'Environmental Security: Bangladesh Essay\r'

'Abstract\r\nWhile reading foreignistic Relations I got acquainted with whiley coeval issues which argon re aloney important to lie with with for the belligerent survival of Bangladesh in this age of orbicularization. Bangladesh is a ontogenesis bucolic. It has to perform very c arfully in do to continue a healthy and sustaincapable frugalal system. Bangladesh suffers from twain internal and intertheme nemesiss which ar twain soldiers and non-military. Among them environmental Security (ES) is a calculate of gigantic importance. Be feature environmental calamities are great affright to economic discipline and are besotteds of creating settlement on the donor countries. It is withal controlling congress between articulates and as well creating ten-spotsion between them. So, succession has come to take this issue more signifi screwingtly and take necessary steps fitly. This enquiry authorship contains how environment is having baron over the matt ers of our pastoral; creating counterweight of race with the donor countries; and what Bangladesh should do in pose to overcome the lines to establish better economics.\r\nAck nowadaysledgement\r\nIn order to provide a valid search paper, I deliver taken information from the beat out shits given by the de fo down the stairsment of outside(a) Relations. net has been a great source of information which I maintain mentioned in the split of bibliography. tho I have taken information from BANGLADESH: Non-traditional certificate, By Jyoti M. Pathania, and use speeches of George Kennan, Collin Powell in nearly relevant area. I am grateful to Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed (Ch beamman, Governing Council, Dhaka School of economics (DScE); Chairman, Governing Body, P solelyi Karma-Sahayak Foundation). He has given me some drop dead view of the issue of environmental Security. I have apply some information in this research paper from his presentation on The Outcome OF Cancun cl ime Change Conference (COP-16) and Bangladesh. My work has overly been support by Dr. jashim Uddin, General Manager, Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation, who has great experience in the field of development in Bangladesh.\r\n1.0 Introduction\r\n there have been two glide slopees to Security Studies: 1) Traditional rise, i.e., Realist Approach and Non-traditional Approach, i.e., i) Widening Approach and ii) Deepening Approach. Since the end of the mothy fight, there has been renewed interest in what is now called ‘non-traditional’ auspices issues. Among the non-traditional approach to security department studies, the output approach includes that states are functionally like units; states are non like units in terms of capability/power. some(prenominal) are strong and some are weak. Inter-state dealingship is governed by this power differentiation. As a result, disorder is the ordering principle of international politics.\r\nStates are ricochet to adapt to this anarchic system for their survival. However, in childlikening approach the referent object of security is state; state wants to secure state sovereignty, visible found of state (territory, resources and people) and semipolitical system. It simply includes a wide range of non-military threats to state security: both outdoor(a) and internal and military and non-military. The environmental Security evict be referred to this non-traditional approach of security, which is an internal and external non-military threat to a state that urinates huge loss to the physical base of a state, demolishes economic situation and threats the sovereignty of state in this age of globalization.\r\nHence the Environmental Security has become a matter of great importance in today’s world. Environmental security involves assessing the ways in which the quality of environmental systems relate to or impact the overall health and well-being of a state or society. It also refers to the relative protection of the environment from injury or adulteration by manmade or inherent processes receivable to accident, negligence, ignorance, or design from causes that cross national borders and jeopardise the livelihood or health of humans, the functional justness of a state, or the stability of the international residential area.\r\n almostly environmental threats to national and international security dirty dog be traced to man’s activities interfering into natural processes or the natural ecosystem. Some serious threats, however, may have natural origins, only if become exacerbated from man’s activities. Examples of these include hurri fuckinges, earthquakes and floods.\r\nEnvironmental Security (ES) is a matter of great importance since it also controls international relations between states. As late as 1985, the old cold warrior George Kennan Wrote in foreign personal business:\r\nAffairs concerning international relations and national interests in fore ign countries. , identifying the threat to the world environment as one of the two supreme dangers confront man shape. only if it was really in the post Cold War era that the world saw a hammy increase in international activity nigh environmental issues. The United Nations Environmental Program has report that about 170 treaties have been negotiated in fresh historic period on various issues of the global environment. (1)\r\n2.0 immensity of ES target be understood pull ahead by the following statement:\r\nâ€Å"Few threats to public security and survival of the human community are great than those posed by the prospects of cumulative and irreversible abjection of the biosphere on which human life depends. True security bottomlandnot be achieved by mounting buildup of weapons (defence in a narrow thought), exclusively only by providing base conditions for solving non-military problems which threatens them. Our survival depends not only on military balance, but on gl obal cooperation to train a sustainable environment.” Brundtland Commission Report, 1987\r\nIn 1999, Collin Powell emphasise the importance of ES saying:\r\nâ€Å"Sustainable development is a compelling moral and humanitarian issue, but it is also a security imperative. Poverty, environmental abasement and despair are destroyers of people, of society, of nations. This unholy trinity can destabilize countries, even entire regions.”