Development, governance and the environment in South Asia : a focus on Bangladesh

The worst chemical disaster ever could be happening right now. In India and Bangladesh between forty and eighty million people are at risk of consuming too much arsenic from well water that might have already caused one hundred thousand cancer cases and thousands of deaths. Many millions elsewhere in South-East Asia and South America may soon suffer a similar fate. Venomous Earth is the story of this tragedy: the geology, the biology, the politics and the history. It starts in Ancient Greece, touches down in today's North America and takes in William Morris, alchemy, farming, medicine, mining and a cosmetic that killed two popes. Front Matter....Pages i-xxiv Development-Governance-Environment Nexus: Views, Perspectives and Issues....Pages 1-16 Socio-Economic Policy and Change in South Asia: A Review Concentrating on Bangladesh....Pages 17-33 South Asia in Reform Mode: Experiences, Obstacles and Prospects....Pages 35-67 The Political Economy of Macroeconomic Management: The Case of Bangladesh....Pages 69-85 Economic Liberalisation and Growth in Bangladesh: The Role of Foreign Private Investment....Pages 87-102 South Asia’s Agricultural Commodity Exports: What Prospects?....Pages 103-115 Trade Among South Asian Nations: Experiences and Prospects....Pages 117-139 Aid and Fiscal Behaviour in Developing Asia....Pages 141-159 Constitutionalism and Governance in Bangladesh....Pages 161-180 Consolidating Democratic Governance: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back....Pages 181-193 Governance, Politics and Development Management in Bangladesh....Pages 195-210 Dilemmas and Strategies for Development in Bangladesh....Pages 211-223 Health Centre Status and Accessibility in Rural Bangladesh: A Location-Allocation Model-Based Analysis....Pages 225-241 Government and the Fourth Sector Partnership: Local Governance and Sustainable Development in Bangladesh....Pages 243-256 New Approaches to Research, Development and Extension for Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment: Implications for South Asia....Pages 257-278 Ecotourism Under Multiple-Use Management of the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest in Bangladesh: Issues and Options....Pages 279-287 Coastal Aquaculture in South Asia: Experiences and Lessons....Pages 289-299 Women and the Environment with Special Reference to Rural Bangladesh....Pages 301-313 South Asia’s Experiences, Challenges and Prospects in Global Context....Pages 315-331 Back Matter....Pages 333-371 Identifying the interdependence of economics and the environment in the development of South Asian nations, this volume adds a third dimension to the analysis - the institutional analysis or governance issues. The introductory chapter provides an overview of issues embracing development, governance and the environment. The first few chapters critically examine recent developments in economic aspects emphasizing the political economic management, economic liberalization experience, intraregional trade issues in South Asia and implications of foreign aid for fiscal behaviour. Issues relating to governance are examined in constitutional development, attributes of good governance focusing on the Bangladesh experience, the role of political opposition in development management, experiments with development strategies, accessibility issues in service delivery, and the role of local voluntary organizations in local governance and sustainable development. The case-studies analyze different aspects of the economics-environment nexus and investigate environmental crisis and rural women, ecotourism, coastal aquaculture and agricultural research and extension. The development-governance-environment nexus in South Asia is examined, paying particular but not exclusive attention to Bangladesh. Most issues that arise in South Asia in connection with the development-governance-environment nexus are not unique to it. Parallels abound elsewhere in the developing world and such similarities are noted.

While the problems of low level of economic development, grinding poverty and environmental degredation are widespread throughout the developing world, few regions have taken a more severe toll than South Asia. The absence of a plural and open political system compounds the problems of overall socio-economic development. This book uses case studies to analyze different aspects of the economics-environment nexus.

The book focuses on the socio-economic situation in Bangladesh but also considers the comparative circumstances of South Asia generally. Examples are drawn from other developing countries to demonstrate the complex interdependence of the political, economic, social and environmental causes.