Shahadat Shakil is a professional environmentalist through training and experience. He is serving as the Project Management Specialist at USAID/Bangladesh. His area of expertise is Environmental Governance and Urban Management.
The Eastern fringe of Dhaka city is a low lying area along the bank of Balu River. According to D... more The Eastern fringe of Dhaka city is a low lying area along the bank of Balu River. According to DMDP, 32% of the total population of Dhaka city will be living there by 2020. This area is now facing scattered private housing development projects and rapid urbanization. So this paper aims at preparing a conceptual planning proposal for a planned sustainable urban environment. Objective of this study is planning a sustainable city environment for eastern fringe for projected population (2.6 million) of 2020 and conservation of retention pond areas. Before preparing the plan various town development plans were studied (Delhi Master Plan 2021, Navi Mumbai plan, Putrajaya town development plan etc). Then population for the year 2020 in the study area is projected. Afterwards land use distribution, road network design, zoning, detailed neighborhood design for different income groups etc is done. The study area is divided into four zones. A transit based transportation network is planned. Residential land use is the major land use in the study area. This site is planned as a poly-centric urban form with hierarchy of CBDs, adapted from Delhi Master Plan 2021. 15% area is conserved for retention ponds. A regional scale hospital, university, light industrial zone and waste treatment plant is planned. Agricultural lands and land for future expansion is also planned. Thus all the planning processes are applied to design a sustainable urban environment.
CO2 emissions from urban traffic are a major concern in an era of increasing ecological disequilibr... more CO2 emissions from urban traffic are a major concern in an era of increasing ecological disequilibrium. Adding to the problem net CO2 emissions in urban settings are worsened due to the decline of bio-productive areas in many cities. This decline exacerbates the lack of capacity to sequestrate CO2 at the micro and mesoscales resulting in increased temperatures and decreased air quality within city boundaries. Various transportation and environmental strategies have been implemented to address traffic related CO2 emissions, however current literature identifies difficulties in pinpointing these critical areas of maximal net emissions in urban transport networks. This study attempts to close this gap in the literature by creating a new lay-person friendly index that combines CO2 emissions from vehicles and the bio-capacity of specific traffic zones to identify these areas at the mesoscale within four ranges of values with the lowest index values representing the highest net CO2 levels. The study used traffic volume, fuel types, and vehicular travel distance to estimate CO2 emissions at major links in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital city's transportation network. Additionally, using remote-sensing tools, adjacent bio-productive areas were identified and their bio-capacity for CO2 sequestration estimated. The bio-productive areas were correlated with each traffic zone under study resulting in an Emission Bio-Capacity index (EBI) value estimate for each traffic node. Among the ten studied nodes in Dhaka City, nine had very low EBI values, correlating to very high CO2 emissions and low bio-capacity. As a result, the study considered these areas unsustainable as traffic nodes going forward. Key reasons for unsustainability included increasing use of motorized traffic, the absence of optimized signal systems, inadequate public transit options, disincentives for fuel-free transport (FFT), and a decline in bio-productive areas.
This paper focuses on stakeholder debate and conflict during policy implementation. In doing so i... more This paper focuses on stakeholder debate and conflict during policy implementation. In doing so it analyzes the reason behind the implementation snag of Bangladesh leather processing industry relocation policy, which is extreme stakeholder negotiation. Relevant stakeholders have been identified and their influence over the policy measure has been formulated. Underlying interactions among the stakeholders has been conceptually depicted to retrieve an image of the extreme stakeholder dispute behind this policy failure. Finally, based on the empirical evidence this policy measure has been evaluated in light of the effective participation of the concerned stakeholders.
EIA as an environment management tool has been successful in terms of global awareness rising ove... more EIA as an environment management tool has been successful in terms of global awareness rising over the last four decades. Due to its rationalist approach it has been criticised about the inherent aim of influencing development decision and protecting the environment. Numerous researches have been performed to measure the ‘effectiveness of EIA’ which is still evolving as a domain. Four major criteria’s have been established till date. Effectiveness of Bangladesh EIA system has been explored with the help of those criteria’s. Procedural ineffectiveness seeks government measure in a couple areas mainly through institutional arrangement and capacity building. Substantive ineffectiveness reflects the global trend of failure to influence the development decision truly. Transactive effectiveness will be far reaching for a country like Bangladesh, depended on foreign aid largely. Normative effectiveness is still little known, but mass awareness about the environment through the debate regarding an ES report is a recent experience.
