Environ Dev Sustain (2012) 14:885–900

DOI 10.1007/s10668-012-9357-5

Environment security: an empirical study

of industrialization and the impact on environment
in the Dhaka division, Bangladesh

Faruque As Sunny • Taonarufaro Karimanzira • Zuhui Huang

Received: 30 November 2011 / Accepted: 7 May 2012 / Published online: 27 May 2012
 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Abstract Dhaka division is the main central industrial zone in Bangladesh. Along with
the great growth in industry in the region, there have also been increased and sometimes
critical levels of toxic pollution to the environment. Although much has been researched in
the region on the degradation of the environment, the slow improvements in environment
protection drive the question of what is the environmental security climate in Dhaka
division. The study of four plants (textile, leather tanning, cement and fertilizer) in Dhaka
division aimed to find out the impact of each on the environment. The study took place
within Tejgaon, Hazaribagh, Narsingdi and Narayangang and investigated the impact of
those plants on air, water and land. Among the different polluters, the results indicated that
textiles polluted most. All participants indicated that the industries were the cause of at
least one ailment within 6 months. It is recommended to governments and plant owners
that they not only remain diligent about policy on environment protection, but that they
also humanize efforts so as to follow those policies through to the end. The loss of life and
quality of life may have larger impacts that daily profitability and livelihood.

Keywords Environment security  Industrialization  Pollution  Security climate

F. A. Sunny (&)
School of Management, China Academy for Rural Development, Zhejiang University,
Hangzhou 310027, China
e-mail: sun_1_an@yahoo.com

T. Karimanzira
Department of Non-Traditional Securities and Peace Development, School of Public Administration,
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
e-mail: tkmotivation@yahoo.com

Z. Huang
China Academy for Rural Development, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029, China
e-mail: zhhuang@zju.edu.cn

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1 Introduction

1.1 Background

The Dhaka division is located at center of Bangladesh, and the capital and largest city is
Dhaka. The division covers an area of 31,051 km2 and has a population of 46,729,000,
surrounded by nine rivers (Padma, Jamuna, Meghna, Old Brahmaputra, Dhaleshwari,
Shitalakshya, Brahmaputra, Buriganga and Arial Khan). The study area was located in
Dhaka division within the Tejgaon, Hazaribagh, Narsingdi and Narayangang areas. Most of
the people in these areas were engaged in industrial work and suffered various health
problems that have been linked to hazardous industrial waste. Textile, leather tanning,
cement and fertilizer (urea) industries form a big portion of the business in the area. These
industries are known for the discharge of huge amounts of solid and liquid wastes.
The present environmental condition of Bangladesh is not at all equilibrium. Severe air,
water and noise pollution levels are threatening human health, ecosystems and economic
growth of Bangladesh. Due to industrialization, there are numerous factors affecting the
water quality (Jahangir Alam 2009). A World Bank report claimed that Bangladesh
receives 1.5 million cubic meters of waste water every day from 7,000 industrial plants and
0.5 million m3 a day from other sources (Gurumia 2010).
According to the Bangladesh Bank data, industrial growth rose to 7.5 % in FY 2011
(Bangladesh Bank 2011). In FY 2012, industry is expected to grow strongly at 7.8 %,
reflecting a rise in external demand and higher domestic capacity (Bangladesh Bank 2011).
Linked to the rise in industrialization is the rise in water, air and land pollution. This
increased industrialization encourages the thought that there will be a continued and not
discontinued rise in pollution levels.
An online newspaper from April 20, 2011, mentioned that air pollution entails a massive
cost amounting to 134 billion taka (US$ 1.59 billion) a year in the capital alone in terms of
lost human health and life (Mahmud 2011). This pollution chiefly stems from industrial
economic activity in Bangladesh. Textile and dyeing, tanneries, pulp and paper, cement,
metal, fertilizer, and chemical factories in particular emit particulate matter (PM), sulfur
oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and ammonia (Mahmood 2011).
In Bangladesh, most industries are located along the banks of the rivers, and as a
consequence of their actions, industrial units drain effluents directly into the rivers without
any consideration of the environmental degradation. The most problematic industries for
the water sector are textiles, tanneries, pulp and paper mills, fertilizer, industrial chemical
production and refineries (Mahmood 2011). Complex mixtures of hazardous chemicals,
both organic and inorganic, are discharged into the water bodies from all these industries
usually without treatment (UNEP 2001a).

