Dhaka’s Urban Future and A Conversation on Natural Rights with M. Zakir Hossain Khan

Over a cup of tea, we sat down with M. Zakir Hossain Khan, a distinguished Bangladesh-based thought leader on natural rights governance and climate finance expert. As the founder and Chief Executive of the sustainability think tank Change Initiative, Editor-in-Chief of Nature Insights magazine, and a civil society global observer of Climate Investment Fund, window of MDBs; and an unstoppable actor in the global fight for nature and climate justice, sustainable finance, integrity and governance. His book titled Sovereignty for Nature, Survival for All: Natural Rights Led Governance Towards Sustainable Future (EXTINCTION OR PROSPERITY?) have provided new global governance framework to protect nature and lives. His two-decade-long career provides a unique lens through which to view Dhaka's pressing urban challenges. We delved into the city's current state, its precarious future, and a potential roadmap for transformation.

The Immediate Crisis: A "City of Sick People"

How do present conditions in Dhaka shape our vision for its future, and what urban challenges must be confronted? What are the major problems that need to be solved or addressed immediately?

M. Zakir Hossain Khan: For Dhaka, a recent study of ours, " Dhaka Without Nature? Rethinking Natural Rights Led Urban Sustainability" has revealed a concerning scenario. In the last almost fifty years, Dhaka has been pushed to a stage where it is at the risk of extinction, not of infrastructure, but of life itself. We might not have oxygen, water bodies, or fresh air to breathe.

The major concern is that gradually Dhaka is becoming a city of sick people. According to WHO standards, each person needs at least 9 square meters of green cover and 4.5 square meters of water body. Change Initiative study identified that only 6 out of 50 thanas meet the minimum threshold for tree cover, minimum requirement of water bodies. We are losing the natural resources essential for survival. Imagine a city with all the concrete buildings and constructions but there is no oxygen. In last four decades, Dhaka lost half of its tree cover and 60% of its waterbody has perished. 

In the name of self-titled rent-seeking driven development, we are wasting resources on useless investments that will not sustain lives. Dhaka has been reported as the most polluted city in the world, and you will not find a single family where someone isn't affected by lung problems or other diseases due to the abrupt weather and unhygienic living standards. The root cause is the inability to control the overpopulation burden, as all government and commercial facilities are concentrated within Dhaka instead of being decentralized across the country.

A Grim Projection: An Uninhabitable Future

We have gone through so many problems which are actually very hard to address. If Dhaka keeps going like this, how do you think it will look in the next 10 to 20 years?

M. Zakir Hossain Khan: Dhaka lost almost half of its tree cover and 56% of its grass and agricultural land, whereas built-up area increased seven times higher in the last four decades. Simultaneously, the built-up area has increased sevenfold in the last 50 years. This is a man-made governance problem.

If this extinction continues, I see that in the next 10 to 15 years, Dhaka city will become uninhabitable and due to economic and health burdens it will be at the risk of abandoning. The problem is that the ‘infrastructure-led development’ oriented policymakers cannot figure out the threshold level of the exploitation or extraction of the resources. Once you go beyond that benchmark, which is mostly invisible, even if you deploy all resources, you cannot reverse extinction. It will be out of your hands. As a rationale human being with dignity cannot deserve to be a contributor to extinction rather than the conservator of the earth and its naturally endowed resources.

The Blueprint for a Livable Dhaka

The situation currently looks scary. If you could redesign Dhaka city to save it, how would you do that?

M. Zakir Hossain Khan: We need a longer vision with meaningful strategy.

Long-Term Vision: We must take inspiration from Singapore on how a city-based country has made sure a nature friendly urbanization despite the higher population density, which has less than 50% built-up area, with 47% greenery and around 10% water bodies. Almost half the land is green, with strategic parks, skyrise greenery, bioswales, water harvesting, and green roofs, more than just styling, it’s a network that brings ecological function into daily life.

Obviously, for immediate outcomes we will take the examples from other cities who have successfully reverse the environmental pollution by the indigenous efforts.

Immediate Actions to 3 Years:

Protect Nature: Declare all existing water bodies and green spaces as reserved zones with the status of a "natural right" that nobody can even extract or exploit.

De-centralized City Governance: We need a de-centralized metropolitan governance system that will follow the natural rights governance framework.

