To our utter dismay, Bangladesh is not far from this grim scenario. The way things are unfolding, with the ecology sector being given a short shrift with ever more nonchalance on the part of our politicians and policy makers, odds are that we may be headed for series of ecological hazards. But still we could take heart from the fact that in Bangladesh there are at least a dozen of non-government organisations and advocacy platforms that have been dealing, in earnest, with ecological issues -- not to speak of a full government ministry. Against this backdrop, can't we expect our political parties to leave some space in their manifestos for environmental issues? It is indeed highly disheartening that none of our two major political parties has ever felt it important or urgent to lay emphasis on the environment. The function of the ministry of environment has been mostly confined to routine seminar speeches and exhortations on tree plantation, urban pollution control etc. Apart from the strictly imposed ban on poly-bags, the ministry and the departments concerned could not come up with any remarkable achievement pointing to the government's strong commitment to the maintenance of environmental balance. In view of the fast deteriorating ecological balance around the globe, with an environmental catastrophe of sorts looming large, we can ill afford to waste time in environment-related rigmaroles and pontificating. Nothing could be worse.

Given the outline drawn above, vis-à-vis our politicians' apathy towards socio-environmental issues, the floating of the Green Party of Bangladesh in Dhaka on 25.6.04, is indeed welcome news. Although the newly-launched party has yet to emerge in its complete shape, its organisers have appeared committed to addressing the 'green' issues in both Bangladesh and global contexts. With the party in full operation, Bangladesh may be on its way to join, at long last, the green activism that started as a world-wide movement decades back.

Our apathy towards the ecological issues notwithstanding, politicians and writers of international repute in India, such as Maneka Gandhi, Arundhati Roy et al, have long taken up the issue of environmental degradation in all its seriousness. Both the ladies have embarked on a crusade of sorts to uphold the case for ecological balance. In their struggle to make a dent in the traditional monolithic establishment, they have been repeatedly subject to harassments including state persecution. In spite of the ordeals undergone by them, these two ladies could not be dissuaded from upholding the green issues. While Maneka has been hell-bent on saving the endangered animals of her country, the Booker Prize winning author Arundhati Roy is not ready to concede a wee bit to the government in her desperate struggle to stop the construction of a massive dam across the Narmada river. With the help of committed environmentalists and the villagers feared to be affected by the large dam, she formed a movement and drew the ire of the authorities that led even to her imprisonment.

In spite of the resemblance of our environmental situation in many respects to that of India, we in Bangladesh have yet to witness a well-concerted and popular movement for ecological well-being. In fact, the scenario is more or less the same in South Asia, Bangladesh being among the worse cases.

Against the backdrop of the fast degrading environment, the need for a Green Party with an environmental agenda cannot be overemphasised. Considering all the pros and cons vis-a-vis the environment, Bangladesh at the moment is passing through ecological realities that have long created ripe conditions for floating a political party with a strong environmental commitment, if not a full-fledged Green Party. The concept of Green Parties is rather new. The world's first Green Party was floated in Australia under the name The United Tasmania Group in March, 1972. It was followed by the launch of the Values Party at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand, in May, 1972. The party is considered the world's first national Green Party. The Values Party contested the general election of New Zealand in 1972, and published the Green Election Manifesto. In the following years, alongside the floating of Green Parties in Scotland, Germany and some other Western countries, the Party managed to win seats in their respective parliaments after participating in elections. The Scottish Green Party recently won 7 seats in parliament. European Parliament has lately witnessed the European Free Alliance.

The modus operandi of a Green Party, owing to its issue-based objective and mission, is different from that of conventional political parties. Since its days of launch, this political platform has been focusing on the popular concern at the environmental degradation at global scale. In their operation, the Green Parties mainly targeted the vested interest quarters, who despite their wasteful conduct when it comes to environmental management, viewed the whole issue with careless abandon. As expected, the Green Parties stood in their way. With days passing by, the two sides took confrontational stances -- which eventually drew the states and their governments into the fracas. While the vested quarters were represented by massive multinational industries with global network, the states came to represent the highly developed societies, that contributed to a great bulk of the world's environmental pollution, mainly in the form of greenhouse gas emission. The continued norm of getting away with their environmental offences added to murkier imbalances in man's ecology. The Greens' stand-off with the states had come to be aggravated by vehement anti-Nukes protests that followed nuclear tests in the distant oceans by developed countries posing threat to the survival of the inhabitants on the small, some still virgin, islands in those far-flung regions.

In fact, a formidable 'camaraderie' forged by the multinational groups, on one hand, and the repeated noncompliance by a few industrialised nations of globally accepted environmental protocols on the other, had kept on worsening the situation.

Taking the whole scenario into account, we, those living in the LDCs, find ourselves bearing the brunt of the environmental orgies committed by the developed West. That the deviant trends of nature ranging from global warming, vis-a-vis the rise in sea level, to desertification have stemmed from the reckless style of living indulged by a section of the rich countries is now beyond dispute. The sad part of the matter is, the poor countries have to pay heavily for this. For no fault of their own.

The Green issue has irked many socio-political and business blocs, as it stands squarely against their narrow, self-serving interests. The hostilities against the Greens in the developed countries took a nasty turn as the environmentalists entered their respective countries' mainstream politics. The 1992 killing of Petra Kelly, member, German Green Party, and the Bundestag -- who was also one of the founders of the Green Party in 1979 -- points to this bitter reality.

So much for the Green movement in the developed world. When it comes to our case, we seem to be bogged down in a quagmire of sorts. In a country where long-honoured social and state institutions are being rotten away by bad politics, with a truculent and savage race for supremacy overshadowing all finer human pursuits, a renewed emphasis on environment and ecology might appear to be anachronistic to many. But at least we can give it a try. The Green issue has yet to find a strong foothold in the mainstream politics of the South Asian nations. But a social awareness of the Green thing has long been there -- led by social leaders with conviction, as we witness in India. Given the presence of a number of environment-protection civil society bodies in Bangladesh, the emergence of a successful political party, or an alliance, with the Green issue in its focus, is not at all a pipe dream. We must not forget the gloomy prediction that the days are not far when Bangladesh will become one of the worst global case scenarios when it comes to environmental apocalypses.

Shihab Sarkar is a poet and journalist.