On Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Bangladesh (Part 9)

Md. Amzad Hossain

Perth, Western Australia

Email: A.Hossain@curtin.edu.au

Prelude

The objectives of Sustainable Development Goal 9 are: i. Build resilient infrastructure; ii.  promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization; and iii. foster innovation. The objectives can be articulated in a word as ‘Foster innovation to build inclusive and resilient infrastructure for promoting sustainable industrialization’. 

Achieving the above objectives are basic for infrastructurally sustainable development in the topographically and ecologically diverse Bangladesh. The UN has formulated Goal 9 with 8 target areas or sub-goals to achieve, especially for “African countries, LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS”.[i]  The aim of the sub-goal 9.2 (promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and by 2030 raise significantly industry’s share of employment and GDP in line with national circumstances, and double its share in LDCs) appears pertinent for abundantly populated Bangladesh, for  it considers: “by 2030 raise significantly industry’s share of employment and GDP in line with national circumstances…”.

The pathways to implementing and achieving the target area 9.2 are indicated in the sub-goals 9b (research and innovation for extending support for domestic technology development), and 9a (facilitate sustainable and resilient infrastructure development). In other words, achieving of the target area 9.2 requires ‘intensive action research for resilient infrastructure development to support for domestic technology development’. The target area 9c (to significantly increase access to ICT and strive to provide universal and affordable access to internet in developing countries by 2020) is discoursed about the negative effects of the Internet including mobile phones that appears to deactivate Bangladesh’s agelong traditional, moral and sustainability values resulting in fostering anti-sustainability outcomes.

            It is well known to the concerned people and widely noted in literature that advocacies, facilities and aid support for infrastructure development in Bangladesh by developed countries have so far been inefficient for long term sustainability of the country. The lessons provided in “Small is Beautiful – A Study of Economics as if People Mattered” by E.F. Schumacher (1974) have revelations about the above issues which appear true to Bangladesh.  

The questions and remarks in this discourse attempt to briefly highlight on

sustainable and resilient infrastructure development; promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization through domestic technology development, foster research and innovation i.e. action research; and increased access to the Internet in the context of achieving Goal 9 in Bangladesh.

What is Infrastructure Development?

Infrastructure development is the action research based act of resilient construction and improvement of foundational services such as transportation, energy, water, digital, social and green infrastructure that can improve efficiency and productivity towards achieving socioeconomic, ecological and environmental sustainability.[ii]

How Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Development are basic to achieving SDGs?

Achieving of all the SDGs in general require functional, resilient and sustainable infrastructure. Environment friendly and sustainable energy generation, availability of potable surface water, applied and values education, social safety, food security, economic self-reliance – all of these could be achieved sustainably only when sustainable and resilient infrastructure exist. It is also to be noted that construction and maintenance of sustainable and resilient infrastructure can not only supports for achieving SDGs, but it is also essential for replenishment of the existing infrastructure (UN Chronicle, 2014).[iii]

What are sustainable and resilient infrastructure development for achieving SDGs in Bangladesh?

            Bangladesh is primarily a crisscrossed riverine and densely populated tropical country. It has numerous interconnected water bodies for sustainable transportation; huge population for energy efficient home-scale industrialization, and high potential for solar energy to meet the basic energy needs for driving small-scale industries such as spinning and weaving of cotton and jute products, and household illumination.  The infrastructure development in order to address the above, it is needless to say that it would sustainably facilitate irrigation with surface water and replace the current practice of irrigation with underground water which is resulting in depletion of groundwater table and consequently aggravating desertification in the country.

            Secondly, infrastructure development in order to increase availability of surface water is also urgent, especially in the face of India’s adverse water policy towards the major international rivers shared with Bangladesh. It is due to this withdrawal of water in the up-streams, the rivers in Bangladesh are infiltrated by seawater from the down-stream which is seriously affecting the biodiversity, agriculture and environment of the whole region as well as making millions of people climate change victims.  This manmade crisis can be eased to some extent through sustainable infrastructure development of innumerable water bodies across the country which are degrading, drying and dying. This development initiative will not only provide surface water for irrigation, it would also restore degrading marine ecosystems (SDG 14), reinstate the traditional and sustainable river transportation systems in order to diminish anti-sustainability consequences of highway transport system. The rapidly increasing heavily import dependent highway motorized transport system is self-destructing in terms of increasing fatal road accident, diminishing of agricultural land, and increasing climate change phenomena.

