ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES AND THE SECURITY OF BANGLADESH

This comprehensive analysis examines the environmental challenges facing Bangladesh during the late 1980s and investigates their implications for national security in its broadest sense. The article explores the unique environmental vulnerabilities of Bangladesh as a deltaic country, including riverbank erosion, flooding, cyclones, salinity intrusion, and sea-level rise. The research investigates how environmental stresses interact with social, economic, and political factors to create complex security challenges. The study examines specific environmental security issues, including climate change impacts, water resource management challenges, deforestation consequences, and urban environmental degradation. The article assesses Bangladesh's institutional capacity for environmental management and analyzes the effectiveness of existing policies and programs. The research also evaluates the regional and international dimensions of Bangladesh's environmental challenges, including transboundary river management and global climate negotiations. Furthermore, the analysis proposes an integrated approach to environmental security that addresses both immediate vulnerabilities and long-term sustainability concerns.

The environmental challenges facing Bangladesh represented increasingly significant security concerns by the late 1980s, with this article providing a comprehensive analysis of the environmental security dimension in the Bangladeshi context. The research begins by examining the unique geographical and ecological characteristics of Bangladesh, analyzing how its position as the world's largest delta creates both opportunities and vulnerabilities in environmental terms. The analysis explores the concept of environmental security, investigating how traditional security frameworks can be expanded to include environmental dimensions and how environmental stresses can contribute to social conflict, economic disruption, and human insecurity. The article investigates specific environmental challenges, including the annual flood cycle and its increasing variability, riverbank erosion and land loss, tropical cyclones and storm surges, salinity intrusion in coastal areas, and the emerging threat of sea-level rise. The study examines how environmental stresses interact with social and economic factors, including population density, poverty levels, and resource competition, to create complex security challenges. The research assesses Bangladesh's institutional capacity for environmental management, analyzing government agencies, legal frameworks, and policy initiatives designed to address environmental challenges. Based on the comprehensive assessment, the article develops an integrated framework for environmental security that combines disaster management, resource conservation, sustainable development, and international cooperation. The findings provide valuable insights into how environmental factors are reshaping security concepts in vulnerable developing countries and contribute to understanding the relationship between environmental sustainability and national security in the contemporary world.