Office for Environmental Programs - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 2 of 2
-
ItemEffectiveness of non-structural measures for mitigating the flood risk: a case study of Bangladesh( 2023)Over the last century, floods severely impacted life and livelihoods around the globe, which resulted in the evolution of risk management from traditional disaster management approaches, switching the focus towards hazard and vulnerability rather than disaster. Deltaic formation and geomorphological circumstances have positioned Bangladesh in a highly vulnerable situation, severely impacting the developing economy. The country gradually shifted from a prevention and relief-based response to a preparedness and resilience approach, popularising non-structural flood control measures. Enhanced focus is given to establishing a risk management framework concentrating on non-structural measures despite critically evaluating their effectiveness in risk mitigation. Based on facts and figures, this research evaluates non-structural measures’ effectiveness in vulnerability reduction. The storyline approach holistically examines the existing risk management framework, comprising structural and non-structural measures. Trendline and cause-effect relationships of the indicators provide evidence of the effectiveness of non-structural measures after their inception from the benchmarking period. Furthermore, early warning, a well-practised non-structural measures efficiency was evaluated based on its responses to improve unsafe conditions. A risk matrix provided the ranking of unsafe conditions, which requires further concentration as the early warning system requires modification to improve the scenario. Finally, top unsafe conditions were analysed with international best practices and their experiences to be integrated into the early warning to appear as a more sustainable solution. Analysis of the storyline approach shows the effectiveness of the existing framework and the influence of non-structural measures on indicators accepted by the Sendai framework. It appears that casualty, loss of economy, agriculture and livestock reduced significantly after the inception of non-structural measures resembling its effectiveness. Moreover, critical evaluation of early warning shows its efficiency in improving most of the unsafe conditions and reducing vulnerability. However, ranking unsafe conditions in the risk matrix signifies the scope of improvement of early warning to become more inclusive regarding demographic factors such as gender, age and income. Finally, in line with global experience, solutions were sourced for disseminating the inclusive early warning message more effectively and efficiently amongst the community. The research provides essential findings of early warning’s effectiveness, which can be replicated to examine for similar other measures and can be incorporated to reform dynamic risk management guidelines.
-
ItemService Sector Development in Bangladesh: An Approach towards Environmental Sustainability( 2020)‘Made in Bangladesh’ is a globally renowned name in the ready-made garment (RMG) export market. However, this accomplishment comes with an exhaustive environmental footprint. The industry simultaneously pollutes surface water and depletes groundwater. Regardless of the overarching damage, RMG manufacturing industries continue to flourish in Bangladesh. Thus, concurrent challenges and limitations arise. These issues need to be overcome by broadening the scope of the service sector, while also reducing dependency on the cheap, labour-intensive RMG manufacturing industry. This study examines the extent to which Bangladesh must embrace the service sector and environmental sustainability to overcome the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). This research focuses on why and how Bangladesh should concentrate on the service sector, despite it having a strong position in the competitive global RMG market. This study found that challenges to RMG are the result of a history of exploitation, as well as an existing dependency on abundant cheap manual labour. Furthermore, the application of Porter’s Diamond model in the study shows that the phase-out of Multifiber Arrangement (MFA) is another challenge associated with global competitiveness. Limitations on adopting automation and innovation in the industry have also been a major challenge, resulting in recent layoffs and declining orders. In addition, COVID-19, along with western efforts to reduce fast fashion consumption, has slowed down demand. The use of advanced technology would further result in significant changes to the labour market and the loss of manual labour jobs, adversely affecting the labour force, which predominantly comprises women. Although industrial automation has already begun in Bangladesh, a larger roll-out in the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector is still required. To cope with the situation, seizing the advantage of an ongoing demographic dividend until 2040 and training the manual labour force to be adaptable, with both soft and hard skills, will help Bangladesh to meet the challenges of the 4IR and avoid an economic downturn. These initiatives would also contribute less to environmental degradation. Altogether, this thesis offers a holistic approach to unveiling the opportunities of service sector development to reduce pervasive environmental pollution in Bangladesh.