Finally, development of action research based social infrastructure is also essential for restoring the degrading traditional socio-religious and economic culture of self-reliant sustainability of the country. 

What is wrong with the current practices with infrastructure development?

The current global practices with largescale infrastructure development suffer from multifarious drawbacks. Schumacher (1974) observes that

“… the present structure of large-scale industrial enterprise is not …. conducive to the public welfare. … It has arisen in societies which are rich in capital and short of labor and therefore cannot possibly be appropriate for societies short of capital and rich in labor” such as Bangladesh. 

Secondly, the current energy intensive industrialization and transportation infrastructure are neither resilient nor sustainable for Bangladesh. Although, Bangladesh has a relatively small energy infrastructure and the country’s 280 kWh annual electricity consumption per capita is one of the lowest in the world (World Bank 2015); yet, fossil fuel driven energy generation and distribution cannot be made sustainable because of the country’s geo-environmental, cultural and economic characteristics as well as its poor resource base with small oil and coal deposits and limited natural gas reserves. Furthermore, Bangladesh does not yet have the necessary hardware manufacturing industries for infrastructural requirements related to distribution lines nor a good skill base for energy management.

Consequently, the price of energy cannot be maintained at an affordable level. Frequent price hikes hit hard both commercial and residential consumers and are regularly reported in the daily newspapers. For example, the government increased the retail prices of electricity by 64% between 2010 and 2014 (Ahsan 2014). The prices of diesel, kerosene, furnace oil and compressed natural gas are similarly on the rise in Bangladesh, although the global prices are not on rise. Being increasingly dependent on the imports of fuel and technologies, Bangladesh is also exposed to changes in the global prices. Thus, in all consideration the current energy infrastructure is an anti-sustainability phenomenon of the highest degree.

Which UN prescription for infrastructure development is significant for Bangladesh?

            The target area 9.2[iv] of Goal 9 is highly significant for Bangladesh for it urges to raise ‘industry’s share of employment and GDP in line with national circumstances’ significantly by promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization by 2030. In this regard, it is clear that infrastructure development towards promoting inclusive home-scale or small-scale cloth making factory is the most viable, promising, sustainable and resilient option. The clothing requirements for the growing population of Bangladesh (currently approx.. 170 million) is huge. If a person requires about 20 yards of clothing material annually on an average, 3400 million yards are required to produce. If this is produced by home-scale using muscle power or low electricity, then there shall be hardly any unemployment in country. The similar proposition applies to manufacturing of jute goods. As Bangladesh is characterized by ‘short of capital and rich in labor’ (Schumacher, 1974), achieving Goal 9 would be a sustainable SDGs project.

            A huge sustainability opportunity also exists in the infrastructure development for waterway transportation industry by way of using home-made traditional wooden boats, and motorized launches.

How can the UN prescriptions in regards with Goal 9 be implemented in terms of infrastructure development?

The UN prescriptions for infrastructure development can be implemented by way of developing action research based model projects in different topographical as well as ecological zones in Bangladesh. In this discourse we outline an evolving SDGs model project in Pabna district. The project encompasses a dying river, a drying Beel and a few Moujas of degraded land area.[v] The landscape of the project depicts mixed geographical characteristics of the Barind and floodplain. The 52-km-long Ichamati river, flowing through Pabna city, serves as a link between the Padma river (the western end) and Jamuna river (the eastern end).[vi] About 50% of the river was dredged starting from the river’s eastern end up to Madhpur township point (23 kilo meters away from Pabna city) few decades back. A proper dredging of the rest of the river would facilitate to achieving Goal 9. The completion of dredging will result in a measurable outcome based exemplar showing how waterway infrastructure development can facilitate to establishing sustainable and resilient sustainability paradigm in terms of availability of potable surface water, small-scale industrial growth, sustainable transportation facilities, social safety,  food security, cultural vibrancy, economic self-reliance and ecological regeneration.