1.2 Security environment and securitization

As the realm of security has broadened and expanded, the traditional view of military
security has been complimented by the newer viewpoint of non-traditional securities
(NTS). This form of security characteristically is more people oriented, concerning it with
making individuals the referent for security as opposed to the governments (Buzan and
Hansen 2009). Securitization is a central organizing concept of the Copenhagen school of
security studies and it highlights the discursive construction of particular security threats
(MacDonald 2008). Securitization can be defined as a speech act or form of linguistic
representation that puts an issue as an existential threat and for this to occur it would

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depend on the form of the act, the position of the speaker and the historic mark of that
threat (Waever 1995, 2000). So long as the issue is centered on the protection against the
threat to one’s existence, then environmental security can be said to be quite central to
formulas for human sustainable development models. An existential threat, in the realm of
Human Security, is defined as challenges to the survival and well-being of people from
nonmilitary sources (Chaudhuri 2011).
According to the 1994 UNDP report, economy, food, health, environment, personal,
community and political security categories were added into the new vision of global
security (UNDP 1994). With the well-documented reports of pollution-related illnesses and
problems in Bangladesh, the main question that arises is whether this pollution issue is in
fact a threat to the lives of the affected, and whether it can actually be properly managed.
Moreover, who is to manage it and how easily can a proper solution be implemented to
provide an inclusive all-encompassing security for those in danger from pollution—in
other words, what is the security climate (SecC)?
In our study, we define a SecC as comprising of 4 parts: firstly, the scientific ability to
clearly define the issue as an existential threat (Buzan and Hansen 2009). The second
condition is the general sensitivity to wanting to deal with those existential threats. The
Copenhagen School asserts that ‘‘the successful securitization of a referent object will
depend on the inter-subjective agreement among the subjects as to whether the claim made
by the [securitizing] actor is legitimate or not … no one is excluded from attempts to
articulate alternative interpretations of security’’ (Charrett 2009, p. 24). The third condition
is the ability to draw funding and organized support for mitigation and response which
would allow for greater flexibility and available appropriate measures to be compiled for
use. The last two conditions can be referred to as the security environment (SE) of the
category mentioned. SE refers to the general, but personal interpretation of the threat to
one’s life brought about by the problem in focus. Finally, there must be a real acceptance
that mitigation and response is working from the standpoint of the community stakeholders
(Chaudhuri 2011; Huebert 2010). This last branch puts the stakeholders to security in the
seat of evaluation of the responses in place. Unsatisfactory responses should carry some
sociological or political consequence.
To put it delicately, the SecC should fall within or between two polar opposites: rigid or
flexible. A rigid SecC is one in which securitization cannot occur easily as securitization
actors are less likely to change existing practices for more-relevant-to-the-situation prac-
tices. A flexible SecC indicates a greater probability of debate and inclusion or exclusion of
challenges to become securitized by the legitimate securitization actors. The act of secu-
ritizing the regional industrial pollution would be a process in which a speech act occurs
(securitizing move) on the issue by a securitizing agent (usually a politician)—that sus-
pends normal politics to deal with the issue until it is solved (securitizing action) (Buzan
and Hansen 2009; MacDonald 2008).

1.3 Study objectives

This paper firstly explores the effect of industrialization and its impact on the environment
in the Dhaka division through the study of four major polluting industries: textile, leather
tanning, cement and the fertilizer industry. Secondly, the paper investigates the interpre-
tation of the respondents to pollution within their area and industry—in order to assess
their sensitivity to the pollution environment they dwell in. Thirdly, we found it necessary
to shed light on the gaps between policy and actual responses to pollution in hopes of
providing better future environment security. Finally, the paper outlines possible

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ramifications to ignoring the environment security in Dhaka while concluding with pos-
sible suggestions to suitably mitigate industrial pollution in our study area.
Our study hypotheses are as follows:
• Our main null hypothesis is that all the industries are polluting equally. We cannot
accurately predict today’s pollution level since the latest published data were based on
the year 1998. Thus, this is an exploratory study meant to shed new light into the real
pollution occurring in the Dhaka region.
• From our visual inspection of the workplace, we expect workers to demand some level
of government action based on the perception that the environment has become
dangerous to them as a result of the industrial pollution.
• We also expect to be convinced that the Dhaka division has a rigid SC in which people
are knowledgeable about pollution activities in the area, but are not likely to act on
them for various reasons.