Sustainable city with sustainable transportation system in now become the heartiest demand for bu... more Sustainable city with sustainable transportation system in now become the heartiest demand for burgher, especially in a city like Dhaka; where ecological imbalance lead to unbearable livable condition with unsustainable growth in every sector resulting the degradation of life quality. Transportation sector in Dhaka is one of the major adherents behind ecological deterioration by emitting enormous CO2 in atmosphere. Thus this study aimed at determining the transport footprint for vehicles travel in Dhaka. The study estimates the CO2 emission from motorized vehicles using average emission factor method and then determines the average bio-capacity of Dhaka city to compare it with the footprint. The study finds out that only for vehicles CO2 emission and physical transportation network; the transport footprint is seventy times larger than the bio-capacity. In transportation sector of Dhaka; ecological footprint credibly depicts the present condition, that is not at all sustainable from environmental friendly transport system context and it also an absolute indication for future concerning transport development pattern and their holes. At this point for developing sustainable transportation system considering ecological balance; Transport Demand Management (TDM), low carbon transport, transit oriented development (TOD), and creation of green corridors can be of some greatest tools for Dhaka.
Background: Ecological Footprint assessment helps to identify what activities are having the bigg... more Background: Ecological Footprint assessment helps to identify what activities are having the biggest impact on nature and opens up possibilities to reduce our impact and live within the means of ‘one planet’. It provides measurement of collective consumption of the population whether they are exceeding the earth’s ecological limits or not. The introduction of ecological footprint has been very necessary for the context of Bangladesh especially in Dhaka, where the unplanned consumption pattern of the population is producing a very unsustainable situation. Objective: This study intends to introduce this new concept through calculating the Ecological Footprint Account (usually 90% of it consists with Carbon Footprint/Emission Account) of the prestigious residential area Dhanmondi, which is one of the major resource consuming area of Dhaka city. Method: A blending of ‘component’ and ‘direct’ method has been used. Questionnaire survey (in 240 HH) has been conducted to gather information about the consumption pattern for different components (i.e. energy, food, service etc.) in the households for the year 2011. Biocapacity of Dhanmondi RA is also measured from the bioproductive lands available within the area. Following the generated results, sustainability analysis has been done. Results: An enormous gap between demand (1.19 global hectare/person) and supply (0.02 global hectare/person) of natural resources has been observed from the scrutiny. Conclusion: Natural gas consumption for domestic purpose has been found as the main motive behind the high footprint figure compared to the national average followed by Electricity, Food and Transportation. Biocapacity has been discovered as very petite amount because of unplanned urban agglomeration.
This paper analyzes the debate of public participation within environmental governance process. I... more This paper analyzes the debate of public participation within environmental governance process. In doing so, significance of local knowledge in climate change adaptation process has been evaluated. An adaptation project from the coastal areas of Bangladesh has been selected to reveal more specific result and to focus the study in a very specific angle. Local knowledge has been proved as a vital factor within the adaptation planning for coastal areas in the face of threat posed by climate change. Insights from similar studies has been drawn and evaluated. Finally public participation within the broader domain of environmental governance has been found inevitable.
This paper investigates relationship between the distribution patterns of the schools and the hum... more This paper investigates relationship between the distribution patterns of the schools and the human development index value of the respective study areas. In this study 50 upazilas have been selected out of 460 upazilas in Bangladesh. The distribution patterns of the primary and high school in each selected upazila have been analyzed through the “Nearest Neighbor Analysis” method. Then the value of Human Development Index (HDI) for each upazila has been determined. Finally a positive correlation between those two indices has been determined. This research can assist the policy makers to take proper decisions while selecting locations for schools keeping the broad view in mind which is development of that particular area.