            Infrastructure development of this SDGs showcased model project is the first of its kind in Bangladesh. It is being developed in order to showcasing all the 17 SDGs including sustainability centric applied tourism. The project has been started since the beginning of 2017 in Lakshmipur union under Atgharia Upzila in Pabna district. The project is about 20 kilometers east of Pabna city. This model project includes about 4 kilometers of Ichamati river’s northern hinterland. It also includes 45 hectares of government owned wetland namely Beel Chatra which is known as the home of most tasty fish of North Bengal.

Support for domestic technology development:

How to promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization through domestic technology development?

Accomplishment of the target area 9.2 of Goal 9 requires “intensive action research for resilient infrastructure development to support for domestic technology development”. In this context Schumacher observes that “The most striking thing about modern industry is that it requires so much and accomplishes so little. … Its inefficiency ... remains unnoticed.  … It might be said that energy is for the mechanical world what consciousness is for the human world. If energy fails, everything fails” (Schumacher, 1974).  Westra and Lemons et al. assert that despite of unparalleled technological progress, both social degradation in terms of poverty, hunger and social disruptions, and the destruction of nature have increased (1995). This notion suggests that the current science and technology that are devoid of sustainability values fail to demonstrate that they can solve problems of natural resource degradation i.e. sustainability keeping.

With regards to Bangladesh it is highly unlikely that Bangladesh can ever meet the growing energy demand for its import dependent power production systems and distribution infrastructure for energy intensive industrial and highway road transportation systems. In fact, fossil fuel driven energy generation and distribution systems cannot be made sustainable because of the country’s geo-environmental, corruption culture and economic characteristics as well as its poor resource base with small oil and coal deposits and largely exhausted natural gas reserves. Furthermore, Bangladesh does not yet have the necessary hardware manufacturing industries for infrastructural requirements related to distribution lines nor a good skill base for energy management – factors which could contribute to lowering the costs of production and supply footprint. Thus, domestic technologies for small-scale industrial or transportation systems are the only sustainable way forward.

Foster research and innovation:

How to foster research and innovation for sustainable and resilient infrastructure development?

            Research and innovation in the field of sustainable and resilient infrastructure development for achieving sustainable development in terms of industrialization and technology development can be fostered through action research at topography specific model project sites.

What is Action research?

Action research is integrated action of research for innovation. It is disciplined process of inquiry conducted by and for those taking the action. The primary reason for engaging in action research is to assist the “actor” in improving and/or refining his or her actions i.e.  action and research outcomes at the same time. It is different from the traditional model of research, for action research encompasses firstly basic research, then   applied research, then implementation for change.

Curtin university’s SDGs action research team has designed topography specific SDGs model project sites where eligible researchers can implement specific SDGs, and at the same time they can pursue higher degrees by action research as well as for producing well-articulated guidelines for replication of model projects in areas with similar topographical situation.

Why Model projects for achieving SDGs?

A model project is the site for achieving and demonstrating SDGs. Without undertaking action research based infrastructural development at model project sites, achieving of SDGs in Bangladesh (and anywhere in the world) is unlikely to succeed. The model projects are meant to show how to achieve the SDGs including their target areas.

The model project sites are also the appropriate venue for providing in-situ training programs for the stakeholders (Ward SD Committee members, concerned govt. officials, and visiting development tourists) for understanding and implementing sustainable development goals and sustainability perspectives of the specific SDGs.

It is notable here that a model project site must have unsustainable phenomena such as degrading land fertility, landscape for growing various crops throughout the year, dying water bodies, diverse communities, degrading social values, poor economic condition, biodiversity loss and tourism potential.

