The New Nation - Internet Edition

Red meat export potentials

PRIVATE entrepreneurs who are in the world market with high quality products are of the view that 'lack of government support' to meet international health and hygiene compliances holds back potentials of the huge red meat export market. Apart from catering to the local market, meat processors can foray into the Middle East and the Southeast Asian markets of about 30 crore people who consume halal meat. According to recent media reports, the meat industry will have a lot of spin-offs and help earn extra foreign exchange.

A private meat processing company with this aim in view was set up at Sathia in Pabna in 2006 at a cost of Taka 45 crore but it has been able to achieve not more than 30 per cent of the set target for 'lack of proper certification'. The company has started to export meat to the UAE and Qatar. As media reported, the local meat processors are committed to cater to the domestic market with 'premium quality meat' and 'high quality meat products' according to the needs of individual clients in hygienic preparation and presentation under automated cutting, freshly dressed, chilled or frozen as desired by customers.

The annual demand for meat in Bangladesh is about 8 lakh tons. The daily demand is 45 tons of beef and around 5.3 tons mutton in the Dhaka city alone. One-fourth to one-fifth of the world population is Muslim and the international halal food trade is estimated at US $150 billion per year. Moreover, there is huge demand for livestock byproducts which are wastes because of the traditional slaughter system. The government would have to provide mad-cow disease free certification, declare certain areas as foot-and-mouth disease free zone, besides going by the rules of the World Animal Health Organisation for promoting country's red meat export.

RU's relations with community

RAJSHAHI University has been closed sine die to avert spread of clashes between students and locals. A trifling incident between a student and a bus conductor flared up into fierce fighting involving students and members of the local people. The violent incidents started when some angry students reportedly set fire to a ticket counter of a bus service and some shops. Following this a section of the businessmen of the locality attacked some establishments of the varsity injuring about 60 people.

This clash is not the first with locals during the 55 years of history of the university. The second highest seat of learning appears not to have succeeded to develop cordial relations with the people of the locality although this institution was supposed to be a matter of pride for them. The university authorities should identify the reasons behind this isolation and take appropriate measures to fully integrate it with the society. The students should be guided to behave with the local people responsibly and with respect. The locals should also be tolerant to the young pupils. The latest untoward incident could have been nipped in the bud if the local administration had taken pre-emptive measures.

Close proximity of colleges and universities to residential and commercial areas appears to be one cause of development of friction. In view of this, the government has directed private universities located in residential areas or on VIP roads in Dhaka to move to suitable places within three months. Every university should have its own campus with all infrastructural facilities. The universities should maintain good relationship with the communities surrounding them.

Nepal has launched democracy

Md. Masum Billah

Prachanda has become the first republican prime minister of Nepal ending months of political deadlock that followed the sacking of the unpopular king Gynendra and the abolition of 240-years old monarchy. Lawmakers in Nepal on August 15 voted in former rebel Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal who took the name ' Prachanda' which means ' the fierce one' when the extreme poverty of Nepal drove him to take to violent politics. It also clears the way for the ultra-leftists-still listed by USA as a terrorist organization-to press ahead with their vow to radically reform one of the world's poorest nations that was devastated by a decade of civil war. Prachanda was backed by 464 deputies with 113 against in constitutional assembly. His only rival was Sher Bahadur Deuba, three-times prime minister. visibly overwhelmed Prachanda expressed his reaction in this way, " I am very happy and very emotional'' Maoist second in command Baburam Bhattaraj hailed the victory as a ' golden dawn for Nepal.' He added, "We have already finished destroying the roots of feudalism in Nepal, the monarchy under the leadership of Prachanda, the main agenda of the new administration will be nationalism, republicanism, economic and social transformation."

Prachand 53, led a decade long insurgency to overthrow the monarchy-a war which claimed at least 13000 lives and shattered the landlocked country's mainly agricultural, subsistence-based economy. He signed a peace deal with mainstream parties in 2006 and vowed to renounce violence and steered his party to victory in elections to a new constituent assembly in April. But Nepal's former Maoist rebels and mainstream parties failed to meet a deadline to form a new government leaving the Himalayan nation in political limbo. The Maoists blamed Nepal's traditional style of 'dirty politics' for the failure to form a government."We missed the deadline for presenting the president with a consensus for government formation due to the petty interests' of some party leaders" Senior Maoist leader Chandra Prakash Gajurel commented.The four main parties-CPN- Maoist, Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and Madhesi People's Rights Forum ( MPRF)-indefinitely postponed the meeting to resolve the dispute over power sharing and formulating a common minimum programme. However, at last all these clouds have been driven away making the political sky of Nepal clear and bright.

