Environmental Problems of The Respective Residential Neighborhood

FARZANA KHAN ID: 0830084 Submitted to Director, SESM Date of Submission March 31, 2009

Environmental Problems of The Respective Residential Neighborhood

Assignment Submitted to Fulfill the Requirement of ENV 101 Spring 2009

FARZANA KHAN ID: 0830084 Section: 05

Submitted to Director, SESM Date of Submission March 31, 2009

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Here wishes to thank the distinguished individuals, researchers, experts and institution instructors who have actively helped in the study and made valuable contribution in preparation of this assignment namely, Environmental Problems of The Respective Residential Neighborhood.

Special thanks are due to:

Professor Haroun Er Rashid Director, SESM

Mr. Kazi Ahmed Kabir Course Lecturer, ENV101

Dr. Abdul Khaleque Course Lecturer, ENV101

EXECUTIVE SUMMERY
Dhaka is the most densely populated and rapidly growing city in the third world countries. With its growth, Dhaka has been a showcase for almost every urban problem imaginable. The quantitative and qualitative inadequacies of existing urban infrastructures and the inefficient urban and environment management systems that generally exist in this country are leading to severe environmental pollution and a degradation of standard of livings, health and well being. The transportation congestion has changed so dramatically in type and magnitude that it is now viewed as the number one source of urban environment problems. This has created a need for a significant expansion of the city's structure from mono-centric to the polycentric. However, the city's current planning is dedicated primarily to coping with pressure of population and infrastructural needs. Sustainable urban development for the long term seems unattainable to the policy makers. This paper shows the environmental problems of the respective residential neighborhood. The purpose of the paper is to understand the concept of sustainable urban development and to formulate a sustainable condition where the pollution is less. It is found that the current urban structure is such whereas the population has been started decentralizing over the time. With this process, more and more traffic flows have been increased towards central city and transferred from public transport to the private transports. This report is made to show identify all the different parts of around our neighborhood, analysis the pollutions and suggest a suitable solution of those problems.

CONTENTS
Topics Pages

1. Introduction ... 01 2. Objectives .. 01 3. About Dhaka City . 02 Map of Dhaka City

4. Methodology 04 Satellite Map of My Area

5. Observation ... 06 Sketch Map of My Area

6. Recommendation .. 10 7. Conclusion .... 10 8. References . 11

INTRODUCTION
Dhaka alike most cities of the developing world is a poorly managed city, which leads to the deterioration of urban living conditions. Urban poverty results because in many countries, national and local governments cannot plan for the population increases, and fail to provide the required infrastructure, services and jobs. Due to urbanization the environments harmony and balance is facing a critical phase worldwide, strained trying to fulfill the demands of city life. Dhaka is not beyond this status, so we need to work more to protect our city from environmental degradation and create the natural balance. Because Dhaka is the capital of the country, in our present governance system, national policy formation/reformation and for media campaign, it is very important to initiate the ground work at Dhaka first. If the program becomes streamlined at this city, it can easily expand to another divisional headquarters and other towns as well as influence the whole country.

OBJECTIVES

Descriptions of the problems. Identify the pollutions (noise, dust, smoke, etc.) Identify the environmental clean areas.

The effects of traffic on neighborhood. Garbage management.

ABOUT DHAKA CITY

Dhaka, the capital and the most populated city of Bangladesh, is a member of the Mega-City family of the world. Dhaka, the fifth largest mega city, comprises Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and five adjacent municipal areas i.e. Savar, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Kadamrasul and Tongi. The area of Dhaka mega city is 1,353 km of which DCC occupies 276 km (BBS, 2001). According to United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) the total population of Dhaka mega city is now over 12.3 million of which population of DCC is about 8.4 million. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, population of Dhaka mega city and DCC is about 9.9 millions and 5.3 millions, respectively. The population density of DCC is 19,286 per km which is more than double of the mega city average of 7,918 per km. The city is situated between 2342' and 2354' north latitudes and 9020' and 9028' east longitudes. It is surrounded by the river Buriganga on the south, Turag on the west, Tongi khal on the north and Balu river on the east (Banglapedia, 2003). The city usually experiences characteristics of tropical monsoon climate with an annual average temperature of 25C and 2000 mm of average annual rainfall (DOE and IUCN, 2000; Bangla, 2000). There are a number of service providing organizations. Of them, the key organizations are Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA), Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (DESA), Titas Gas Limited, Bangladesh Telephone and Telegraph Board (BTTB), Rajdhani Unnyan Kortripakhkha (RAJUK), Dhaka Electricity Supply Company (DESCO) and Department of Environment (DoE) serving city dwellers with specific utilities. Apart from these, health, education, planning, housing, transportation and other infrastructure related organizations do exist in the city area. Area under jurisdiction of different authorities serving Dhaka also varies. Dhaka Metropolitan Area (DMA) is somewhat larger than the DCC, and currently holds 21 Police Stations. Dhaka Statistical Metropolitan Area (DSMA), which is considered as Dhaka Mega city. Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) has a Strategic Planning Zone-wise definition of Dhaka city which is known as Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP). It currently consists of total 26 zones of which 19 may cover Dhaka Statistical Metropolitan Area, though the total area is about

