[sustran] Learn about the harm that ADB is doing to the Bangladeshi environment

[Syed Saiful Alam]

Protest ADB’s harmful actions on canals
Learn about the harm that ADB is doing to the Bangladeshi environment
I have written the following letter to ADB to draw their attention to the harm they have done in a recent project that was supposed to “rehabilitate” canals in midsized Bangladeshi cities. Instead, they have succeeded in destroying various canals and worsening the flooding situation as well as harming water transport and destroying fish and other wildlife.
12 October 2017

To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to express a grievance regarding ADB’s project “Brahmanbaria Town Khal (Canal)” which intended to “develop” canals in mid-sized Bangladeshi cities. The project set forth admirable goals including developing walking paths along the canals. However, the project was by no means positive in reality; in fact, it has caused extreme harm to the environment and to the affected human populations.
Under the project, ADB funded concrete surfacing of existing canals. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of environmental issues is aware that natural canals support fish and other life, while concrete surfaces kill them. Killing the fish in a canal results in a whole chain of wildlife devastation, as birds eat the fish, other animals eat the birds, and so on.
Following this short-sighted and wrong-minded project, water-logging actually increased rather than declining. ADB officials are surely aware of the existence of climate change and the fact that flooding in Bangladesh will continue to worsen. To conduct a project that contributes to flooding rather than alleviates it is extraordinarily harmful.
To give an example of the severe harm caused, let me mention just one example: the canal that cuts through the center of Brahmanbaria. The canal has been completely destroyed as a result of ADB’s actions. The canal was previously used for water transport; this is no longer possible. The wildlife that lived in the canal has all died. The canal, in sum, has been destroyed. At the time of announcing the project, we protested due to the likely harm that would result. Our predictions came true and people throughout the region are suffering as a result.
I am requesting that ADB conduct a formal review of this project, including collecting opinions from a range of stakeholders. I would further request that ADB review its decision about the so-called “development” of canals in order to avoid any such environmental catastrophes in future.

I look forward to your response on this matter.
Syed Saiful AlamEnvironmental Activist Phone +880155244281458/1, 1st Lane Kalabagan 
Dhaka. 
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