Industrial water pollution in Dhaka, Bangladesh: strategies and incentives for pollution control in small and medium enterprises
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Marr, Ana 
ORCID: 0000-0002-8764-5682 and Dasgupta, Nandini
(2009)
Industrial water pollution in Dhaka, Bangladesh: strategies and incentives for pollution control in small and medium enterprises.
The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 3 (11).
pp. 97-108.
ISSN 1833-1882
Abstract
The extent and gravity of the environmental degradation of the water resources in Dhaka due to untreated industrial waste is not fully recognised in international discourse. Pollution levels affect vast numbers, but the poor and the vulnerable are the worst affected. For example, rice productivity, the mainstay of poor farmers, in the Dhaka watershed has declined by 40% over a period of ten years. The study found significant correlations between water pollution and diseases such as jaundice, diarrhoea and skin problems. It was reported that the cost of treatment of one episode of skin disease could be as high as 29% of the weekly earnings of some of the poorest households.
The dominant approach to deal with pollution in the SMEs is technocratic. Given the magnitude of the problem this paper argues that to control industrial pollution by SMEs and to enhance their compliance it is necessary to move from the technocratic approach to one which can also address the wider institutional and attitudinal issues. Underlying this shift is the need to adopt the appropriate methodology. The multi-stakeholder analysis enables an understanding of the actors, their influence, their capacity to participate in, or oppose change, and the existing and embedded incentive structures which allow them to pursue interests which are generally detrimental to environmental good. This enabled core and supporting strategies to be developed around three types of actors in industrial pollution, i.e., (i) principal actors, who directly contribute to industrial pollution; (ii) stakeholders who exacerbate the situation; and (iii) potential actors in mitigation.
Within a carrot-and-stick framework, the strategies aim to improve environmental governance and transparency, set up a packet to incentive for industry and increase public awareness.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | [1] This paper was previously presented as "Strategies for water pollution control in Dhaka, Bangladesh: an institutional and economic analysis" at the 3rd International Conference on the Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, held 22-25 July 2008, Prato, Italy (see http://gala.gre.ac.uk/2721/). |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | water pollution, health and economic impacts, Bangladesh, clean technologies, institutional development |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences |
| Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: | Faculty of Business > Department of International Business & Economics |
| Related URLs: | |
| Last Modified: | 22 Oct 2020 17:09 |
| URI: | http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/1733 |
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