2 Methodology

2.1 Participants and methodology

The analysis in our paper is based on data from our field survey in September 2010. Our
study subjects were a randomly stratified sample of people from the Dhaka region. There
were 200 participants, of which 100 were non-industry workers, and 100 were industry
workers. Of the total study population, there were 78 females and 122 males. The main
difference lies in the proportion of men and women engaged in industry work. Among the
respondents from the four industries, 25 workers from each industry and 25 randomly
chosen individuals from each industry’s surrounding regions were considered.

2.2 Method

The data were collected through the personal responses of the interviewed respondents.
The data represented the interpreted estimates—made by the factory respondents—of the
average metric tons of waste/day in each respective field of inquiry. Each respondent
reported only what they observed from their respective plants. The surveys were not
supervised directly while being filled out, but were handed back to the experimenter within
an hour of receiving them.
The selected factories for our study were within the textile, leather tanning, cement and
fertilizer (urea) industries. They were selected for their prominence within the study area as
leading factories in their respective industries and for having the capability to set up their
own effluent plants and other environmental protection technologies. From the selected
factories, three forms of pollution were investigated, which were toxic to air, toxic to land
and toxic to water.

2.3 Analysis of pollutants measured

The output waste was measured according to some of the common criteria used for the
various forms of monitoring industrial pollutants. Four plants (textile, leather, cement
and fertilizer) were measured within three categories of pollution (land, air and water).
Two levels of analysis were conducted. The first level asked the question of whether or

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not each plant was indeed polluting at a dangerous level in each of the categories of
pollution. The second step asked the question of which of the factories were the biggest
contributors to pollution in each category. To establish the first step, we decided to set
certain determinants and then asked the respondents to indicate which of the determi-
nants were true. Firstly, in the effluent discharge into the water, we considered the water
to be polluted based upon whether the factory workers indicated that at least 4–8 of the
parameter thresholds were dangerously exceeded. Table 1 illustrates the parameters of
the study.
Secondly, air pollution was considered air waste if the value of the emissions air
quality index (AQI) surpassed a score of 100. AQI is a formulation that converts five
criteria air pollutants (PM, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone)
into a number scale from 0 to 500. Any pollution that exceeds 100 is considered
unhealthy.
Thirdly, land pollution was measured in terms of the metric tons of waste. This was
the only category in which the first step was largely omitted and the measure of our work
was to analyze the aggregate differences in pollution that either directly or indirectly
ended up on land. No threshold was determined for land pollution. This was because
we considered any unwanted and dangerous waste as pollution—measured in metric
tons/day.

2.4 Analysis of results

In the analysis of the results, we used a one-way between-subjects ANOVA to test the
different impacts of industrial pollution between the three forms of pollution. The second
step was to use paired sample T tests to compare the significance between the different
conditions of pollution. Finally, a regression was used to analyze the contribution of each
industrial plant to the pollution estimates recorded by the participants.

Table 1 Water effluent parameter thresholds

Type of waste discharge Parameters Parameter threshold (maximum values)

Water effluent Temperature 40 C

pH 529
BO D 40 mg/l
Free chlorine 0.5 mg/l (surface water)
Total suspended solids (TSS) 45 (land/underground); 35 (surface water)
Sulfate 750 mg/l
Sulfide 0.002 mg/l
Nitrate as nitrogen 10 mg/l
Cadmium 0.01 mg/l
Total chromium 0.05 mg/l
Copper 0.5 mg/l
Oil and grease 10 mg/l
Ammoniacal nitrogen 1 mg/l
Zinc 2 mg/l
Mercury 0.005 mg/l

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3 Results and discussion

Since industry workers have knowledge of the pollution rates, they are the sample
group taken to reflect pollution levels according to their responses to the pollution
questionnaire.

3.1 Respondents appreciation of the pollution

The respondents were asked to write down the top ten pollutants for water pollution as well
as the AQI for air pollution and the approximate metric tons/day of land pollution. We then
matched their responses with our ‘‘parameter thresholds’’ to determine whether or not their
aggregate responses indeed represented the actual pollution occurring.

3.1.1 Water pollution

Eighty percent of the participants in our study were able to independently list between
6 and 8 indicators that were above our thresholds. Although their lists were different,
the common five effluent parameters listed were BOD, sulfate, oil and grease, zinc
cadmium and copper. These were commonly stated as usually existing in high levels
within the effluent discharge across all the industries with the exception of the cement
industry.