This paper presents techniques of assessing the present state of water supply situation, sanitati... more This paper presents techniques of assessing the present state of water supply situation, sanitation condition and drainage system of an area by using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method. South Begunbari Slum, Dhaka has been selected as the study area for this study. Several participatory planning tools have been adopted in course of the study for determining the present scenario of the previously mentioned utility facilities in the selected study area. Finally some recommendations have been specified to develop the overall condition. Local people’s participation has been ensured to the maximum limit during the study. Bottom-up approach of planning through PRA method has been demonstrated here. Existing scenario, local peoples vision and assessment of the prescribed needs with regards to the country standard has been also performed
Environmental Governance domain is experiencing proliferation of supporting actors (e.g. NGOs, Ma... more Environmental Governance domain is experiencing proliferation of supporting actors (e.g. NGOs, Market, and Communities) for complementing state’s action since the later part of the last century. These actors are articulating diverse partnership arrangements (e.g. public-social, private-public, and social-private). Besides Bangladesh is one of the highest ranked nations in different environmental indices. Governing environment in Bangladesh is shifting its hub from state agencies towards civic bodies and private actors. In this background this study aims to contribute to the understanding of environmental governance by investigating the partnership arrangements among different actors. To attain that goal exploration of ‘governance shift’, ‘proliferation of actors’ and ‘partnership’ have been performed at the outset based on state-of-the-art research findings. Following that ‘multi-actor partnership’ setting for environmental governance in Bangladesh has been illustrated through three in-depth case studies. Afterwards, those case studies have been scrutinized to judge the partnership forms in quest of environmental governance’s sustainability, based on the evaluation principles of governance, partnership and environmental decision making perspectives (i.e. effectiveness, efficiency, equity, legitimacy, participation, and acceptability). It has been discovered that state’s presence within the partnership agreement resulted highest score amid all the indicators other than effectiveness. Social-private partnership performed well, but challenged for legitimacy deficiency. Public-private partnership for environmental protection is still its infancy and biased ‘command and control approach’ is the major governance tool. To enhance effective environmental decision making the following policy implications have been devised – i) empowering stakeholders for ‘genuine participation’; ii) strengthening monitoring framework to ensure ‘accountability’ of NGOs and private sectors; and iii) private sector should be considered as ‘prospective stakeholder’ to utilize their financial resources as well as to internalize externalities for the sake of environment.
The Eastern fringe of Dhaka city is a low lying area along the bank of Balu River. According to D... more The Eastern fringe of Dhaka city is a low lying area along the bank of Balu River. According to DMDP, 32% of the total population of Dhaka city will be living there by 2020. This area is now facing scattered private housing development projects and rapid urbanization. So this paper aims at preparing a conceptual planning proposal for a planned sustainable urban environment. Objective of this study is planning a sustainable city environment for eastern fringe for projected population (2.6 million) of 2020 and conservation of retention pond areas. Before preparing the plan various town development plans were studied (Delhi Master Plan 2021, Navi Mumbai plan, Putrajaya town development plan etc). Then population for the year 2020 in the study area is projected. Afterwards land use distribution, road network design, zoning, detailed neighborhood design for different income groups etc is done. The study area is divided into four zones. A transit based transportation network is planned. Residential land use is the major land use in the study area. This site is planned as a poly-centric urban form with hierarchy of CBDs, adapted from Delhi Master Plan 2021. 15% area is conserved for retention ponds. A regional scale hospital, university, light industrial zone and waste treatment plant is planned. Agricultural lands and land for future expansion is also planned. Thus all the planning processes are applied to design a sustainable urban environment.
