BEN meeting held in NYC

UsaNewsOnline.Com, New York : A well attended BEN meeting was held on Sunday, March 18, at Bangladesh Plaza of Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, calling for greater effort for protection of Bangladesh environment.

Presided over by eminent water engineer, Dr. Sufian Khondker, the meeting was attended by BAPA Joint Secretary, Mr. Sharif Jamil, who is visiting the US and apprised the audience about the current state of Bangladesh environment and the environment movement.

The meeting began with a report on the BAPA-BEN Special Conference on Flood, Waterlogging, and Landslides (SCFWL) held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on January 13-14, 2018. BEN Global Coordinator, Dr. Nazrul Islam, presented the report, using power point slides. He noted that 2017 saw the unprecedented coincidence of all three problems — flood, waterlogging, and landlisdes — and prompted BAPA-BEN to focus on these problems in the annual conference for 2018. He informed that about 80 papers were presented in 23 Expert Sessions. In addition, four General Sessions were held. He drew attention to the comprehensive resolution that was adopted at the conference and expected that BAPA and other pro-environment forces of the country will campaign vigorously for implementation of the resolution. Copies of the program of SCFWL and its resolution were distributed among the audience.

Two books were launched at the meeting for the NRB and international readership. One is “Sustainable Development Goals and Bangladesh Environment,” the volume containing the papers and resolutions of the BAPA-BEN conference on the aforesaid theme, held in 2017. The other was the book, “Bangladesh Environment Movement — History, Achievements, and Challenges,” authored by Dr. Nazrul Islam. Ahmad Mazhar, the distinguished essayist, offered a discussion of the content of the latter book. He noted that this book would serve as an important source document for future generations about Bangladesh environment movement.  

Sharif Jamil, through his informative and passionate speech, apprised the audience about the current state of Bangladesh environment, focusing on the state of rivers, forests, and hills of the country. Expressing frustration at the perverse implementation of pro-environment policies, he noted that government implementing agencies often used these policies for furthering their vested interests, causing further damage to the environment. He expressed the need for further strengthening the environment movement.

The meeting was also addressed by Risalat Khan, the young environmental activist and currently a post-graduate student of Columbia University. He emphasized the need for engaging the youth in the environment movement.

Following the presentations above, the meeting discussed the upcoming 20th anniversary (July 10, 1998) of BEN’s founding and the planned event to celebrate the occasion. Participating in the discussion actively, the members of the audience offered many interesting ideas to make the event successful. In particular, they emphasized the need for enlisting the participation of other socio-cultural-political organizations, professional bodies, various university alumnae, media, younger generation, different district and upazilla based organizations, etc. Bringing out a brochure was also suggested. It was decided that BEN-NY-NJ.CT leaders will use the ideas offered to chalk out a plan and place it for broader discussion soon.

In concluding the meeting, Dr. Sufian Khondoker expressed his appreciation for BEN’s work and urged all to come forward to make the BEN 20th anniversary event successful. He suggested enlisting the participation of various professional organizations in this event.

Syed Fazlur Rahman, BEN-NY-NJ-CT Chapter Coordinator, conducted the meeting and thanked all for joining it and requested them to make BEN upcoming events successful. Kazi Zohir recited a poem focusing on the plight of the Sundarbans due to the Rampal thermal electricity plant and other threats.