other criminal activities.

Total population of youth: 43 million
Literate: 55 %
Youth in rural areas: 73%
Trained and unemployed youth: 2 million

Government programmes to promote sustainable development

Programmes for Youth Development:

Contact
National Focal Point
Name of Organization: National Federation of Youth Organisations in Bangladesh (NFYOB)
Contact Person for SAYEN: Mr. Bidhan Pal
E-mail - nfyob@bijoy.net; bidhanthpbd@yahoo.com
Website - http://nfyob-bd.netfirms.com/index.htm