3.1.2 Air pollution

The AQIs were recorded by respondents in the cement plant (M = 145, SD = 6.5) and
the fertilizer plant (M = 135.45, SD = 10.43). The leather tanning and the textiles plant
also recorded high-level AQIs with means of 115 (SD = 9.2) and 100 (SD = 2.4),
respectively.

3.1.3 Land pollution

Aggregate summations of the amount of waste affecting the land/day were recorded. It was
approximated that 10.87 mt/day (SD = 7.28) of solid waste was disposed of on land or
eventually polluted the land. After differentiating the output by each plant, we found that
the mean metric tonnage of land-affecting pollution to be as follows: textile plant
(M = 17.02, SD = 3.03), fertilizer plant (M = 15.58, SD = 4.70), leather tannery
(M = 10.83, SD = 1.53) and cement plant (M = 0.00, SD = 0.50).

3.2 Environmental pollution through the textile, leather tanning, cement and fertilizer
plants

It was found that there were significant main effects for each of the forms of pollution
between the amounts of pollution that each factory produced (Table 2). Toxic to land, toxic
to air and toxic to water each reported F (3, 92) = 168.4, p = .00***; F (3, 92) = 311.3,
p = .00*** and F (3, 92) = 492.4, p = .00***, respectively. This indicated a strong
variation from the mean between each of the four factories.

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Table 2 One-way between-subjects ANOVA

Industry impact variables N Mean SD Sig.

Toxic to land 24 10.87 7.28 0.000***

Toxic to air 24 10.24 7.83 0.000***
Toxic to water 24 3.34 3.50 0.000***
*** Significant at 1 % level
** Significant in 5 % level

3.3 Regression

We wanted to analyze the contributions per industry toward pollution as reported by the
subjects in our study. To do this, we used linear regression and tabulated the results. Our
regression formula was as follows:
Yj ¼ Constantj þ bj;1 Xj;1 þ bj;2 Xj:2 þ bj;3 Xj;3 þ bj;4 Xj;4 ðj ¼ 1; 2; 3Þ ð1Þ
From this equation, we represented each of the pollution forms as depending upon the
influence of the various industries to give the following new equations.
Y1 ¼ Constant1 þ b1;1 X1;1 þ b1;2 X1;2 þ b1;3 X1;3 þ b1;4 X1;4 ð2Þ
Y2 ¼ Constant2 þ b2;1 X2;1 þ b2;2 X2;2 þ b2;3 X2;3 þ b2;4 X2;4 ð3Þ
Y3 ¼ Constant3 þ b3;1 X3;1 þ b3;2 X3;2 þ b3;3 X3;3 þ b3;4 X3;4 ð4Þ

where Y1 = pollution [air], Y2 = pollution [water], Y3 = pollution [land], b = coefficient

of independents variables, Constant = analogous to the intercept and four coefficients (bx,1
through bx,4), X1 = textiles, X2 = leather tanning, X3 = cement, X4 = fertilizer.
From Table 3, the different forms of pollution have shown unsurprising results. Air
pollution figures by the plants indicated that leather tanning and fertilizer plants account for
the most pollution as reported by our respondents. Secondly, textiles and leather tanning
operations were the most responsible for the pollution to the water. Land pollution was by
far the most curious finding, in that respondents stated that their factories were indeed
polluting into the environment. Lastly, R2 values indicated that the strength of association

Table 3 Total pollution multiple regression analysis

Independent variable Pollution (air) Pollution (water) Pollution (land)

Textile 0.147 (0.113) 0.356 (0.034)** 0.483 (0.000)***

Leather tanning 0.275 (0.018)** 0.458 (0.000)*** 0.143 (0.016)**
Cement 0.07 (0.105) 0.008 (0.950) 0.029 (0.409)
Fertilizer 0.218 (0.042)** 0.159 (0.478) 0.448 (0.000)***
R2 0.922 0.800 0.962
Adjusted R2 0.918 0.788 0.922
F 198.862 67.035 210.43

*** Significant at 1 % level

** Significant in 5 % level

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of the independent variables explained much of the pollution that we measured across all
three pollution forms.

