Does B-a-n-g-l-a-d-e-s-h Always Spell Disaster?

Low-cost labor working in horrific conditions. A factory collapse on May 13^th that killed 1,127 workers and injured (many seriously) over 2,500.  That’s how most Americans who think of this tiny South Asian country can identify it, if they can at all. But shoddy construction supported by super-corrupt building inspectors and really underpaid workers (some making $1-$2/day) are part of a long list of problems that make living here an absolute hell on earth.

Located on the Bay of Bengal, in the Ganges River Delta, 80% of this entire nation is a flood plain, with 75% of the country at or below 10 meters above sea level. As upstream countries, Nepal and India, strip away rainfall-retaining forests along the Ganges banks, heavy rains pour into the river and rush downstream, often to devastate virtually every corner, from the capital city to the countryside.

In 1998, for example, over 75% of the entire country was underwater. In 2004, it was only two thirds of the nation. This massive flooding happens every couple of years, mostly during monsoon season (June through September). Roads, the few that really exist, bridges, houses, the meager infrastructure, and too many farm animals, cars… and human beings… just wash away. Terrible, huh? It gets worse.

This former “East Pakistan” which secured independence in 1971 in a nasty war with West Pakistan that involved India, faces Islamist extremists and a government that defines “failing state.” But wait… there’s more. Beyond being the poster child for extreme poverty and disease, Bangladesh is so desperate for any industrial growth that pollution – and the laws designed to control it – is/are simply ignored. Build a factory or a processing plant and you can pretty much dump anything you want anywhere… although there may be a bribe required along the way.

With over 150 million residents crammed into a country about the size of Arkansas, when floods come and pollution attacks, there is literally nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. But waterways are always toxic. With an abundance of textile mills, one wag noted that you can always tell what colors are in fashion in the West by looking at the color of the streams and rivers at the moment. Evidence of toxicity is in virtual every body of water in the country.

But cheap labor and minimal regulation are what lure foreign clothing companies to come to Bangladesh in the first place. “That formula depends on paying the lowest wages in the world and, at some factories, spending a minimum on work conditions and safety.

“But it also often means ignoring costly environmental regulations. Bangladesh’s garment and textile industries have contributed heavily to what experts describe as a water pollution disaster, especially in the large industrial areas of Dhaka, the capital. Many rice paddies are now inundated with toxic wastewater. Fish stocks are dying. And many smaller waterways are being filled with sand and garbage, as developers sell off plots for factories or housing.

“Environmental damage usually trails rapid industrialization in developing countries[as we have seen in China]. But Bangladesh is already one of the world’s most environmentally fragile places, densely populated yet braided by river systems, with a labyrinth of low-lying wetlands leading to the Bay of Bengal. Even as pollution threatens agriculture and public health, Bangladesh is acutely vulnerable to climate change, as rising sea levels and changing weather patterns could displace millions of people and sharply reduce crop yields…

“Tanneries and pharmaceutical plants are part of the problem, but textile and garment factories, a mainstay of the economy and a crucial source of employment, have the most clout. When the environment ministry appointed a tough-minded official who levied fines against textile and dyeing factories, complaining owners eventually forced his transfer… ‘Nobody in the country, at least at the government level, is thinking about sustainable development,” said Rizwana Hasan, a prominent environmental lawyer. ‘All of the natural resources have been severely degraded and depleted.’” New York Times, July 14^th.

Classrooms stink. School children, those who can even get an education, often feel light-headed and sick from the pollution just outside their schools. But it’s the way of life for a nation that is on the edge, if not well over it. And even if you are sufficiently callous not to care about these poor folks, remember, that toxicity is flowing into international waters, making its way all over the earth. It’s a reminder that distant local problems are really issues in our own global backyard.

I’m Peter Dekom, and like it or not, we are deeply connected to every other country on earth.