Environmental pollution: A global concern

Sustainable development in harmony with the environment is one of the important challenges to mankind in the 1990s and beyond.

In the wake of increasing concerns with environmental issues, industry in particular has recognized the emerging need to establish consistent methods and standards for protecting the environment throughout the world. 

In fact, we, the human beings, are not aware of and careful of our endangered mother earth. Instead, we have been causing harm to our environment with our whimsical and unwise activities. World today is under a huge man-made threat.

Therefore, it is the man, who is the ultimate destroyer of the world as well as himself. 

Pollution today is quite widespread all over the world, major phenomena behind the environmental degradation have been identified as rapid growth of population, huge amounts of waste left by human beings, reckless use of resources, depletion of forests, emission of smoke and dangerous industrial pollutant, affluent and unplanned urbanisation, ejection of wastage into water, and so on. 

Apart from these problems, Bangladesh is facing many regional and global environmental problems which includes:

• Large scale depletion of forest resources
• Water-borne pollution form industrialists and upstream countries
• Problems with rivers and other water bodies due to alluvial carried by the rivers
• Uneven withdrawal of water resources from major rivers by upstream countries 
• Unplanned urbanisation
• Inadequate sanitation facilities
• Degradation of biodiversity & various natural calamity

There is no segregated solution to environmental problems and all the environmental protection measures are to be integrated with the overall socio-economic development process of the country. 

Eco-labeling:

Eco-labeling is a voluntary method of environmental performance certification and labelling that is practised around the world. An "eco-label" is a label which identifies the overall environmental preference of a product or service within a specific product/service category based on life cycle considerations.

In contrast to "green" symbols or claim statements developed by manufactures service providers, an eco-label is awarded by an impartial third-party in relation to certain products or services that are independently to meet environmental leadership criteria. 

Eco-labels started with the products and are evolving into methods of assessing entire buildings.

Eco-labeling attempts to encourage the manufacturing of products with a reduced impact on the environment, and to address public concerns about raw material scarcity, shrinking landfill space and the impact of pollutants on the air and water. 

Eco-labeling is only one type of environmental [performance] labelling, and refers specifically to the provision of information to consumers about the relative environmental quality of a product. There are many different environmental performance labels and declarations being used or contemplated around the world. 

Consistency with ISO 14020 and ISO 14024 guiding principles:

As the acceptance and adoption of ISO14000 series of standards by industry and governments continues to increase around the world, it may prove advantageous for eco-labeling programs to demonstrate consistency with the guiding principles contained in the relevant ISO environmental labelling standards.

Such consistency could provide greater perceived legitimacy and soundness for eco-labeling programs in place and under development. 

Origins:

The Origins of eco-labeling can be found in the growing global concern for environmental protection on the part of governments, businesses and the general public.

Initially, and mostly in developed countries, as commercial enterprises recognized the environmental concerns could be translated into a market advantage to certain products, a number of environmental declarations and claims emerged on and in association with certain products.

These included labels with such claims as "recyclable", "eco-friendly", "low energy", and "recycled content". 

Eco-labeling has become a useful tool for governments in encouraging sound environmental practices, and for businesses in identifying and establishing markets (i.e. domestic and sometimes international) for their environmentally preferable products. 

Protecting the environment

Through eco-labeling the production and consumption of environmentally preferable goods and the provision and use of environmentally preferable services. 

• Encouraging the efficient management of renewable resources to ensure their availability to future generations;
• Promoting the efficient use of non-renewable resources, including fossil fuels;
• Facilitating the reduction, reuse and recycling of industrial, commercial and consumer waste;
• Encouraging the protection of ecosystems and species diversity; and 
• Encouraging the proper management of chemicals in products. 

Encouraging environmentally sound innovation and leadership

Generally, eco-labeling criteria are set to reward only the top environmental performers in a product category. Most programs gradually and incrementally raise standards to encourage products and service providers to keep pace with new and emerging performance improvement opportunities and market shifts. 

Building consumer awareness of environmental issues

Eco-labeling programs can also serve to heighten consumer awareness of environmental issues and of the implications of their choices. In countries where consumers are not as highly motivated by environmental concerns, eco-labeling can be used. 

Benefits:

1. Informing consumer choice: Eco-labeling is an effective way of informing customers about the environmental impacts of selected products, and the choices they can make. It empowers people to discriminate between products that are harmful to the environment and those more compatible with environmental objectives. 
2. Promoting economic efficiency: Eco-labeling is generally cheaper than regulatory controls. This is beneficial to both    government and industry. 
3. Stimulating market development: When customers choose eco-labeled products, they have a direct impact on supply and demand in the marketplace. 
4. Encouraging continuous improvement: A dynamic market for eco-labeled products encourages a corporate commitment to continuous environmental improvement.
5. Promoting certification: An environmental certification program is a seal of approval, which shows that a product meets a certain eco-label standard. It provides customers with visible evidence of the product's desirability from an environmental perspective. Certification, therefore, has an educational role for customers, and promotes competition among manufacturers. 
6. Assisting in monitoring:Another benefit of an official eco-labeling program is that environmental claims can be more easily monitored. 

Challenges

Misleading or fraudulent claims:

An eco-label has no value to the environmentally conscious customer if it is misleading or fraudulent. Trust is a major component of a labelling program's credibility, and the label must be above suspicion.

Uninformative claims:

Labels that provide trivial or irrelevant 'green' information do nothing to reduce environmental impacts. 

Green consumerism:

Many environmentalists are critical of consumerism. They argue that 'green consumerism' is a self-contradicting term, and believe that the goal should be to reduce consumption, not merely redefine it. 

Feasibility:

Another concern is that only a small number of products can realistically be labelled as 'green'. 

Methodologies:

Differences in testing and certification methods have created difficulties in the application of an eco-label to a particular product category. 

Realising the need for sound environmental management and conservation of environment, the government formulated the National Environment Policy (NEP) and related action program.

Besides, Environment Conservation Bill (revised) and Environment Court Bill (revised) have passed to strengthen the conservation program.

So, the government of Bangladesh has been making efforts to combine the twin objectives of socio-economic development and saving the environment.

However, to say that without proper mental motivation all these will become useless. Therefore, we badly need to change our mind and do our duty towards mother earth.