With the parties failing ng to form a national unity government under Article 38(1) of interim constitution, they had to seek to form government a national unity government under Article 38(2) which means that the party with the majority support in the Constituent Assembly gets to form the government. This was done by the proposal of Prachanda who has already marked his position in the Nepal's regular politics and democratic move. Born in a poor family in rural Nepal Prachanda had witnessed extreme poverty.

Sher Bahadur Deuba expressed his reaction to Prachanda's becoming the first prime minister of Nepal republic." I would like to congratulate the Maoists for entering multi party competitive politics. We will stay in opposition and keep an eye on the Maoists activities while they run the government. We will oppose their actions if their activities incline towards autocracy." The ultra-leftists ended their bloody decade-long uprising after a peace accord with government in 2006 but have faced hurdles in the transition from feared guerrilla outfit to mainstream political actors. It is not unusual for them and for Nepal as well to see some chaos in the political sky during this transition.

As it was a drastic change, it was difficult to change overnight the behaviour of the guerrillas who used to fight underground. It is good news that they gave up their fierce and violent ways of fighting and have joined the mainstream politics of the country occupying the post of the prime minister. From now on they must show a changed behvaour which will help change the lot of Nepali people.

The Maoists, once feared rebels, are now Nepal's most potential political force after winning over one-third of the seats in the body that earlier abolished the monarchy in May. King Gynendra made his exit from the Narayanhity royal palace. Now it is time for Nepal's caretaker prime minister to quit the Palace. It is high time for Prachanda to occupy the palace at the will of his people.

For centuries Nepal has remained socially harmonious, despite being multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-faith country. The Maoist insurgency of course, had brought a tough time for the Nepalese. Almost all the rural areas were under their domination. Not necessarily they villagers were in peace with them. It was also heard that they had to satisfy the illegal demand of the Maoists. The tourism sector was seriously distureb by the insurgency which is a potential source of foreign of Nepal. Moreover, the urban people were locked in the towns. They had very limited scope to move freely outside the towns. People's rising consciousness and the Maoists changing the course of their political operation have brought this situation in Nepal.

It is an acid test for Prachanda to run his administration with a different mindset and to face the challenges ahead. Mostly he is to think of rural agro-based economy and tourism. Any ray of autocracy or insurgency will further dampen political way of Nepal. They must start with a new vigour, energy, strength and will. He will enjoy the support of all the legal democratic forces of the world. No doubt.

Education for sustainability

Nicholas Genis

The word "sustainability" is now such common parlance that it is hard to imagine that its meaning as it is now understood is less than 30 years old, having first been used during the World Conservation Strategy in 1980 and following the publication in 1983 of "North and South: A Programme for Survival and Common Crisis", also known as the Brundtland Commission Report. "Sustainable Development" was the key phrase used in the UN Environment and Development Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

In its basic definition, sustainable development refers to the need to utilise environmental resources prudently, in order to maintain their availability for mankind, now and in future. However despite being widely used and understood, the concept is rarely embraced unreservedly and is often understood by many development policy makers as an aspirational rather than practicable term.

It is certainly true also that the term is not easily transferable across countries and economies: what is sustainable for some countries in terms of resource use is clearly not sustainable for others, now or in the future.

Semantics aside, however, in this era of climate change and rapid economic development, sustainability has never been more important to the future of mankind. For a concept to be fully accepted and implemented however, it must first be widely understood -and three years into the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), there is no time like the present.

Education for Sustainable Development seeks to link the knowledge of sustainable development with the practical means to promote and implement it, working especially with the communities and stakeholders most affected by serious environmental challenges. The focus upon people as individuals and members of communities is an important element of sustainable development. A wider acceptance of the need for sustainable development will only be possible when it is seen to be able to link clearly and conclusively with economic development in general and its benefits to society are made clear, especially the promotion of social justice and equity through the provision of education and action for creating change. Education is an important step in beginning this process.

South Asia is today one of the most rapidly industrialising regions in the world, and the social and economic transformations that are taking place here are also having profound effects upon the natural environment. Rural-urban migration has resulted in rapid often unplanned growth in the region's urban centres, increasing the already serious environmental issues of air and water pollution, and heightening health concerns for urban dwellers.