3.4 Qualitative analysis of respondents living in factory areas

Among the randomly selected 50 respondents from each of the four industries, the majority
(73 %) had been living within the surrounding industrial areas of our study for more than
10 years and faced various environmental problems. Our study (Table 4) found that all the
respondents commented on dirty water, bad smells and dust pollution as being the main
problematic issues. At the same time, 63 % of the respondents also stated noise pollution
as a problem.
Remarkably, 100 % of our respondents wanted the introduction of proper waste man-
agement systems, while 84 % of the respondents mentioned that government should take
proper pollution-solving initiatives. In more detailed writing, the solutions included the
introduction of new policies and the real implementation of the existing laws to reducing
pollution. So it is thus evident that most of the respondents are not satisfied with the
industrial antipollution efforts.

3.5 Industries and their waste management system

According to the respondents’ answers (Table 5), only the textile and fertilizer plants had
effluent treatment plants installed. From the reports of workers in the textile plant and
outsiders to the plant, 100 % of the workers and outsiders reported that the textile factory
indeed had an effluent plant. The workers also reported that the effluent plant equipment
was in working order and was effective at its duty. In contrast, the outsiders felt that the
factory was not effectively dealing with the pollution (76 % disagreed with the measures
being effective).
The leather tanning plant respondents were the least happy with the measures taken to
reduce pollution. They indicated that there were no treatment activities available around
the leather plant (0 %) and that there were not many activities trying to fill this gap. None
of the outside dwellers in our study felt that the tanning industry was effectively reducing
their pollution. In fact, common remarks by the outside dwellers were that the ‘‘factories
did not care about reducing the pollution—which is why they have not thinking of
installing an effluent treatment plant.’’ Workers similarly implied that there were no
treatment plants available. The leather tannery not only discharged contaminated waste-
water into rivers, but also dumped a large amount of chromium-mixed solid wastes. These

Table 4 Respondents living duration, environmental problem facing due to industries and respondents
suggested solution
Living surrounding Environmental problem due to Respondents suggested solution (%)
industry (%) industries (%)

Dirty Bad High Dust Proper waste Government Reallocate

water smell noise problems management initiatives industries

1–10 years [10 years Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
27 73 100 100 63 100 100 84 23
Source field survey, 2010

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Table 5 Industries and their waste management needs: industry worker responses (W) and outside
dwellers (O)
Industry Effluent Dust reduction Effectiveness of Good maintenance
treatment plant system pollution reduction of equipment
(W/O) (W/O) (W/O) (W/O)
Yes% Yes% Yes% Yes%

Textile 100/100 0/10 100/24 100/20

Leather tanning 0/0 0/26 30/0 5/0
Cement 0/36 100/67 46/23 68/21
Fertilizer 100/35 0/37 65/35 77/16
Source field survey of workers (W) and outside dwellers (O) (2010)

solid wastes—typically consisting of items such as skins, hides, and fats—were dumped
onto the banks of rivers and on fields near residential areas causing different diseases.
Although the cement plant waste water discharge is usually limited, it produced huge
amount of dust in its processing period. Respondents indicated that amelioration was
needed in dust reduction. As there is no dust reduction plant in Bangladesh, the cement
industry is playing a vital role in causing air pollution and lung disease. According to the
respondents, fertilizer industries in the study region are facing technological barriers
because of a lack of funds needed for importing new machines to reduce pollution.
Although all the workers in the fertilizer plant testified the presence of an effluent
treatment plant, none of the respondents were in total agreement about the effectiveness
and maintenance of the treatment technologies. Maintenance and use of these technologies
have been the critical weak point to maintaining adequate standards of waste management.

3.6 Diseases cause by polluting industries and respondents answer

In an open question on predominant health problems in those communities, the respondents

answered to questions about the state of their health. These concerns were as follows:
occupational asthma; skin irritation; musculoskeletal stresses; headache; hearing loss;
dehydration; burning eyes, nose and throat; high blood pressure; chest tightness; lung
disease; and vomiting and hair loss. Over a time period of 6 months prior to September
2010, 58 % of the people reported that they had suffered from skin diseases (Table 6). A
further 34 % of the sample of people reported headaches, 20 % mentioned dehydration,
and 18 % mentioned asthma. High blood pressure sufferers accounted for 15 and 12 % of
the people lost hair or had other problems such as musculoskeletal stresses, burning eyes,
nose, throat, chest tightness, lung disease and vomiting at the time that the research was
taking place. The results were specific to what the respondents could place blame on the
industrial activities in our sample area.

