Environmental Education and Environmental Management in Bangladesh and their Sustainability

Environmental education is in its early development in Bangladesh. Some traditions of environmental wisdom are quite ancient, but most of these are not recognised by the scientific community. The high level of illiteracy and school dropout create barriers to mass environmental education. Some universities offer courses in environment studies, but these are limited and the universities are under-resourced. Within the community Non Government and mass organisations have begun to change policy and perceptions relating to the environment. One successful example being a ban on public use of polythene bags. The paper describes some of these programs and makes recommendations for strengthening environmental education in Bangladesh. It highlights the need to deploy environmental expertise in public and private sector management systems as the focus of government policy in Bangladesh matures from a short-term focus on self sufficiency to the pressing issues of sustainability within the environmental opportunities and constraints offered by the environment.