Implement Successful Cases of Hybrid City Models of Nature Protection and Reduction of Environmental Pollution:

What Offers

• Community-led Green city with limited budget: Kigali, Africa’s cleanest city: Practical green wins that were built within real economic and social limits, banned plastic, monthly umuganda clean-ups; 600-hectare low-carbon district with housing, jobs, and flood resilience. Everyday urban farming for food security, wetland restoration, eco-tourism, solar micro-grids. 

• Clean Air: Following the success in Jakarta and Delhi make clean air a legally mandated obligation. Ban all diesel-based or polluting vehicles, promoting EVs as Kathmandu has done. Establish the "community-led air quality monitoring and management" and provide training and empower youth for real-time monitoring by the air quality meters to report polluting vehicles via an app. These reports would contribute to trigger an imposing the pollution and/or carbon tax through automated mechanism.

• Green Corridor and Eco-Tourism: Following success of Medellín city of Colombia, both cities of Dhaka can build green corridors, cable cars, and parks as “social urbanism. Greening at Dhaka can reduce inequality by linking slums and low-income outskirts to the city.

• Drone Surveillance of the Construction: Deploy the area-wise drone surveillance to monitor construction sites. If a site doesn't follow the environmental guidelines (like having proper covers), the  developer, individual or company would be fined

• Incentives for Nature-friendly Industry: Alike Cairo, use low-interest loans from multilateral banks to help polluting industries, like brick kilns, convert to eco-friendly technology.

• Decarbonized Transport System for Students: In Curitiba city of Brazil, authority put social ecology first: bus rapid transit, green zoning, housing with parks, waste-for-food swaps. Following that for Dhaka, smart design and civic participation can guide growth cheaply; bus-led transit remains a low-cost climate solution. For example, mandate that students up to a certain grade must attend schools within their locality to reduce traffic. Introduce dedicated bus routes for students, not specific bus for specific schools rather different school students of same location will have to avail e.g. "Uttara Rajuk to Gulshan 2" route, to eliminate the need for single-car journeys.

• Mid-Term Goals (2028 - 2032): Target having at least 50% of the city's buses be electric. At least 20% of water bodies and 15% greenery should be ensured. Kigali made sure that wetland parks, urban forests, eco-tourism, agro-districts.

• Long-Term Goals (by 2040): The target is to achieve 30% water body coverage and at least 25% greenery. By 2040, at least 50% of Dhaka should be powered by renewable energy, which is possible given the huge potential of rooftop solar. Freiburg city of Germany is a model of renewable energy, efficient housing, and car-free zones, offering Dhaka adaptable ideas like solar co-ops and car-free neighborhoods in select areas.

The Biggest Challenge: Vested Interests and Weak Accountability

What are the possible challenges that policymakers might face in implementing these plans?

M. Zakir Hossain Khan: Dhaka’s nature restoration and habitability face hurdles of land grabbing and weak law enforcement supported by political capture. The major challenge is unabated grabbing of the city’s lifelines by the vested interests by corporates connected to the political and bureaucratic elites. The situation has been more devasting due to unplanned growth of concrete jungles due to the fragmented governance and undermining community stewardship. 

Bangladesh's main problem is not a lack of laws or policies; it is a matter of political will. There is a powerful "rent-seeking group” and a collusion of powerful elites, civil bureaucrats, and even some in the judiciary and political leadership. The real challenge is to transform the system against their interests. However, community demands can be the fundamental instrument to drive natural rights governance towards community stewardship. If the youth and the next generations are not aware and do not create pressure, it will be difficult.

A Reason for Hope

To end with, would you say you are hopeful?

M. Zakir Hossain Khan: Yes, hopeful. Whenever the current generations failed to protect the international justice, the future generations played the crucial role to protect Bangladesh. I am optimistic because no one believed that the the last autocratic government of Bangladesh over fifteen years could fall, but our future generations have made it happen. If that is possible, I don't believe reversing Dhaka's decline is impossible. It is possible because I am observing that today's youth are so sensible and have started to think about how their city can be made livable for the coming days. Several youths are coming up with great innovations and eco entrepreneurship. The dignity and wisdom lie on the protection of nature, that only could sustain the future of living beings includes humans.