4 Discussion

4.1 Securitization climate

In this study, we set out to establish where and how to improve the pollution problems
encountered in the Dhaka division—especially those from within our study area containing

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Table 6 Diseases cause by

Diseases caused by polluting industries Respondent answer (%)
polluting industries and respon-
dents answer within a 6-month
period Occupational asthma 9
Skin irritation 29
Musculoskeletal stresses 4
Headache 17
Hearing loss 2
Dehydration 10
Burning eyes, nose, throat 6
High blood pressure 7
Chest tightness 5
Lung disease 2
Vomiting 4
Hair fall 5
Source field survey, 2010

textile, leather tanning, cement and fertilizer plants. We proposed that the problems of
mitigating pollution properly were a result of anomalies found in the securitization climate
of Dhaka division. In order to fully assess the securitization climate, we divided SC into
four key reference points:
• Government ability to clearly define existential threats.
• The general area sensitivity to those existential threats.
• The ability to draw funding and organized support for mitigation and response.
• The real acceptance that mitigation and response is working from the standpoint of the
community stakeholders.

4.1.1 Scientific ability to clearly define existential threats

The first proper policy dealing with the environment problem was introduced in 1977, the
environment pollution control ordinance (EPC). This ordinance provided for the control,
prevention and abatement of pollution of the environment in Bangladesh. It dealt with
pollution of air, surface and ground waters, and soil by discharge of liquid, gaseous, solid,
radioactive or other substances. Although the order passed under the EPC 1977 and was
legally in place, real implementation of environmental laws never took place.
Our study shows that there were indeed measures in place that allowed for our
respondents to be primed in the knowledge of the waste output levels. Each factory visited
was able to provide at very least, rudimentary figures to the amounts of their daily waste
output. It is evident that the booming industries that are contributing much to the economy
(leather tanning and textiles industries) are also the biggest polluters.
In the University of Dhaka, there are approximately 39 environmental courses offered,
while the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology run 32 environmental
courses (Sharafuddin 1990). These courses began before 1990 yet the environmental
monitoring processes are evidently lacking especially from the perspectives of those living
in the surrounding areas of the factories. From our research, we found sometimes large
perceptual differences between workers and outsiders in assessing the general effectiveness
and technological barriers of pollution reduction initiatives in the textile industry. Although
both groups acknowledged that there was indeed an effluent treatment plant installed, only

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24 % of the outside respondents thought that it was effective, while all the workers felt that
it was effective. Additionally, the outside responders felt that there were no technology
barriers that were stopping the factories from proper waste management. This implied that
those outside the factories were largely displeased with the results of the pollution
reduction efforts and additionally felt that these factories were purposefully withholding
those activities to reduce costs.
Although considerable information exists on the causes and consequences of a polluted
environment and degradation of natural resources, there is still a long road to travel in
order to bridge the gap existing between conservation and development especially in
developing countries (Alam 2007). In the community that we investigated, we found that
although there was adequate information about environment degradation activities, it was
shown that unless you were not working in the factory, there was little to show that this
problem was perceived as an existential threat.

4.1.2 General area sensitivity

In Bangladesh, the general environmental appreciation has developed over the past few
decades. According to Islam (2002; cited in Ahsan et al. 2009), several developments in
policy and planning took place during the 1980s. The government also formed a separate
Environment Court and a ministry called the Ministry of Environment and Forrest (MoEF)
and the Department of Environment (DoE) that was the daughter organization of MoEF.
MoEF was responsible for the implementation of the adopted policies (Mahjabeen 2002;
cited in Ahsan et al. 2009).
Our paper showed that all participants in the study had suffered some kind of illness that
they could attribute to at least one of the factories in the study area. The most prevalent
issues were skin irritations (29 %), headaches (17 %) and dehydration (10 %). Generally,
the participants all felt that dirty water (100 %), bad smells (100 %) and dust problems
(100 %) arising from the factories were consistent problems. Most respondents called for
proper waste management provided by the government, but in general, they disagreed that
industries should be relocated.
Generally, the sensitivity to environmental pollution is high in both government and the
general population. There is also a high presence of NGOs who aim to raise the public
awareness and participation toward the environment protection (ADB 2008). The Dhaka
division, in particular, is a fast-growing industrial zone that has even faster become an area
of environmental concern. In terms of general area sensitivity, we found the Dhaka divi-
sion to be generally sensitive to pollution and its effects. However, there still remains the
question of why this sensitivity does not eventuate to more drastic steps at increasing the
development and implementation of environmental protection laws.