In the South Asia region today, the environmental impacts of economic development are numerous and complex. While public awareness, often from direct personal experience, is increasing, an understanding of the issues involved and the means by which to control and mitigate this problem is still limited. In rural areas of the region, population pressure has put a strain upon agricultural resources due to the need for an increase in food and other agricultural production. This has in turn led to the misuse of pesticides and fertilisers which, alongside poor sanitation practices, have left soil and water resources vulnerable to contamination. In Bangladesh, deep drilling for cleaner water has exposed naturally occurring arsenic deposits, leading to dangerous accumulation of arsenic in water supplies. In many areas, especially those affected by seasonal drought, depletion of aquifers has occurred from over-extraction of water. As a nation encompassing the largest deltaic region in the world, Bangladesh faces some unique environmental issues. Population density in the country is one of the highest in the world and the geography of the country makes it particularly vulnerable to the effects of flooding. While seasonal flooding and rive flow is largely determined by factors beyond Bangladeshi borders, in the rivers' sources in India and Nepal, the use of these water resources within Bangladesh itself is subject to decisions undertaken to meet the needs of its 140 million population, the majority of whom still live in rural areas. As previously noted, the pollution and misuse of these resources is a serious environmental issue and the need for greater public awareness of these issues and how to address them is urgently required, especially within the communities affected.

Other natural resources are also affected: pressure by landless farmers to open up land for agriculture and illegal logging has resulted in widespread deforestation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, despite the fact that many forested areas are in protected areas and are the home to tribal communities. This has resulted in the loss of biodiversity as plant and animal species vanish due to loss of habitat. It is estimated that Bangladesh has lost 40% of its forest cover between 1960 and 1990, and with only 5% of its area forested, now has one of the lowest ratios of forested land to population in the world. These deforested lands are more vulnerable to erosion and drought also, as experience in many other deforested areas in the world has shown.

In urban areas, air and water pollution has become a serious issue. Rapid urban migration in many of Bangladesh's towns and cities has put enormous pressure on an already struggling urban service infrastructure. Dhaka has one of the poorest air qualities of major urban areas in the world, a result of a huge increase in traffic volume and its associated production of low level ozone pollution, and serious particulate pollution from factories, large and small scale businesses and households. Dhaka has poor quality ambient air for 55% of the year on average, with over 70 percent of roadside environments severely polluted and the remainder highly polluted, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines. (Rahman and AI-Muyeed; 2005). Indoor air pollution from unsafe cooking practices is one of the leading causes of under 5 mortality in children in Bangladesh, and research has been undertaken by Government and other stakeholders in ways to reduce this problem. In cities and towns, flooding and water logging from the draining of water from canals and building sites without sufficient water diversion safeguards regularly floods adjoining areas, submerging homes and businesses, especially during the rainy season. The complex and dense network of rivers, canals and lakes in Dhaka makes the city particularly vulnerable to this kind of environmental hazard.

In addition, water pollution has worsened through untreated human waste, tannery wastewater and garment dyes and other industrial waste flowing directly into rivers and lakes and poisoning fish stocks, which form a major food source in the country. The College of Agricultural Sciences at IUBAT has undertaken recent research into this issue with promising results.

Many slum dwellings in Dhaka are located close to marginal land near ponds and lakes and. having no sanitation facilities, empty waste directly into waterways and ditches. Recent reports indicate that two major rivers, the Turag and Buriganga, are devoid of measurable biological activity as they pass through Dhaka city. All of the previously mentioned major challenges exist alongside forecast global warming impacts in Bangladesh of sea level rise and increased flooding and storm damage, and the erosion of riverbanks from seasonal flooding.

Concern for environmental sustainability does not exist in a vacuum. Most governments in the region have been primarily and rightly concerned with poverty alleviation, in order to address the lack of economic opportunity as a result of finite economic and social resources and poor education and skills. Many early development strategies did not include specific mechanisms to examine the environmental impacts of development programmes, as there was little general consciousness of the importance of the issue at the time. Nevertheless, many development programmes in the region now include discussion on key issues of environmental sustainability, including conservation, agricultural land degradation, social forestry, waste water management, biodiversity, resource use, urbanisation and supporting poor people's access to resources and their management. However, the importance of providing information via education about the benefits of incorporating environmental issues with other relevant developmental concerns has not been fully exploited or successfully implemented in many instances.

In Bangladesh, as in many other developing countries, environmental regulation and legislation face real challenges from pollution produced by small-scale activities such as brick works and community-based industries, which may not be taken into consideration by policy makers. These pollution sources are numerous and their combined output not only worsens pollution, but also negatively affects the health and well-being of everyone, including the workers themselves and urban residents in general.

