Page 85 - Navy Journal 219
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Marine Pollution ...
HACGUM Initiatives. Head of Asian Coast Guard Agencies Meeting
(HACGAM) is a regional framework initiative in Asia where marine
environment protection is one of the important pillars of cooperation.
SACEP. South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) is a
significant regional cooperation aimed to protect and manage the marine
environment and related coastal ecosystems of the region in an
environmentally sound and sustainable manner.
SAS Action Plan. It is an action plan for protection and management of the
marine and coastal environment of the South Asian Seas (SAS) region.
ICZM. Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is a process for the
management of the coast using an integrated approach, regarding all
aspects of the coastal zone, including geographical and political
boundaries, in an attempt to achieve sustainability.
Response to Marine Pollution
MoWR (Bangladesh). Ministry of Water Resources (Bangladesh) is
responsible to ensure the sustainable development of water through a balanced
and integrated water resources management policy. In 2013 “Bangladesh Water
Act 2013” was approved that highlighted extracting, distributing, protecting and
conserving the water resources of inland waters but hardly mentioned about their
actions to prevent pollution.
In a coastal segment marine water is subjected to several uses including cooking
and drinking. Therefore, the National Water Quality Standard parameters of
Bangladesh need to be set to determine its suitability for a particular use as early
as possible.
DoE (Bangladesh). Department of Environment is responsible to curb marine
environment pollution in Bangladesh. Some of the laws concerning marine
pollution were enacted 100 years ago and have not been updated. The penal
provisions in those laws are also not adequate. To improve environment and
reduce the negative impact on the environment, provision of GREEN TAX need
to be introduce. It is an effective concept to impose fine on factories,
organizations, communities, individuals, etc whose use produces pollutant to the
environment.
DoS (Bangladesh). In 2004, the Department of Shipping drafted the “Marine
Environment Conservation Act 2004” but it has not been enacted yet. In
Bangladesh due to lack of comprehensive marine environmental laws, there has
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