4.1.3 Ability to draw funding and organized assistance

Bangladesh has a total of 26,000 NGOs registered with the NGO Affairs Bureau (ADB
2008). The government currently sends its environmental budget through the Ministry of
Environment and Forest, The Ministry of Land and the Ministry of Water Resources when
dealing with the environmental concerns. However, the exact amount spent on environ-
mentally concerned projects is not clear from its annual budget, and it seems that any one
of those authorities (if not all three) should be involved in environmental matters. The
environmental court is charged with dealing with legislative matters and matters pertaining
to the settling of compensation against polluting companies. The main problem with

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environmental budgeting is that it is difficult to evaluate the impacts caused on the

environment (Alam 2007). Consequently, there was no investment made to improve air
quality in Dhaka until 1999 (Alam 2007).
Although funding is entering the Dhaka division, attracting funding of a specific amount
is difficult to do. This is due to the cost-benefits of the environment degradation having a
high-friction relationship with the sustainability of the growth of those industries that are in
fact polluting the most (Islam 2002). Our study again proved that having an effluent plant
did not guarantee its proper use, maintenance or promotion of greener operations. In
addition, it was noted that the money spent on running the effluent plants in question may
actually be impeding on the factories’ very profitability.

4.1.4 Perceptions of effectiveness

‘‘Every country needs a practical and dynamic set of rules and regulations to prevent and
mitigate environmental pollution’’ (UNEP 2001b, p. 70). From our study, we found that
antipollution technologies were indeed in place. However, there was still a marginal
feeling that they were not able to secure safe environments around their operations.
Leather tanning industries in Hazaribag area exhaust approximately 200 t of solid waste/
day during peak season and 75 t during off-peak season (Enamul 1997). Large amounts
of solid waste are left every day on the roadside and in the nearby dustbins causing a
foul odor to the surrounding areas. The solid waste largely contains pieces of raw hides
and small portions of lime fleshing. Furthermore, the open drains around Hazaribag
sometimes get clogged and overflow because of the waste accumulates into the drains—
causing serious air pollution around the tannery area. Tannery workers are the worst
sufferers and endure very hostile environmental working conditions (Sharif and
Mainuddin 2003).
In the textile industries, chemical toxic wastes, such as arsenic, are directly discharging
into rivers and surrounding areas. People in textile industrial area are facing various kinds
of health hazards. Cement industries in Dhaka division contribute various nitrogen oxides,
sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons into the air. These kinds of pollutants
play a part in the degradation of respiratory health especially among workers. Even with all
the abovementioned procedures and steps carried out by government and non-govern-
mental organizations, pollution from these sources still has quite a footmark in Dhaka. We
felt that there was a very large concern around the protection of the environment, but
largely in response to the degraded quality of life experienced by those that live in these
areas in particular.

4.2 Summary of securitization climate

The 2010 implementation of the Bangladesh Environment Preservation (Amendment) Act

saw the restrictions on pollution, generation, stockpiling and transportation of hazardous
wastes (Muhith 2011). This amendment also sought to ensure that aggrieved persons,
groups or communities could sue directly to the Bangladesh Environment Court. These
steps are a positive initiative toward a greener future. However, a methodical eye must be
cast across the still dragging and lagging of the implementation of effective securitization
and provision of complete security to these issues.
According to our qualitative assessment of the Dhaka division securitization climate, we
felt that this region had a relatively rigid securitization climate. We attributed this to the
inability to firstly properly evaluate the true value of environmental degradation when

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mapped closely to economic gains of the modus operandi of industrial business. Both
workers and outsiders indicated that the idea of relocating the factories was fairly unfa-
vorable, even in the face of what they complained about health-wise. Secondly, the pop-
ulation seemed to call for more government intervention, but this call did not spur the
abnormal call for new action. This means that securitization of the environmental problems
is failing to occur. Thirdly, without a clear methodology of bringing to practice what is
learned in the research of environmental problems caused by industrial activity, the whole
idea of ‘‘greening’’ the environment may still be well far-fetched.