\r\nWe are theatre upon the globe’s life-supporting eco-systems generating body of water system, food, medicine, and clean air etc, but we actually did nothing to maintain this ecosystem. As a result the current and future generations will calculate up severe environmentally induced changes. The change has already started and is testing our traditional concepts and understandings of security, both national and beyond boundaries. In many cases contradicts are direct results of environmental degradation. An some other important d imension of Environmental security is that it knows no state boundary. It affects humankind and its institutions and organizations anywhere and at anytime, which cannot be defended by any means of military defense or political negotiation.\r\n3.0 VARIOUS multinational RELATIONS international relations, study of the relations among states and other political and economic units in the international system. concomitant areas of study within the field of international relations include diplomacy and diplomatic history, international law, ….. crack the link for more information.\r\nTHEORIES ON ENVIRONMENT\r\nA number of International Relations Theories can be applied to the issue of environment. many a(prenominal) of these theories only deal with the environment indirectly, yet it is useful to review the expanding literature of international-relations surmisal as it relates to the environment.\r\nRealism: The two central concepts of Realist theory are power and the national interest. The international society is an anarchical state-system. The system is therefore a self-help one. Realism assumes that states and their commonwealths need natural resources to survive. There is a competition between states for these scarce resources. War is very more than the result of such(prenominal) competition and betrothal. It take to the woodss to â€Å"the struggle for power and peace,” as Hans Morgenthau put it.\r\n(7)\r\nExtreme versions of Realism such as the geopolitical some see chair George Bush’s intervention in Iraq as an attempt to secure the oil resources of the Middle East.\r\n3.1 Malthusianism:\r\ndoubting Thomas Malthus, an 18th century English cleric, bankd that because population grew in geometric progression and food production followed arithmetical progression, there would come a time when population proveth would inevitably outstrip and will cause starvation. Thus it will threat the socio-economic security of a nation.\r\n3.2 Liberalism:\r\nLiberalism focussinges on cooperation. While magnanimousism sees people and states competing for scarce environmental resources, it does so in a more natty way. Thus, â€Å"a liberal ism applied to global environmental politics tends to treat states as combative participantsâ€not unlike corporationsâ€in markets they have accomplished among themselves.” (8)\r\nPrivate enterprise and the market produce skill and save spirit. For cause, the Stockholm Declaration of 1972 forbids states from inflicting environmental disability on each other, because this would be a trespass of the state’s sovereignty.\r\n3.3 Institutionalism:\r\nThis approach also focuses on cooperation. Here the states have a broader sense of self-interest. They focus on the public good. Their enlightened self-interest includes norms, values, principles and expectations which are the ingredients of International Regimes. The states seek mutually acceptable compromises throu gh and through international negotiation. The building of International Regimes can utility the global environment. The Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is a good lesson of international regimes.\r\n3.4 Ecoanarchism:\r\nThis philosophy is humanistic and leftist, and Murray Bookchin is its leading proponent. Ecoanarchists believe that â€Å"the state and ‘big’ crownwork are uncongenial to the autonomy of humans and nature.” (9) Thus to preserve nature it is necessary to break society into â€Å" menial, relatively self-sufficing units.” To help nature these units must practice self-sacrifice and mutual aid.\r\n3.5 Social Naturalism:\r\nThis view sees â€Å" polish and nature as bound together” in a kind of favorable community. Community is used in a very broad sense that includes people, animals, plants, ideas, language, history and the ecosystems. Cooperation between humans and nature is a given. The objective of social naturalism is â€Å"the creation of a cooperative ecological society found to be rooted in the most basic levels of being.” (10) This philosophy strongly resembles the worldview.