CO2 emissions from urban traffic are a major concern in an era of increasing ecological disequilibr... more CO2 emissions from urban traffic are a major concern in an era of increasing ecological disequilibrium. Adding to the problem net CO2 emissions in urban settings are worsened due to the decline of bio-productive areas in many cities. This decline exacerbates the lack of capacity to sequestrate CO2 at the micro and mesoscales resulting in increased temperatures and decreased air quality within city boundaries. Various transportation and environmental strategies have been implemented to address traffic related CO2 emissions, however current literature identifies difficulties in pinpointing these critical areas of maximal net emissions in urban transport networks. This study attempts to close this gap in the literature by creating a new lay-person friendly index that combines CO2 emissions from vehicles and the bio-capacity of specific traffic zones to identify these areas at the mesoscale within four ranges of values with the lowest index values representing the highest net CO2 levels. The study used traffic volume, fuel types, and vehicular travel distance to estimate CO2 emissions at major links in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital city's transportation network. Additionally, using remote-sensing tools, adjacent bio-productive areas were identified and their bio-capacity for CO2 sequestration estimated. The bio-productive areas were correlated with each traffic zone under study resulting in an Emission Bio-Capacity index (EBI) value estimate for each traffic node. Among the ten studied nodes in Dhaka City, nine had very low EBI values, correlating to very high CO2 emissions and low bio-capacity. As a result, the study considered these areas unsustainable as traffic nodes going forward. Key reasons for unsustainability included increasing use of motorized traffic, the absence of optimized signal systems, inadequate public transit options, disincentives for fuel-free transport (FFT), and a decline in bio-productive areas.
This paper focuses on stakeholder debate and conflict during policy implementation. In doing so i... more This paper focuses on stakeholder debate and conflict during policy implementation. In doing so it analyzes the reason behind the implementation snag of Bangladesh leather processing industry relocation policy, which is extreme stakeholder negotiation. Relevant stakeholders have been identified and their influence over the policy measure has been formulated. Underlying interactions among the stakeholders has been conceptually depicted to retrieve an image of the extreme stakeholder dispute behind this policy failure. Finally, based on the empirical evidence this policy measure has been evaluated in light of the effective participation of the concerned stakeholders.
EIA as an environment management tool has been successful in terms of global awareness rising ove... more EIA as an environment management tool has been successful in terms of global awareness rising over the last four decades. Due to its rationalist approach it has been criticised about the inherent aim of influencing development decision and protecting the environment. Numerous researches have been performed to measure the ‘effectiveness of EIA’ which is still evolving as a domain. Four major criteria’s have been established till date. Effectiveness of Bangladesh EIA system has been explored with the help of those criteria’s. Procedural ineffectiveness seeks government measure in a couple areas mainly through institutional arrangement and capacity building. Substantive ineffectiveness reflects the global trend of failure to influence the development decision truly. Transactive effectiveness will be far reaching for a country like Bangladesh, depended on foreign aid largely. Normative effectiveness is still little known, but mass awareness about the environment through the debate regarding an ES report is a recent experience.
Sustainable city with sustainable transportation system in now become the heartiest demand for bu... more Sustainable city with sustainable transportation system in now become the heartiest demand for burgher, especially in a city like Dhaka; where ecological imbalance lead to unbearable livable condition with unsustainable growth in every sector resulting the degradation of life quality. Transportation sector in Dhaka is one of the major adherents behind ecological deterioration by emitting enormous CO2 in atmosphere. Thus this study aimed at determining the transport footprint for vehicles travel in Dhaka. The study estimates the CO2 emission from motorized vehicles using average emission factor method and then determines the average bio-capacity of Dhaka city to compare it with the footprint. The study finds out that only for vehicles CO2 emission and physical transportation network; the transport footprint is seventy times larger than the bio-capacity. In transportation sector of Dhaka; ecological footprint credibly depicts the present condition, that is not at all sustainable from environmental friendly transport system context and it also an absolute indication for future concerning transport development pattern and their holes. At this point for developing sustainable transportation system considering ecological balance; Transport Demand Management (TDM), low carbon transport, transit oriented development (TOD), and creation of green corridors can be of some greatest tools for Dhaka.
Background: Ecological Footprint assessment helps to identify what activities are having the bigg... more Background: Ecological Footprint assessment helps to identify what activities are having the biggest impact on nature and opens up possibilities to reduce our impact and live within the means of ‘one planet’. It provides measurement of collective consumption of the population whether they are exceeding the earth’s ecological limits or not. The introduction of ecological footprint has been very necessary for the context of Bangladesh especially in Dhaka, where the unplanned consumption pattern of the population is producing a very unsustainable situation. Objective: This study intends to introduce this new concept through calculating the Ecological Footprint Account (usually 90% of it consists with Carbon Footprint/Emission Account) of the prestigious residential area Dhanmondi, which is one of the major resource consuming area of Dhaka city. Method: A blending of ‘component’ and ‘direct’ method has been used. Questionnaire survey (in 240 HH) has been conducted to gather information about the consumption pattern for different components (i.e. energy, food, service etc.) in the households for the year 2011. Biocapacity of Dhanmondi RA is also measured from the bioproductive lands available within the area. Following the generated results, sustainability analysis has been done. Results: An enormous gap between demand (1.19 global hectare/person) and supply (0.02 global hectare/person) of natural resources has been observed from the scrutiny. Conclusion: Natural gas consumption for domestic purpose has been found as the main motive behind the high footprint figure compared to the national average followed by Electricity, Food and Transportation. Biocapacity has been discovered as very petite amount because of unplanned urban agglomeration.
