South Asia; Aren’t we victims of eco-terrorism?

by Nazrul Islam 1 April 2019

A foreign language movie, which was released in 2017, has drawn my attention recently. In this film it was depicted that how horror can be the environmental pollution. At the end of the film, the term ‘eco-terrorism’ has been used and logically the term draws our attention when the whole world is facing the risks of environmental pollution seriously.

Generally, eco-terrorism is a term used to refer to acts of violence committed to in support of ecological or environmental causes, against persons or their property. The film shows that a nefarious company drains their industrial waste through the controversial reverse boring process. Consequently, harmful chemicals like ammonium nitrate and chromium are spread in the environment of that area; and the result of which is terrible! 

The whole movie is fictional. At the beginning it has been said, ‘all characters, activities, locations, names, situations and persons (living or dead) portrayed or used in this film are fictitious.’ But, at the end of the picture there is an important fact and then we got the question in our mind, ‘are we sure that we are not victims of eco-terrorism?’

There are many elements of environment; river and its water are the most important components of environment. Water is absolutely essential not only for survival of human beings but also for animals, plants and all other living things. Water availability is a planer and determiner of civilization and cultures. But, it’s lamentable that despite its importance water is the most poorly managed resource in the world. 

After the industrial revolution of 19^th century, environmental issues have become the most significant topic throughout the world. The ultimate goal of the industrialization is for the development of human civilization and their standard of living. But, when reckless industrialization causes great harm to environment and destroys the balance of ecology in that case industrialization cannot serve its goal, rather it hampers the interest of the people.

This is a common trend all over the world that most of the cities and industries are situated near or on the bank of the rivers. The existing tendency of urbanization and industrialization may contribute greatly to the poor quality of water through indiscriminate disposal of solid waste, industrial effluents and other toxic wastes which are the major environmental issues for posing threats to the existence of human being.

There are two main sources of water pollution; point sources and non-point sources. Factories, power plants and sewage treatment plants are considered point sources of water pollution because, they emit pollutants at discrete locations, usually through a pipe that leads to a lake or stream. In other way, it can be described as industrial wastes mainly contribute the toxic pollutants to the water. 

National Geography states that in developing countries, 70 percent of industrial wastes are dumped untreated into waters, polluting the useable water supply. On average, 22 million tons of fertilizers and chemicals are used each year (www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/pollution). Polluted water is the world’s biggest health risk, and continues to threaten both quality of life and public health in most of the country of the world.

Bangladesh is a riverine country and there are about 700 rivers including tributaries flow through the country. A river is an important component of environment which carries freshwater and keeps a boundless significance for harmonizing a suitable environment in this earth. But, most of the rivers of Bangladesh especially near the cities are being polluted through discharging various wastes such as industrial wastes without any measures and treatment into it.

Bangladesh Department of Environment, and Department of Fisheries and the International Organization-World Fish together have conducted two different studies and it was found that the pollution has exceeded in the 29 major rivers of Bangladesh. Most of the industries, mostly on the banks of the river, are throwing their waste to the river without refining them. Even though the factories have waste treatment machines but, most of them are not being run (The Daily Prothom Alo, March 22, 2019).

The rivers of Bangladesh are the worse victim of pollution. Industrial pollutants such as lead, cadmium, iron, copper and organic wastes from leaking sewage systems get blended in the water of rivers. Referred as bioaccumulation, this process can ruthlessly affect water quality and species survival. Also, this can destroy the water aeration system and the self-purifying process of rivers. The Buriganga river of Dhaka city is a typical example of serious surface water contamination.

A report published in a reputed daily, stated that Bangladesh saw around 234,000 deaths, including 80,000 in urban areas, due to environmental pollution and related health risks in 2015, making it one of the worst affected countries in the world, reveals a World Bank report. The number was more than 10 times that of deaths the same year from road accidents, which were 21,286 (The Daily Star, September 17, 2018). 

It’s a common problem of us that we cannot address our problems before they take place. In fact, it is a familiar tendency of us that we usually get conscious about a matter when it goes bad. For example, it took more than a decade in relocating tannery industry and meanwhile the industry destroyed the aquatic of Buriganga river which is the main source of surface water for Dhaka city.

In a report published on the occasion of World Water Day 2019, mentioned that 148 sources are polluting the rivers’ water around Dhaka city regularly. From these sources, various types of toxic chemicals, ready-mix, sewerage, industrial waste and market waste are falling in the Buriganga, Turag and Shitalakshya rivers of Bangladesh. Many industries are dumping their wastes in the rivers through the pipes directly (The Daily Jugantor, March 22, 2019).

We should be proud of what we have achieved after our independence and obviously we cannot ignore the contribution of industry for the development of Bangladesh. But, we should keep in mind that unplanned industrialization cause great harm for environment and its ultimate result is hindrance of sustainable development. Because, almost every industrial establishment exploits natural resources in many ways and in that way industrial establishment accelerate environment pollution.

At the end of the movie there have a fact: In 1960 Green revolution started in Punjab. In 2016 it’s the cancer belt of India due to chemical contamination. 1332 hazardous waste is generated around Ludhiana (district of Punjab). Nearly 7 lakh people die of cancer annually. In last two decades there have been more death due to chemical contamination than terrorism worldwide. The new face of terrorism is Eco-Terrorism (movie Irada, language Hindi, released 2017).

Polluted water is the world’s biggest health risk and continues to threaten both quality of life and public health in most of the country of the world. Colon cancer, asthma, kidney problems, maternal health issues, diarrhoea and many other health concerns are a direct result of city-wide water pollution. Nevertheless, we always rely on pure water to survive. Because, clean and pure water provides the foundation for prosperous civilization. Thereat, we have to understand how our industries are disposing their wastes. We must ask ourselves that, are we sure that we are not victims of eco-terrorism?