\r\n3.6 Sustainable Growth:\r\nThe growth of incomes results in economic development. As the nineties dry land fix President Barber Conable put it: â€Å"market forces and economic efficiency were the best way to achieve the kind of growth which is the best antidote to penury.” (12) So according to the neoclassical economist’s dictum â€Å"a rising tide lifts all boats” is associated with the idea that improvements in the general economy will benefit all participants in that economy. The proponents of this theory believe that when the poor of the growth countries become abstruseer then it will reduce squash on the environment. For example, they will be more able and willing to pay the costs of keeping air and water clean. (13)\r\n3.7 Sustainable Development:\r\nThis phrase commencement ceremony appeared in a 1980 report issued by the International union for the Conservation of Nature International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) or World Conservation Union, international organization founded in 1948 to incite the preservation of wildlife, natural environments, and living resources. (14) This approach focuses on the â€Å"needs” of the world’s poor and calls for a sufficient transfer of wealth from the rich countries to the poor, so that the developing countries can deal with the problem of poverty and environmental price.\r\n3.8 The Steady-State Economy:\r\nHerman Daly proposed this alternative approach which focuses not on more goods, but on the specialty and longevity of goods. More goods are wasteful and cause environmental degradation. It calls for recycling and the minimal exploitation of biological and physical resources. Daly’s unit is the nation-state, and each country must se ek to be self-sufficient and legislate only its own natural resources. (15)\r\n3.9 Radical Redistribution:\r\nThis theory believes that environmental degradation is the result of excessive wealth, the injustices of capitalist economy and the income inequality between the rich and the poor nations. In 2005, a typical American consumed 51 generation as oftentimes energy as a typical Bangladeshi. (16) Consequently, two things need to be done. First, the rich must drastically reduce their consumption so as not to burden the earth’s resources and environment. Second, the rich much transfer massive amounts of capital and technology so that the poor countries can grow economically and preserve the environment.\r\n3.10 Ecosocialism and Eco-Marxism:\r\nNot surprisingly, ecosocialists and ecomarxists blame capitalism for environmental degradation. Capitalism is seen as inherently anti-ecological and anti-nature. For pursuit cheaper raw materials and fatter profits they impose wast es onto nature. Thus the trend of production matters for the environment. They â€Å"emphasize people’s incorporated power as producers, which directly involve local anesthetic communities (particularly urban) and increase democracy, which enlist the labour movement and which are aimed particularly at economic life.” (17)\r\n3.11 Ecofeminism:\r\nAlthough many ecofeminists are not Marxists, they are all leftists or liberal in their philosophical orientation. For ecofeminists â€Å"the domination of women and nature are inextricably linked.” (18) â€Å"Feminine suffering is universal because maltreat done to women and its ongoing denial fuel the psycho-sexual revilement of all Othersâ€races, children, animals, plants, rocks, water, and air.” (19)\r\n3.12 Ecocentrism:\r\nEcocentrists believe that humans cannot survive without nature. galore(postnominal) ecocentrists are advocates of wilderness or â€Å"wildness.” As enthalpy David Thoreau note d: â€Å"In wildness is the preservation of the world.” (20)\r\n3.13 Biopolitics:\r\nThe origins of biopolitics can be found in the writings of Michel Foucault. harmonize to Mitchell Dean, a follower of Foucault, biopolitics â€Å"is concerned with matters of life and death, with ingest and propagation, with health and illness, both physical and mental, and with the processes that sustain or retard the optimization of the life of a population.” (21)\r\nThese are some of the basic environmental philosophies that take to mean the global environment and structure practices and policies. Many of these conflict with one another and have diverse score of the reasons for environmental degradation.\r\n4.0 A case of Bangladesh:\r\nThe first part of this research paper dealt with the security agenda and the philosophies involving ES. Scarcities of renewable resources can generate civil violence and conflict; the degradation of renewable resources causes environmental insuffici ency; decently groups take over precious resources while piddling groups move around to ecologically sensitive areas. Moreover environmental scarcity proves the difference between social groups. much(prenominal) situation affects political scienceal institutions and states by making it economically weak. Even environmental scarcity can cause ethnic conflicts. Accordingly the International community can be indirectly affected by these conflicts produced by environmental scarcity. (22)\r\nIn the second part I will focus on Bangladesh regarding the issues of environment security. Ours is a country which has to face both external and internal, and military and non military threats. Bangladesh achieved its independence through a devastating war against Pakistan which resulted gazillions of death and around ten million refugees to India. Even after the war Bangladesh has been facing military threat from the Shanti Bahini of Chittagong cumulus Track (CHT).\r\n insurrectionist warfare between the rebels and gird force of the government in CHT and civil conflicts between the Bengali and Non-Bengali residents of this home base continue till today. The most recent armed conflict between the Bengali and Non-Bengali residents happened on nineteenth January 2011; where 6 (six) were killed. Such situation threatens the stability of a state. Circumstances become more vulnerable when environmental degradation doubles the pain. The independent Bangladesh has been facing environmental calamity since 1974. In 1974 famine raged over and was and aggravated by a flood. Later on, the degradation only increased and in recent years Bangladesh has seen devastating cyclones and floods.