Increased access to ICT and Internet

9.c “to significantly increase access to ICT and strive to provide universal and affordable access to internet in developing countries by 2020.”

            Sustainable development Goal 9c is more appropriate for the developed countries than the countries like Bangladesh where there is no shortage of manpower. Here, socio-economic activities are inherently driven by age-long moral values and sustainability spirituality that are highly based on Scriptural code of life. On the other hand, ICT is a recent phenomenon with some fatalistic negative aspects with regards to holistic sustainable development as indicated throughout this discourse.

Literature has it that the global scale of the (mis)use of science and technology including ICT by humans that have caused negative impacts on sustainability infrastructure are vast, pervasive and intractable (Allison and Hobbs, 2006). Sustainability is a culture of way of living that can flow within the code of life as prescribed by various religious cultures such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Animism and Christianity (Holm and Bowker, 1994). Therefore, to ensure the access to ICT and internet for sustainable development, countries must consider the compliance of the internet contents with the local values, tradition and culture. For example, countries such as Thailand and China has a national code for internet policies that helps the people and community preserve their local custom, tradition and values.

Probably the largest effect that ICT use has on society is allowing members of society to have greatly increased access to misleading information and porno videos that can inevitably cause moral and ethical problems. “Unfortunately, mobile phones have also brought about anti-social behaviour as well. Siegel (2008) mentions that because people don’t have to answer to face to face consequences it’s easier to engage in abuse and antisocial behaviour such as sexting and cyber bullying, which according to the BBC (2009) is on the rise.”[vii]

One of the second largest negative effects of ICT can be the loss of a person’s job. Multiple workers being replaced by a smaller number who are able to do the same amount of work. ICT reduces personal interaction. Most people need some form of social interaction in their daily lives and if they do not get the chance to meet and talk with other people they are liable to feel isolated and unhappy.

A third negative effect of ICT is that users may adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. This can lead to health problems such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Many countries have workplace regulations to prevent problems such as repetitive strain injury or eyestrain, but lack of physical exercise is rarely addressed as a specific health hazard.[viii]

Concluding Remarks

Bangladesh’s resource-bases for resilient and sustainable infrastructure development, such as soil, waters and culture, do not match with any other nation on the globe and it would be impossible to imitate infrastructure development of other countries.  Bangladesh's future food security and related infrastructure need not be radically different from what it has been to date. If future Bangladesh can be shaped by the past, it can be argued that the country will be sustained in a better condition and resemble the Golden Bengal. Despite significant increases, the population of Bangladesh is likely to stabilise as its current fertility rates (at 2.2 births per woman in 2013)[ix] are much lower now and just above the replacement level. Bangladesh needs to follow a scenario that leaves nature in its pristine state, or help it to return to its pristine state, so that development does not overwhelm sustainability of future generations.[x]

Sustainable and resilient development of the country’s waterways are essential for its food security, sustainable transportation system and promotion of nature tourism. Sustainable rural development by way of the revival of the country’s dying inland waterways through re-excavation is crucial for achieving SDG 9. A self-reliant Bangladesh with healthy waterways holds the promise for a sustainable and happy future. According to the Baul guru Aziz Shah Fakir, sustainability lies in the resilient and sustainable infrastructure of land and water resource development as well as in a culture of self-reliance with basic infrastructure provisions.

(To be continued)

References

Ahsan, M. 2014. ‘People suffer for rapid rise in fuels, power prices’, New Age, 25 May, viewed 19 August 2015, .

Allison, Helen and Hobbs, Richard. (2006). Science and Policy in Natural Resource Management – Understanding System Complexity. Cambridge University Press, New  York.

Holm,  Jean and Bowker, John. (1994). Attitudes To Nature. Pinter Publishers, London.

Schumacher, E.F. 1974 Small is Beautiful – A Study of Econmics as if People Mattered. Abacus, London.

Westera, Laura and Lemons, John. (1995)   Persectives on Ecological Integrity. London:  Kluwer Academic Publishers.

World Bank 2015, Data: Access to electricity (% of population), viewed 19 August 2015, .