Environmental Governance of the Municipalities in Bangladesh: Policies, Actions, and Challenges

Abstract

With the integration of Sustainable Development Goals into every sphere of governance in Bangladesh, the environmental issue has confronted every level of government: national, regional, and local. Municipalities, the local governments for large towns, not large enough to be designated City Corporations, are considered the centers for development in their geographic areas. Municipalities too, in their development planning, although not technically required to, should consider environmental issues because neither development nor the environment stands in a vacuum: both are interrelated as a part of greater wholes. Thus, “development planning” cannot be effective: only holistic planning, which balances development, environment and their mutual effects in their larger natural and social contexts, is realistic. The main objective of the study is to examine how they incorporated environmental considerations into their development planning, and identifying the obstacles and issues they encountered in doing so, in practice, considering two of the Municipalities of Bangladesh as case studies. A mixed method of data collection and analysis was employed, including qualitative and quantitative data and methods. The study revealed that municipality development governance, in practice, does not exist: it is only on paper. This makes such development in most municipalities unsustainable and even unsafe for inhabitants. Central government must persuade municipality councils and the stakeholders who live in those municipalities of the importance of environmental protection and how to play their role in it and then either centralize environmental governance, removing the role of municipalities, or devolve it to municipalities with full lawmaking and taxing power, without central government control. This would induce a holistic approach to development governance.