Saber Hossain Chowdhury was appointed Bangladesh’s new minister of environment, forest and climate change on Jan. 11, 2024. Part of the new government that will hold office for the next five years, he’s already made radical decisions on national environmental policy. Chief among these is the “100-day program” approach to tackling critical issues within an expedited time frame. A former chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on environmental affairs, Chowdhury is no stranger to many of the pressing issues that Bangladesh faces today, from persistent air pollution to saltwater intrusion into the water table, to protecting the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest. Mongabay’s Abu Siddique spoke with Chowdhury to talk about his new approach to environmental policymaking, the importance of water conservation, and the thorny question of why, despite so much effort and funding for tiger conservation, the population of the big cat in Bangladesh continues to decline. The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Mongabay: For the first time, Bangladesh plans a 100-day target to protect the environment. Why this is? Why are you considering reducing air pollution first? Saber Hossain Chowdhury: Let me share some background on why we should have taken this target. First, I think it is to give a powerful message and signal to the public that we know how critical the situation is. When we respond to any crisis considering this, we must acknowledge that there is a crisis. So I think that is important because sometimes some government…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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