5 Recommendation

Our study revealed that textile, leather tanning, cement and fertilizer plants are the major
source of industrial pollution in Bangladesh. Therefore, to overcome these problems,
different bodies must work together to protect the environment. The following recom-
mendations are advised:

5.1 Recommended steps for textile, leather tanning, cement and fertilizer plants

From what we have established, the textile industry needs better and proper management of
wastewater. In order to reduce the overall volume of effluent, the reconstitution of pro-
cessed effluent should be examined for every stage of processing like scouring, bleaching,
mercerization, dyeing and finishing baths. This will reduce the quantity and potency of the
ultimate effluent. Like many developed countries, the government can offer free water and
wastewater test facilities, and entrepreneurs can be encouraged to set up industries far away
from the crowded greater Dhaka.
For sustainable production in the cement industry, the following steps should be con-
sidered: firstly, a proper dust recovery systems need to be introduced. Secondly, the
industry as a whole needs to establish a proper water treatment plant. Dusty areas such as
roads should be kept moist in order to reduce dust generation.
Every leather tanning industry should build an effluent treatment plant for neutralizing
the toxicity and harmful effects of their pollutants. The government needs to establish
better checks and balances of regulating the legal limit for tannery effluent discharges into
surface water. Finally, government and leather tanning industry owners need to find an
acceptable strategy for the disposal of wastes to the agricultural system—alternative uses
of the treated wastes for agriculture and/or other purposes.
For urea fertilizer industry, we recommend that for minimizing air pollution, they need
to use natural gas as the feedstock. Secondly, every urea fertilizer industry needs to use
NOX removal processes that do not release toxics to the environment.

5.2 Research and educational institutions

Research institutions as well as the educational institutions especially universities and

colleges can play a vital role for protecting environmental pollution in Bangladesh. By
holding seminars and symposiums, these organizations can innovate appropriate green
technologies, develop green methods of production and create awareness. Other methods
include the creation of recyclable materials, creating products with better longevity and
finding new uses for by-products and wastes.

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5.3 Government and social organizations

The government has a paramount role in the environmental industrial management in any
country. Likewise, the Bangladesh government can do the followings:

5.3.1 General strategy for pollution control

The government can formulate laws and effective country-wide pollution control pro-
grams. Methods for consideration include the identification of polluting industries and
categorizing them in order of the intensity and nature of pollution. Categories of intensities
such as ‘‘toxic, hazardous and refractory groups,’’ ‘‘bio-degradable groups’’ and ‘‘setting
acceptable effluent/emission standards’’ can be useful in running both assessment and
control programs (Islam 2010).

5.3.2 Government promotion of new technologies

Technologies designed and produced from within the national borders are subject and
sensitive to local policy and expectation. The Indian Education Ministry has worked on the
production of cheap tablet computers directed at mass population and student ownership
(Poeter 2011). However, rather than asking companies to work below the cost bottom-line,
they should also deal out specified grants to subsidize the costs of the most crucial
hardware and software components. This ‘‘smart budgeting’’ may in future maximize the
benefits while best managing the unit costs of production.

5.4 Recommendations for strengthening national response

The burden on the government will be to strengthen some of the already existing regu-
lations through better policing of their policies. On this basis, the following recommen-
dations can be made:
• The voice of the affected populations must be collected at a community level. This will
encourage better on-the-ground service against big polluters and strengthen the position
of victims.
• Environmental impact assessment (EIA) and social cost-benefit analyses must be better
regulated prior to the designing and setting up of new industrial plants. Old plants must
measure with the same scale to determine their future operation existence.
• The concentration of industries in the Dhaka division needs to be reassessed. The
government should consider more seriously the relocation of some of the heavy hitting
industries to diffuse the pollution.
• There should be more stringent penalties against pollution in which the ‘‘polluter pays
principles.’’

6 Conclusion

For sustainable development of the country like Bangladesh, a sound environmental

strategy is fundamentally important. An economic cum environmental strategy for
industrial pollution control is, therefore, very important for the control of environmental
pollution. The securitization against industrial pollution is largely dependent on the ability

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of all stakeholders to convert as much of the pollution problems into human terms, in
which people are the referent objects for providing environmental security. Without
placing people as the referent, most talk and research into environment protection may fail
to find appropriate value-centers in order to truly assess and address all costs of envi-
ronmental security. Bangladesh is facing a crucial choice between industrialization and
environmental protection. The Dhaka division, in its fast expansion, is in need of future
attention to its overall sensitivity to the existential threats that surround its people.
Therefore, Government policy should ensure balanced development, and the approach to
pollution control should be more preventive than corrective. Thus, it is obvious to bring
forward all sections of the society under the leadership of government to protect the
environment and have a better, greener future for our next generation.

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