SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES: RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN CHITTAGONG REGION, BANGLADESH

Sustainable cities and communities are a holistic approach, where socio-economic goals are associated along with environmental and energy efficiencies goals; thus ensure the durability of urban changes. Cities sustainability and resilience’s strategies directly link with quality of life in cities and how cities draw on, manage the natural capitals to them and reduce the ecological imprints. Environmental sustainability of cities maintains the stocks of natural resources by reducing emission and limitation of inter-regional substance exchange (Plut, 2007 cited in Poredoš, K. 2011). Yet, to date, the rapid urbanization trend has been accompanied by increased pressure on the environment and leads to extensive local pollution and environmental degradation not limited to their borderline while neighboring territories like rural, regional and global ecosystems are also being affected. To achieve SDG11 through environmental perspective is therefore very difficult for many countries specifically for South Asian countries, where environmental impacts have been ignored in country’s economic costs and wellbeing of the minority.

Bangladesh is the seventh largest populated country in the world with a population of more than 158 million people inhabiting a small area of 147,570 km2. The population of Bangladesh is equal to 2.19% of total world population with a density of 1101 people per km2 (BBS, 2011). Although, the country has a noticeable achievement in SDGs specifically in poverty reduction; education; infant mortality rate and gender equity, there still exists under red marked in SDG11. After the independence of Bangladesh, the urban areas have experienced gigantic population growth due to urban opportunities and rural calamities resulting rapid growth of informal settlements, high environmental threats, and costs that are progressively destroying Bangladesh’s prospects for continued sustainable cities and communities. Urbanization of Bangladesh is expected to have more than 50% urban population by 2050 (United Nations, 2014). About 55% of urban population lives in urban slums (Angeles et al., 2009, UN-Habitat, 2016) places increasing pressure on the life-supporting capacities of the cities and possess an unhealthy living with mortality due to  extreme environmental hazards; air pollution, urban heat island effect, intolerable noise, water logging at roadsides and energy consumption. Bangladesh is the second worst performing country in the world at curbing environmental pollution according to EPI, (2018) specifically air pollution and urban heat. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cities like Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Chittagong, Barisal, Khulna, and Sylhet in Bangladesh ranked at the top of the list in air pollution. Urban Heat Island (UHI) is another pressing issue for Bangladesh by extensive air temperatures and needs cost-effective air control, and cool temperature strategy for evapotranspiration (Tan, C. L., Wong, N. H., & Jusuf and  S. K. (2014). On the other side, depletion of natural resources; hills, wetlands, and forest are associated with inadequate settlement planning policies have a serious impact on local to global environmental degradation, and reduced city’s sustainability and amplified overall economic cost of Bangladesh. However, these worrying trends are hindered the sustainability goal of cities and communities particularly for low-income households and unplanned settlers in few regions in Bangladesh, Chittagong- is one of them.

Chittagong division is the largest southeastern coastal region (with a total area of 33,771.18 km2 (13,039.13 sq mi) in Bangladesh located on the outskirts of Bay of Bengal. Chittagong region is vulnerable to a variety of natural and human-induced degradation including tropical cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and water logging, landslides respectively. Declining the forest, green an open space in Chittagong city, CHT (Chittagong hill tracts Area) and sea beach area are one of the major causes of loss of Biodiversity and environmental degradation.

Reduction of green space in Chittagong occurred from 1989 to 2001 by 76% due to rapid urbanization. At present, Chittagong city has only 0.0476 acres of open space and green space per 1000 people is very difficult to reach at 1.8 acres open and green space /1000 population noted in master plan 2015 by CCC. Insufficient local open and green space in a congested setting in City is unable to reduce environmental degradation specifically air pollution and urban heat is accelerate health risk and economic burden.

Recently, Chittagong is facing rapid environmental degradation; Hill cutting, deforestation, and wildlife threats for unplanned informal settlements at both urban and rural context and worst affected in terms of access to services and facilities (Ashraf, 1995, Burton, 1999, BBS, 2015). Though, the UN-Habitat (2003) declared that slum settlers should get substandard housing with basic facilities and services, very few informal settlements in Bangladesh have got those facilities. Due to unplanned policies, planning informal settlers usually encroach the government khash land settle down there. For instance, over 50,000 illegal settlers have built illegal houses and other structures on government khash land in Jangal Salimpur in Chittagong’s Sitakunda Upazila in the last decade( 23 July 2017, The independent). Moreover, the Centre for Urban Studies (CUS, NIPORT & MEASURE Evaluation, 2006) and BBS (2015) characterized an urban slum in the context of Bangladesh as compact settlements of five or more households that generally grow very in an unhealthy condition and atmosphere on government and private vacant land. Additionally, citizens face different types of regional environmental problems, notably air pollution, noise pollution, traffic congestion and surface water pollution (Rahman, Haughton & Jonas, 2010). However, both cities and Upazila areas are struggling to accommodate their rising populations and address the multidimensional challenges like basic infrastructures (Soyinka, Siu, Lawanson & Olufemi, 2016).