This paper analyzes the debate of public participation within environmental governance process. I... more This paper analyzes the debate of public participation within environmental governance process. In doing so, significance of local knowledge in climate change adaptation process has been evaluated. An adaptation project from the coastal areas of Bangladesh has been selected to reveal more specific result and to focus the study in a very specific angle. Local knowledge has been proved as a vital factor within the adaptation planning for coastal areas in the face of threat posed by climate change. Insights from similar studies has been drawn and evaluated. Finally public participation within the broader domain of environmental governance has been found inevitable.
This paper investigates relationship between the distribution patterns of the schools and the hum... more This paper investigates relationship between the distribution patterns of the schools and the human development index value of the respective study areas. In this study 50 upazilas have been selected out of 460 upazilas in Bangladesh. The distribution patterns of the primary and high school in each selected upazila have been analyzed through the “Nearest Neighbor Analysis” method. Then the value of Human Development Index (HDI) for each upazila has been determined. Finally a positive correlation between those two indices has been determined. This research can assist the policy makers to take proper decisions while selecting locations for schools keeping the broad view in mind which is development of that particular area.
This paper presents techniques of assessing the present state of water supply situation, sanitati... more This paper presents techniques of assessing the present state of water supply situation, sanitation condition and drainage system of an area by using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method. South Begunbari Slum, Dhaka has been selected as the study area for this study. Several participatory planning tools have been adopted in course of the study for determining the present scenario of the previously mentioned utility facilities in the selected study area. Finally some recommendations have been specified to develop the overall condition. Local people’s participation has been ensured to the maximum limit during the study. Bottom-up approach of planning through PRA method has been demonstrated here. Existing scenario, local peoples vision and assessment of the prescribed needs with regards to the country standard has been also performed
Environmental Governance domain is experiencing proliferation of supporting actors (e.g. NGOs, Ma... more Environmental Governance domain is experiencing proliferation of supporting actors (e.g. NGOs, Market, and Communities) for complementing state’s action since the later part of the last century. These actors are articulating diverse partnership arrangements (e.g. public-social, private-public, and social-private). Besides Bangladesh is one of the highest ranked nations in different environmental indices. Governing environment in Bangladesh is shifting its hub from state agencies towards civic bodies and private actors. In this background this study aims to contribute to the understanding of environmental governance by investigating the partnership arrangements among different actors. To attain that goal exploration of ‘governance shift’, ‘proliferation of actors’ and ‘partnership’ have been performed at the outset based on state-of-the-art research findings. Following that ‘multi-actor partnership’ setting for environmental governance in Bangladesh has been illustrated through three in-depth case studies. Afterwards, those case studies have been scrutinized to judge the partnership forms in quest of environmental governance’s sustainability, based on the evaluation principles of governance, partnership and environmental decision making perspectives (i.e. effectiveness, efficiency, equity, legitimacy, participation, and acceptability). It has been discovered that state’s presence within the partnership agreement resulted highest score amid all the indicators other than effectiveness. Social-private partnership performed well, but challenged for legitimacy deficiency. Public-private partnership for environmental protection is still its infancy and biased ‘command and control approach’ is the major governance tool. To enhance effective environmental decision making the following policy implications have been devised – i) empowering stakeholders for ‘genuine participation’; ii) strengthening monitoring framework to ensure ‘accountability’ of NGOs and private sectors; and iii) private sector should be considered as ‘prospective stakeholder’ to utilize their financial resources as well as to internalize externalities for the sake of environment.
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