1528 km. Boundary of different authorities, and built up and low-lying areas of Dhaka city given in Figure 1.2a and 1.2b respectively. But it is true that most people think that Dhaka means the municipal corporation and few adjoining developed areas like Mirpur, Uttara, and Baridhara.

Figure: Map of Dhaka City

METHODOLGY
Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh was selected for assessing exiting environmental condition and preparing the State of Environment for assisting informed decision making. Department of Environment, Ministry of Environment and Forest commissioned Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, a leading research organization of Bangladesh, as Collaborating Centre of UNEP to prepare the report with support from UNEP.RRC.AP. International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). There are key environmental issues identified for preparing Environmental Problems of The Respective Residential Neighborhood. The assessment of this report is providing the following conditions: This report is essentially an analysis of a specific urban area (my respective neighborhood) and its context that is the Respective Residential neighborhood. A brief sketch of the residential area would be made. After that good sides and bad sides of that specific area will be show. Observation around my neighborhood. Recommendation to solve/ minimize environmental problems.

Figure: Satellite Map of my Area

OBSERVATION
It can be seen that the report shows the levels for a community of all income groups. This was never materialized fully by government. One of the positive aspects is that it generated the growth of Dhaka towards the north. The problems that resulted may be broadly classified as of planning stage and implementation stage. A portion of the township of about 950 acres were detailed out covering only that portion which was enmarked as housing for high income group in the original plan. I live in the area which is near to the Zia International Airport, Uttara, Dhaka. The name of my area is Ashkona. It is under the Dakkhin-khan Thaana.

This is Zia International Airport situated in a distance of 10 minutes from my home.

In my area, there is the only Hajj camp of Bangladesh. Every year more than thousands of people come here and stays till before going to Makka-Sharifh to perform Hajj.

In my area the transport to go here & there is rickshaw. There have many stands where anyone can easily find rickshaws. Individuals of this area who has private transports goes with their own cars.

There are two bazaars, one is very near to my home and another is near to the Hajj Camp.

In my area I have seen that there lives different types of people. Most of them are service holder and a fewer of them are govt. officer. As it is an area near to the Zia International

airport, there are few high-rise buildings. Here builders are not allowed to build above 6 floors. So people builds there houses below the limit.

Though my area is very crowded and populated with people, jam is not a big problem. Because in my area, there are several traffic police who maintains the traffic. So we can easily pass through the roads without any delay.

Regular waste management is done in my area. The authority monitors this task every time. There is seen two times of waste collection here. One is in the morning and another time is in the evening.

RECOMMENDATION
With rapid urbanization and excessive growth of population and settlements, the city failed to upgrade its road transport and network system, even though the growth of motor vehicles per year is about 6-7%, which is equal to or may even be more than the average population growth. Too much expansion of the city distorts the environmental harmony. On the edge of Dhaka, the masses are expanding without considering the environmental balance. The real estate companies are only considering their business. They do not think about future life and environmental conditions. They are not concerned about the environment and bio-diversity. The wildlife (like guest birds that come from Siberia, every winter) animal and fishes who live in the water-bodies are balancing our ecosystem. If the city continues to grow recklessly like this, after 10 years, Dhaka will be a city of material and machine, not of life. We should start different campaign to minimize environmental hazards and how we can improve our environment more livable for all the living organisms like humans and other species. If we raise our voices, we can hope that we will live our life more and more.

CONCLUSION
A large number of people are involved in industrial and utility service jobs, but most of the industries do not adopt precautionary and safety measures for the workers. People may still be unaware about the environment, how it gets polluted and why it should be protected. Lack of awareness and services have identified as major cause behind it. Many farmers in the city area use pesticides but they are not aware of the harmful effects of these in the long run and how these should be handled and applied. The analytical result shows that all environmental resources are declining at different pace and scale. Degradation of environment is posing, among other, significant health threats for the city dwellers. Generally enforcement of environmental laws, rules, and regulation is very weak due to a number of reasons.

REFERENCES
Banglapedia (National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh) (2003). http://search.com.bd/banglapedia Google Earth for Satellite Map. http://googleearth.com