At a hotel in Dhaka, the city of Bangladesh, the World Bank study called “The Bangladesh Country Environment Analysis 2023” was made public.
According to the 2019 data, air pollution and environmental Pollution killed 1,49,294 people, arsenic killed 64,78 people, and lead killed 59,42 people. The World Bank is the source.
About three lakh people died too soon in Bangladesh in 2019 because of three types of pollution: air pollution, water pollution, and soil pollution. Air pollution is to blame for 50% of these deaths. A loss of 17.6% of the country’s gross domestic product that year was due to pollution. Dhaka has the dirtiest air of any city in recent years.
The level of pollution in many rivers, including those near Dhaka, has gotten very bad. Thus, a World Bank study has shown the harm that waste does to the environment in Bangladesh. An expert from the World Bank on the climate and a co-author of the study, Anna Licha Gomez, gave the presentation. He said that most of the data on air and water pollution came from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and the Environment Directorate. Data on lead pollution came from both national and foreign studies.
That information is shown through science models, and an estimate of the damage is made. It was the Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change Affairs of Bangladesh who was there when this study came out. At the event, he talked about how pollution has killed almost three million people too soon. He said, “We will never say that there is no problem; we admit that there are many environmental problems.” But we should think about how bad the harm really is. The Global Atmosphere Report 2023 was released this month by the Swiss company IQAir. That study said that in 2023, Bangladesh had the most polluted air and Dhaka was the most polluted city.
How many deaths and damages are caused by any pollution
The study says that arsenic and lead poisoning, dirty water, bad sanitation and cleanliness, and pollution of the air have killed at least 273,000 people. Because of these pollutions, people in the country get sick 522 million days a year. According to the World Bank, the most dangerous types of pollution are air pollution, both indoors and outdoors. 8.3% of 2019 GDB was lost in this deal. Then there are deaths caused by arsenic in drinking water, cleaning, and cleanliness. Sixty-five thousand people died in it. Lead poisoning killed around 60,000 people. Some people say that PN 2.5 particles make the air dirty. A study from the World Bank that came out yesterday said that Bangladesh is dealing with very high amounts of pollution and health risks from the climate. It hurts poor people, kids younger than five, the old, and women more than men. The study says that if the right steps are taken, the amount of PM 2.5 in the air can be cut by 33% by 2030.
Some steps that can be taken include speeding up the use of LPG or electricity instead of the harmful materials that are currently used in cooking to cut down on pollution in industry and power production. Integrated handling of trash can also help a lot with this.
How death can be prevented
A study from the World Bank says that thirteen thousand deaths can be avoided if policies and quick actions are taken. The study says that children are being hurt by pollution in their surroundings. Lead pollution is hurting kids’ brain growth in a way that can’t be fixed. It is thought that this causes people to lose about 20 million points of IQ every year. To cook at home with solid fuel is one of the main ways that air pollution is made. Most women and kids are hurt by this. The water quality in Bangladesh’s rivers has gotten much worse because of trash and sewage from other places, like plastics and industry waste that hasn’t been cleaned up. Investing in green power creation, cooking with green fuels, and tighter rules to stop pollution from factories are all things that can help clean up the air. Ana Luisa Gomez Lima, who helped write the study, said that Bangladesh can stop polluting the environment by putting in place the right policies and programs at the right time. Pollution can be lowered by making environmental protection measures stronger, spending on green food and other rewards, and spreading information. Ana Luisa Gómez Lima lists a number of problems that make it hard to clean up the environment in Bangladesh. They include problems with institutions and rules, not enough money, red tape and study, keeping an eye on public participation, honesty, and law enforcement. This study says that in 2022, there were 40,000 factories and 580,000 cars in the country. A lot of the trash in the world comes from cars and workplaces. But in 2021 and 2022, Bangladesh had about 2,000 mobile courts. To date, the Department of Environment has fined more than 2,000 companies for damage to the environment. The World Bank study focuses on a set of suggestions to stop waste in the environment. This includes making environmental laws and systems more diverse and stronger. Increasing the power of institutions and supporting a green economy.
Economic growth at the expense of the environment is not sustainable
The study was shown off before the event’s main speaker, the Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change. The minister said, “Unveiling is always a reason to celebrate.” “However, the report today doesn’t bring any good news.” It brings up something that really worries us. There is no question, though, that the study is important. The minister used Article 18 of the Constitution to say, “We are the people who are healthy and beautiful.” In charge of making sure people can live, but we have all sorts of problems. We have issues with money and how well we use our resources. It takes both money and speed to solve environmental issues. The minister said that 40% of the money that has been spent on Bangladesh’s climate sector has come from loans, calling the country a helpless victim of climate change. It’s a terrible thing. It is not the big countries’ fault that climate change is happening. It is up to us to stop it. We need to in this case. Easy-to-repay loans or grants should be given out. Cross-border air pollution is a cause of air pollution in Bangladesh, the minister said, “The dirty air from India’s Punjab goes to Pakistan’s Punjab.”
In the same way, dirty air from one place travels to another. There’s no reason to blame. At the event, Abdulaye Sek, who is the Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan for the World Bank, said, “Tackling environmental risks is a priority for Bangladesh at the same time as development and development.” We’ve seen in many places around the world that damaging the environment for economic growth is not a good idea.
The role of responsible agencies is not effective
Prof. Abdus Salam from Dhaka University’s Chemistry Department has been studying the world for a very long time. When he was told about the World Bank study, he said yesterday, “If there is a report on pollution in the world, Bangladesh is at the top of it.” We don’t like the news. Most of this damage to the world is caused by people. But the responsible groups we have to lessen the harm. The part doesn’t work well. Things don’t get better, then.” In 2022 and 2023, Dr. Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, who was in charge of the Environmental Health Research Group at the Bangladesh Environmental Health Research Center, looked into how much lead was in the bodies of children in Dhaka city. One out of every 500 kids in the study had lead in their bodies. Around eighty percent of them had more lead than was thought to be safe. He said that we know about lead pollution and the harm it does when asked about lead poisoning in children’s bodies in yesterday’s World Bank study. But the problem isn’t fixed just because it’s known.