Lack of public awareness of environmental pollution and degradation on this scale is a major factor that contributes directly to its continuance in South Asia. Pressure for change will be effective only when groups themselves most affected by environmental degradation are mobilised to not only challenge poor regulation and planning but to take steps also to understand and minimise their own contribution to the problem. This can be achieved by drawing attention to a process that can provide the information to increase knowledge, create attitudinal charge and build the conviction necessary to undertake corrective and positive action by all community stakeholders.

There is an urgent need for coordinated action between all regional stakeholders, including ministries, local government and NGOs, international agencies and other interested parties, to create a greater interest and awareness of environmental issues and sustainability in relation to economic development. We have seen evidence recently of the need for the region to increase local food production. The recent food crisis has once again focused efforts on ways to increase local food crop production; research is not yet available, on the effect of this upon long term agricultural sustainability. However, the importance of the sustainable use of resources in the natural resource and agricultural sectors should not be subject to short-term crises or vagaries and artificial distortion of pricing in the global food distribution network. What then is to be done to address the information gap that exists in the development of policy and planning so that it will include environmental concerns in a more comprehensive manner? Education, especially environmental education, is an excellent mechanism to focus upon the participation that is necessary amongst all stakeholders in the development process to create real change for the sustainable use of the environment and resources. This should include a proper understanding of the local environment and its communities and incorporate indigenous knowledge and development alternatives for ecologically sensitive areas such as the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sundarbans in Bangladesh.

As the name suggests, Education for Sustainable Development (EfSD) promotes education to help society utilise the environment and resources in a sustainable manner. This can be addressed through formal educational means and also to a wider audience through print and broadcast media, folk media, media campaigns, cinemas and websites. The inter-disciplinary nature of EFSD and its promotion of skills for critical thinking and its application is helpful in development of a complete understanding of the environmental issues involved. In addition, the focus upon civic responsibility and personal involvement is vital, especially in South Asia, in order to demonstrate how these issues affect individuals and communities directly. A key goal is to integrate the concepts of EFSD into curricula at all levels of formal and non-formal education and to the wider community also.

The IUBAT -International University of Business Agriculture and Technology's Centre for Global Environmental Culture has, as a basic goal, the improvement of human capacity of private and voluntary agencies, local and national government and international agencies, civic bodies, community organisations, service clubs, households and individuals through comprehensive development programmes in education for sustainability and environmental management. The aim is not to teach sustainable education per se, but rather to enable people to "take actions for a sustainable society" by improving teaching resources and suggesting ways to improve programmes. (Van Ginkel, 2006).

The Centre will be modelled upon Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) networks of existing formal and non-formal educational organisations mobilised to deliver EfSD to a regional community in consideration of specific local needs and concerns. The core elements of RCE- governance, management, research and development and transformative education, promote the goals of EfSD itself: the integration of sustainable development concepts into educational curricula that is appropriate for local needs, improve access to quality education, support advocacy and awareness of sustainability and provide training, methodology and learning materials for trainers among the policy makers, programme implementers, youth and public for proactive initiatives.

The Centre for Global Environmental Culture will work to develop or restructure education in environment and sustainability issues tailored to local communities' requirements through the provision and delivery of training for trainers and a promotion of a greater awareness of the issue in general.

This will be achieved by the formation of a training programme directed at adult and youth education, including primary and secondary school teachers; workshops and seminars in selected areas for NGOs, government and private sector organisations; working with volunteer and community organisations to promote formal and non-formal education in local communities and the provision of academic support through lectures, articles, audio and audio-visual materials on education for sustainable development.

IUBAT has extensive experience in the provision of training and development for stakeholders. Since 1990, the University's South Asian Disaster Management Centre (SADMC) has conducted comprehensive professional development programmes in both disaster and environmental management, with the objective of improving emergency operations management performance. The most recent programme was held in May 2008 on Training of Trainers on Disaster Management under the sponsorship of the Commonwealth Secretariat, London.

To further the goal of addressing the serious information gap in both knowledge and application of sustainable environment policy and planning options, the Centre for Global Environmental Culture will commence its programme in October with the presentation of a series of workshops and seminars. The programme will be developed as a means of sharing knowledge and improving skills and conducting applied research. Only through education and diffusion of knowledge can we hope to address the serious challenges to continued economic development and improved health posed by widespread environmental degradation.

Education for Sustainable Development can be the key to bridging the information gap surrounding environmental issues through the provision of greater awareness and education. The goal is to provide people with the tools to provide simple, achievable solutions and allow them to take action themselves, working with their own communities and needs. In this way, as a global society we may be able to link what are often considered to be conflicting goals: to strengthen the role of sustainability within economic development, and incorporate real solutions to ameliorate the effects of environmental pollution, thereby protecting and securing the environment upon which we must all depend for future prosperity.