\r\nThe security of Bangladesh must depend on sustainable environment in many ways. Environmental degradation will badly affect economic development, erode social cohesion. Even political institutions face threat. Population growth and lack of economic opportunity will cause demographic displacemen t both within the country and outside. Migration in other country can cause bilateral conflict Bangladesh is also bearing the result of environmental problems of neighbor countries.\r\nSuch situation in water sector is already exacerbating regional tension with India. It can lead to harmful progress towards regional security and can instigate regional cooperation on the other hand. We have to remember that the linkage of environment and security in Bangladesh is through economics and politics. The greater the environmental degradation in Bangladesh the greater will be the political and economic deterioration, thus leading to more national and international insecurity.\r\n5.0 ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS IN BANGLADESH\r\nBangladesh posses a cloud of security problems, which are no longer of formulaic nature but have non-conventional nature i.e. Non-traditional security issues which are in the state of constant evolution. These are economic, environmental, political and territorial threat s.\r\n5.1 Population\r\nThe greatest problem that Bangladesh faces is an unusually large population in a small land area. The population grew from 42 million in 1951 to about 147 million in 2005. (23) It is communicate to reach 166 million in 2015. (24) The population assiduousness is 1019 per square(a) kilometer. When one compares this with 2 persons per sq. km. in Australia, 3 in Canada, 31 in USA, 191 in Pakistan and 324 in India, one becomes aware of the tremendous crush of population in Bangladesh. The faster the population increases, the more would be the negative effects on its environment. Zero population growth could serve for the environment in Bangladesh.\r\n5.2 commonwealth and Soil\r\nAs noted earlier, Bangladesh covers a small area of only 144,000 square kilometers, but 63% of the total land is arable because it is located in the largest delta in the world. Formed by the three justly riversâ€the Ganges, Brahmaputra and the Meghnaâ€it is also â€Å"the younge st and the most active delta in the world.” (27) Although Bangladesh is a flat alluvial plain, it does have complex stigma condition and land pattern.\r\nErosion of land by rivers is a serious problem in Bangladesh. each year cod to strong summer winds, sizeable waves and shifting rivers super Cs of acres of land are decay away, leaving thousands of families homeless(prenominal) and contributing to the pattern of in large quantities migration towards the urban areas, primarily to the capital city Dhaka. simply it only creates instability in the society.\r\n5.3 Deforestation\r\nMany decades ago Bangladesh had rich tropical forests. But due to population growth and the need for firewood and timber, the forests have become quickly depleted. Currently the forest area comprises 13,000 square kilometers, about 10.2% of the total land space, which is much less than the universally accepted minimum of 25%. (28) set in the southwest of Bangladesh, the Sundarbans is a mangrove , large tropical evergreen tree, genus Rhizophora that grows on muddy tidal flats and along protected ocean shorelines. It is the home for of the celebrated Royal Bengal Tiger as well as other rich flora and fauna.\r\nThe United Nations has declared the Sundarbans as a world heritage aim because of its rich biodiversity. Besides, the tropical rain forests in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, home to high value timber, rich botany and wild animals. Many animals are being rapidly depleted due to demand from both agribusiness and industry. The Chokoria Sundarbans in the southeastern part of the country near the port-city Chittagong were completely destroyed in the 1980s and 1990s in order to facilitate shrimp farming.\r\n5.4 drought & Floods\r\nIt is ironic that during the monsoon season Bangladesh has too much water and during the winter months too little water when no rainfall occurs. Thus the country is subject to both floods and drought. Barendra Bhumi of the northern part of ou r country is an example for drought affect. Because of drought people are ineffectual to continue agricultural work and suffer from monga (unemployment). It also causes huge migration towards the capital city and other cities. labored drought also causes desertification in this area.\r\nOn the other hand, in the rainy season Bangladesh suffers from too much water. About 1360 billion cubic meters of water is dispatch annually through the GBM system, 93% of which flows through Bangladesh. If all the water did not flow into the sea, the country had been under 32 feet of water. The 230 rivers with their numerous creeks and rivulets attempt to drain the water into the call for of Bengal But the situation of rivers, the low river gradients in the flat plain and strong backwater effects remit the passage to the sea, giving rise to the overflowing of the riverbanks. every(prenominal) year there are floods, in some years it becomes extreme due to extra dour rainfall.\r\n5.5 Storms & ; Cyclones\r\nBangladesh faces huge destruction due to storms and cyclones. The cyclones mainly hit the coastal region. Several severe cyclones emerge from the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. The funnel shape of the Bay increases the intensity, often blowing in excess of 240 km per hour and creating tidal bores 9 km high. One of the wipe up cyclones occurred on November 12, 1970, killing an estimated 300 hundred thousand people in addition to major damage to livestock, poultry, crops and vegetation. (30) The most recent examples can be SIDR (2007) and AILA (2009).\r\n'