Dhaka ranks 4th among 20 most unsustainable cities
GBNEWS24DESK//
Dhaka has been ranked fourth amongst the 20 most unsustainable megacities in the world, as the capital is reeling from rapid depletion of greenery, water scarcity and exploding population, says a global report.
The third edition of the report, titled “Ecological Threat Report (ETR)” and released yesterday, came up with the ranking. It found that South Asia is home to eight of the world’s 20 most unsustainable megacities, with half of them in India alone.
Dhaka is preceded by Kinshasa, Nairobi and Lagos, as per the report, while the rest of the cities include Baghdad, Lahore, Kolkata and Delhi.
The report projected high population growth, over 50 percent, combined with other factors — including high levels of air pollution, poor sanitation, high homicide rates and substantial ecological threats — in the cities.
Dhaka, Lahore, Kolkata, Delhi, Karachi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad are eight of the 20 cities facing the highest population growth and are the most vulnerable to ecological threats, it said.
Produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), the report tracks the links between climate change, ecological threats, and violent conflict or forced migration each year.
It revealed that at least 56 percent of countries and territories (127 out of 228) are facing catastrophic ecological threats.
Bangladesh has seen 254 natural disasters since 1981, according to the report.
For example, Dhaka, a city of 22.6 million people, is affected by ecological changes in several ways. It floods regularly; it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world; and the city struggles to deal with waste, said the report.
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