Bangladesh lost $62b in 2019 for environmental factors: WB

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Environmental factors, including air pollution, unsafe water, poor sanitation, and lead exposure, have inflicted considerable economic losses upon Bangladesh, totalling 17.6% of GDP in 2019, according to the latest report from the World Bank's Bangladesh Country Environmental Analysis (CEA), released today.

Accordingly, Bangladesh lost nearly $62 billion in 2019 due to environmental factors.

Of the factors, household and outdoor air pollution alone accounted for losses amounting to 8.32% of GDP equivalent to nearly $32 billion.

The report also finds that these environmental challenges contribute to over 272,000 premature deaths and 520 crore days of accumulated illness annually.

The World Bank released the report at a dissemination workshop titled "Bangladesh Country Environmental Analysis 2023" held at the capital's Intercontinental Hotel today.

"For Bangladesh, addressing environmental risks is both a development and an economic priority. We have seen around the world that when economic growth comes at the cost of the environment, it cannot be sustained. But it is possible to grow cleaner and greener without growing slower," said Abdoulaye Seck, country director of World Bank for Bangladesh and Bhutan.

He also said, "To sustain its strong growth path and improve the livability of cities and the countryside, Bangladesh simply cannot afford to ignore the environment. Preventing environmental degradation and ensuring climate resilience is critical to stay on a strong growth path and for achieving the country's vision of becoming an upper-middle-income country," he added.

According to the World Bank report, Bangladesh is facing alarming levels of pollution and environmental health risks. It disproportionately affects the poor, children under five, the elderly and women.

It shows lead poisoning is causing irreversible damage to children's brain development, resulting in an estimated annual loss of nearly 20 million IQ points.

Household emissions from cooking with solid fuels are a major source of air pollution and affect women and children, reveals the report.

Major rivers in Bangladesh have experienced a severe decline in water quality due to industrial discharge and unmanaged waste, including plastics and untreated sewage, among other sources, it shows.

Timely and urgent interventions for air pollution control; improved water, sanitation, and hygiene, and control of lead exposure could prevent over 133,000 premature deaths per year, the report mentions.

Investments in cleaner power generation, clean cooking fuels, and stricter controls on industrial emissions can help reduce air pollution, it recommends.

"With a timely and right set of policies and actions, Bangladesh can reverse its environment degradation trend," said Ana Luisa Gomes Lima, World Bank's senior environmental specialist and co-author of the report.

She also said, "Strengthening and enforcing environmental regulations, coupled with investments and other incentives for clean cooking, scaling up green financing, setting up efficient carbon markets, and raising awareness, can help reduce pollution and achieve green growth in Bangladesh."

The report identifies environmental priorities, assesses interventions, and includes recommendations to strengthen governance and institutional capacity for environmental management.

Bangladesh can protect its environment by setting evidence-based priorities, diversifying and strengthening environmental policy instruments, strengthening institutional capacity, and building an enabling environment for green financing.

Minister not fully convinced with the report

Environment and Climate Change Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury, who was chief guest at the programme, did not fully accept the facts and figures of the report and did not say they were not completely true.

Saber said, "We will never say there is no problem. We admit, of course, there are environmental problems. But whether the amount of damage is too much or not, we must evaluate ourselves."

The minister said unveiling in any event is a matter of celebration, but unfortunately there is no joy in the unveiling of this report. "This raises a serious issue for us. But the report is significant, no doubt about that."

He said, "Constitutionally, we are responsible for ensuring a healthy and beautiful life of people. But we have various problems. We have money problems, and efficiency problems. Solving environmental problems requires both money and expertise."

Referring to Bangladesh as a helpless victim of climate change, the minister said, "Around 40% of the financing in the climate sector in Bangladesh has come as loans. It is very unfortunate. First-world countries that contribute to climate change have no responsibility, but we have to take responsibility. In this case, we have to either give a grant or give a loan on easy terms."

The minister mentioned that green and climate tolerance have been given priority in all the development activities of the country.

Regarding death due to air pollution, he said, the report said that 8 percent of the country's GDP is lost due to air pollution. It is a big loss.

In terms of air pollution, the minister said about the source of cross-border polluted air flow, the polluted air of India's Punjab goes to Pakistan's Punjab. Similarly, the polluted air of one country goes to another country. There is nothing to blame.

What was in the previous WB report

According to the World Bank's previous report released in 2018, due to the environment pollution, 80,000 people died in different cities of Bangladesh in 2015 due to pollution.

While comparing between Asian countries, the report mentioned that while Bangladesh has 28% of deaths due to environmental pollution, the rate is 11.5% in Maldives, 26.5% in India, 22.2% in Pakistan, 20.6% in Afghanistan and 13.7% in Sri Lanka.

The World Bank revealed that pollution costs Bangladesh $6.5 billion a year — about 3.5% of GDP.