Community-based approach needed for environmental management in cities

Urban environmental management challenges are quite serious in Bangladesh due to unplanned urbanisation, and with no national policy to regulate it. The list of what ails our cities is quite long, but the preparation to tackle them by the local government and other responsible departments is lacking. Therefore, other actors should get involved in the environmental management of our cities, such as non-governmental organisations, private sector, and communities.

Due to rapid urban growth, rising per capita income and consumption, a high volume of solid waste is generated in the country every day. According to the available data, Dhaka city produces 6,448 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day – that's 0.57 kg per capita per day. The two Dhaka city corporations find it extremely difficult to collect and manage the waste generated every day, impacting public health and the city's environment. More than one-fourth of the city's solid waste remains uncollected.

In Dhaka and many other cities, a well-established community initiative that is taking shape is the residential solid waste collection programme. Households within a neighbourhood, on their own, engage waste collectors who go door to door to collect the waste at a fixed time every day and dump it in municipal waste collection points. Both the city corporations in Dhaka have established collection points in different parts from where the waste is taken to a central dumping ground. The communities who receive door-to-door service share the cost of waste collection by paying a monthly fee.

Another model of community-based solid waste management is being practised in about a dozen cities since 1995, developed by Waste Concern. Solid waste is collected from households, and after segregation, the organic portion is converted to fertiliser. In Dhaka, about 80 percent of the household waste is organic. Community waste collectors separate items for recycling after collection or, in some cases, the households separate the waste and give it to the collectors, who then supply it to recycling factories.

Both the models of community-based solid waste management are quite successful. Following these examples, can we think of involving communities in addressing other environmental concerns of our cities? Take, for example, tree plantation. We know that the indiscriminate felling of trees in urban areas and failure to plant more are resulting in serious environmental consequences for the city residents. What happened in Dhanmondi's Satmasjid Road is a case in point. There has been a huge public outcry – environmental activists and urban planners have expressed their concerns over the felling of mature trees.

Evidence shows that over the last six decades, urban temperature has risen on average by about three degrees Celsius in five major cities – Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Sylhet – where about 70 percent of the urban population of the country lives. Therefore, massive tree plantation must be urgently undertaken to cool down the atmosphere, which is facilitated by tree shading and evapotranspiration

Shrinking green spaces threatens the liveability and sustainability of our cities. Urban areas are responsible for as much as 75 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions globally. In cities like Dhaka where the tree cover is low, people experience heat stress and suffer from increased air pollution. Planting more trees in open spaces, medians, around residential and commercial buildings, parks, school yards, homesteads and bus stops with community support and creating peri-urban forests can be a solution to rising urban temperatures. Evidence shows that over the last six decades, urban temperature has risen on average by about three degrees Celsius in five major cities – Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Sylhet – where about 70 percent of the urban population of the country lives. Therefore, massive tree plantation must be urgently undertaken to cool down the atmosphere, which is facilitated by tree shading and evapotranspiration. Tree shade prevents surfaces from heating eventually reducing surface temperature.

To promote urban tree plantation, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) launched an initiative called "Trees in Cities Challenge" in 2019. It invited mayors and local governments globally to make a tree planting pledge and set targets to make their cities greener, resilient and sustainable. Urban trees have remarkable environmental benefits, such as reducing pollution, cooling of atmosphere, and aids in recharging underground water levels by promoting rainfall. In the US, it has been found that dense urban trees offer localised cooling of temperature by as much as three degrees Celsius.

Trees in urban and peri-urban areas have economic, environmental and social benefits. By lowering the temperature, use of air conditioners can be reduced, saving valuable electricity. If planted in good numbers, trees can provide fuelwood, fruits and flowers; wood for building and fencing, fodder, medicines; and can protect soil and reduce noise and air pollution. Many families in Dhaka are undertaking rooftop gardening, thus providing a source of fresh vegetables regularly.

By involving communities in this process, responsibility for caring and watering trees on the streets may be given to local residents. This is not an impossible task if the community members have a shared vision, understand the value of voluntary contributions, and municipal councillors can convince them of the value of community participation and help build consensus. In Western countries and Africa, joint ownership of urban forests and community management of tree plantation programmes empower urban dwellers, and thus they have a say in all decisions regarding tree plantation, management, and cutting.

In Bangladesh, people's participation in all stages of social forestry projects (planning, designing, monitoring and harvesting) in rural areas enables them to resist unilateral felling of trees without consensus. In case of community ownership and joint management of trees in the cities, the city corporations will have to follow the same kind of standard procedures to plant and manage trees.

Dr Nawshad Ahmed, a former UN official, is an economist and urban planner.