Environmentalists decry ‘negligible’ allocation for environment ministry in national budget

Environmentalists claim that the new fiscal year budget once again neglects the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change.

This fiscal year's budget is only Tk62 crore more from the FY2023-24 revised budget.

The finance minister today proposed an allocation of Tk2,130 crore for the environment ministry, which is only 0.27% of the total budget. 

The government had allocated Tk1,639 crore in FY2023-24 budget for the ministry and the revised budget was Tk2,068 crore.

The new FY 2024-25 budget included a special allocation of Tk100 crore for increasing the capacity of climate change adaptation and reducing the climate change impact.

Commenting on the budget allocation, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan told The Business Standard, "The prioritisation of the environment and climate change issues outweighs mere fluctuations in budget allocations. It is crucial to assess the significance accorded to climate change in the budget. This year's budget reflects a concerning negligence regarding addressing the impacts of environmental degradation and climate change."

She added, "We have observed a significant gap in solid waste management initiatives. Additionally, increasing manpower to bolster the environment ministry lacks representation in the budget, with no provisions for capacity building."

Rizwana said the absence of funding for greening initiatives is particularly concerning, leading to a lack of positive developments in this year's budget.

"The current budget fails to adequately address the pressing needs to mitigate the impacts of disasters and climate change," she said.

Environmentalist and Centre for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS) Chairman Prof Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder told TBS, "In the last 14 years, the core budget of the country has increased almost fivefold, but the environment budget has not seen a corresponding increase. This sector is still being neglected."

Kamruzzaman, also the join secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA), said, "Global climate change has put the environment in dire straits, yet the national budget does not reflect this urgency. Public health is constantly under threat due to climate change and environmental damage. Considering these issues, the Ministry of Environment should have been prioritised among the top ministries in the government. Unfortunately, this priority was not given."

The environmentalist also suggested that the government could revise the environmental budget, increasing it to at least Tk4,000-5,000 crore.

In the new budget, the climate change implications are being taken into consideration while evaluating all government project proposals.

Currently, the government is assessing the amount of climate-related allocation and actual expenditure in the budgets of 25 climate-related ministries and divisions.

The total climate change relevant budget for these 25 ministries and divisions in FY 2024-25 has increased by Tk698.25 crore. In FY 2024-25 proposed budget, the allocation for this sector was Tk42,206.89 crore.

Allocation for this sector has increased by 75.31% from FY2020-21 to FY 2024-25.