Our Population, Our Asset

We are a land-short country, somewhat proverbially, as it seems. Bangladesh does not exactly have a galloping population but a growing one. The situation has provoked an undeserved, even if unintentional, name-calling for the country.

When our country's small contingent was marching past on the opening day of the Olympics, high on the alphabetical order, the narrator introduced Bangladesh with a terse statement: "The most overpopulated country in the world." I would say it was an abrasive one-liner lacking in niceties expected from one in her role.

This is not to, however, underplay the large critical mass of the population we had inherited up until the time that the net reproductive rate settled on a declining course .There is no gainsaying the fact that we do need to  be watchful on a growing population lest it becomes unsustainable through any periodic slacks. Yet, my emphasis here is on the missing respect for the sensibilities of a participating country. That's all.

We need not be skin-deep. Actually, we are ninth in terms density of population among the ten most populous states of the world. The list includes, almost in its entirety, barring Bangladesh, city states and tiny island countries. If, quite a few of them, could prosper in spite of a more adverse land:man ratio than ours, why can't Bangladesh?

The size of our population, therefore, must not be viewed as a liability but an asset. In fact, we have the distinction of being a large nation with a huge reserve of substantially untapped human resource within a relatively small country.

One of the major obstacles to good FDI inflows is identified as the difficulty in land acquisition. The question is not so much about availability nor is it procedural, as it is about litigation or other forms of resistance inherent in the extensive land-grabbing phenomenon. Nothing short of implementing a rights-based, assertive and participative land management and utilisation policy package  can bring about a transformative regeneration of public wealth.

In this backdrop, our being the largest deltaic country in the world promises a largesse. We are in a constant state of land accretion and depreciation through river erosions with the former outstripping the latter, according to a latest study. In fact, the loss is by and large notional because what is lost resurfaces as shoals developing into charlands. This is one aspect of the Nature rebalancing itself; another more solid feature is the new accretions in the sea-board districts: Chittagong, Noakhali, Cox's Bazar, Patukhali, Feni and Bhola. Research indicates that the average addition to the mainland is 16 km per year. At that rate, over the decades, the landmass may have exceeded one-tenth of mainland Bangladesh.

An interesting geological fact of relative obscurity centres on The Swatch of Noland, the bottomless pit at a tangent with the south-western tip of the coastal belt. Huge alluvial deposits were said to be funneling into the so-called pit with new land formation in prospect.

The tasks are well-identified the core of which is rapid development of soil capital through consolidation of the rather fragile swathe of land by intensive mangrove plantations. Already, landless peasants are relocating in the emerging parcels of land.

The shifting of the sands reflective of an interplay between the Nature's forces of regeneration and decay needs a modern management and expertise structure to be put in place. It will focus on, among other things, river training, for optimisation of benefits out of the natural processes. With experience gained in the fundamentals of hydrological asset management, we would be better poised to harness the blue technology for unwrapping the sea-bed bonanza.

It will be unrealistic though, not to spare some thoughts on the predicted rising sea levels, not quite a distant thunder as experts would have us believe. For its part, Bangladesh is known as a low carbon emission country, a status it must maintain. Yet it faces the prospect of having to take the brunt of global warming, largely the handiwork of the advanced industrial countries, who themselves are not immune to its deleterious effects. While Bangladesh scrupulously meets its part of the bargain, big players must go beyond carbon swaps to help the smaller countries with adaptation and mitigation measures. To end on a slightly positive note, the ozone layer depletion seems to have been partially halted. Clearly, much more needs to be done – on this front.

The writer is a columnist of The Daily Star. He can be reached at shahhusainimam@gmail.com.