Achieving Environmental Justice in Bangladesh: Impediments and Prospects

Abstract

In Bangladesh, the issue of preventing environmental pollution and accelerating conservation gained its prominence in response to the international commitments being made. Unlike the USA, the concept of ‘environmental justice’ was never brought to our forefront through public protests here. Rather, a steady and thoughtful accommodation of environmental protection issues through social, administrative, and legal steps gave rise to discussion around this topic. Moreover, a conscious civil society contributed in demanding attention toward environmental concerns of Bangladesh. Combining the notion of ‘justice’ with such environmental issues has been more technical in Bangladesh than in USA. As Bangladesh had established national environmental courts back in 2000, most scholarly content refers toward the functioning of such courts as the standard of establishment of ‘environmental justice’ from a national perspective. This paper analyses the mainstream approach toward understanding the concept of environmental justice and identifies the barriers which obstruct its establishment.