However, in Chittagong region, both in city and outskirts, areas are facing informal growth of settlements; underlying paragraphs are discussed two types of informal settlements ; one is in city area is called  informal settlements at Foothill and other is in outskirts area in cox’s bazar districts is called Rohynga Refugee  causes of environmental degradation in Chittagong divisions.

Environmental degradation (Hill cut and deforestation) by informal settlements at city level.

Hill- cutting in Chittagong City has been taken place since late 1990 to meet up the excessive land demand of growing population and increased industrialization is the result of unplanned urbanization. Over forty years Chittagong has lost its 120 hills from 200 hills counted in 1910 by CCC (Alam.E, 2017). Most of the hilly areas  in Chittagong metropolitan areas are found in the Chandgaon, Double Mooring, Pahartali, Khulshi and Bayezid Bostami Thanas, among them  the highly susceptible hill cutting areas are located in Bayazid Bostami (11 Hills), South Khulshi (10 Hills) and Kotowali thanas (5 hills). Uncontrollable hill cutting possesses some major socio-environmental and economic problems; landslide hazards are associated with urban deaths of informal settlers who distinctly cut down the hills and make settlements at foothills, hillslope failure, and erosion, decreasing biodiversity, accelerating earthquake associated risk. For an `example, during 2002, about four people died in the Batali hill area by landslides and during 2007 about 127 people have died in the different areas in Chittagong(The Daily Star, 2012). Further, another landslide occurred on 18 August of 2008, in the Matijhorna area of Lalkhan Bazaar and killed 11people of two families. Different studies show that more than 500,000 impoverished people are living in informal settlements on the risky foothills of Chittagong City (Islam, 2008; Khan, 2008). According to Chisty (2014), hill cutting, unauthorized human settlements, deforestation, faulty infrastructure construction and change in agricultural and forest activities as the main man-made causes behind the landslides in Chittagong city and Hill- tracts area. For instance, in Bandarban, four to five hills on about five acres of land have been destroyed to make these two roads, and the work for the housing project has been going on in 36 acres of hilly areas without any approval from the government. According to locals and environmentalists, plundering of hills posed a serious threat to homes and environment.

Environmental degradation and unsustainable communities in coastal region, Chittagong.

Environmental degradation also found in the coastal area specifically Cox’s bazar district in Chittagong. An unprecedented influx of Rohingya refugees have been arrived in Cox’s bazar area Chittagong, Bangladesh since 2017, caused a significant impact on local forests, and amplified human-wildlife conflict. Critical biodiversity areas in Cox’s bazar ( e.g, Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary, Himchari National Park and the Inani Protected Area) are likely to be degraded and exploited due to building unplanned settlements, hill cutting and deforestation for firewood collection is the most immediate threat to the sustainable environment (Mamun, A, et,al,2015 ). For instance, around 3,000 to 4,000 acres (1,200–1,600 hectares) of hilly land in the Teknaf-Ukhiya-Himchari watershed have been cleared of vegetation report published by UNDP (2018). Extensive loss of groundcover vegetation and indiscriminate hill cutting for Rohingya settlements in the camp has led to potential soil erosion and significant risk of landslides, especially evident in the rainy season, including the much-dreaded monsoon. The loss of such low-growing shrubs and grasses – which previously served to protect waterways, reduce surface heat, slow the runoff of rainwater, and tie loose soils – are no longer present in immediate territories of camps, specially Kutupalong camp area. Deforestation contributes to higher temperatures, lower humidity of air have been affected the rainfalls in the country within the camp and vulnerable to the unsustainable environment. Imran and Mian (2014) have stated that the refugee crisis has become a matter of fear for Bangladesh due to the rising pressures on the environment is hampering the preservation and protection of the limited bio-diversity in natural areas.

Economic impact due to Rohynga influx is also a threat for both local communities and Bangladesh. According to Alam (2018), the overall cost to the government for refugee settlement areas is a burden for national economy. Cookson (2017) stated that due to the ongoing situation of unrest; the number of tourist travelling to the region has decreased. Further, the cross-border trade with Myanmar and fishing in the Naf River have also deteriorated due to the restrictions by the government, has had an instant economic impact on Bangladesh (UNDP 2017).

Bangladesh Government has taken many initiatives to ensure safe, resilient, healthy and livable city by 2030 by implementing rules through the ministries; MoHPW; RTHD; MoR; MoCA; MoDMR; LGD; MoWCA; ERD. Most of the ministries separately imposed rules and guidelines but collaboration approaches with multi-stakeholder are little to see. Community participation in the urban planning process to make healthy home and neighborhood is still lack in case of Bangladesh through practicing ‘greenery cities concept’ in urban, environmental and conservational policies. Furthermore, Bangladesh has already achieved green sign at poverty reduction, infant mortality rate; enrollment in primary schools but poses least concentration on Goal of 11 –sustainable cities and communities, though the country’s current development plan, i.e., the Seventh Five Year Plan (2016-2020). On the other hand, at the national level, Government has little interest in showing accountability to its own people. Ultimately, accountability of local government, the media, civil society, and the private sector are also important for the country to achieve the SDGs, helping resource mobilization through accelerated citizen initiatives in this regard .