Eubios Journal of Asian andInternational Bioethics
EJAIB Vol. 26 (2) March 2016www.eubios.info ISSN 1173-2571
Official Journal of the Asian Bioethics Association (ABA)

Copyright ©2016 Eubios Ethics Institute(All rights reserved, for commercial reproductions).

Contents

page
Editorial: Ecological Health37- Darryl Macer
A Buddhist philosophy of the human mind for asustainable future37- Juichiro Tanabe
EcoHealth and Ethics: Where is the guidance? 45- Aryn Lisitza and Gregor Wolbring
A Critical Assessment of the Ethical Approaches toEnvironmental Legislation in Bangladesh with an
Emphasis on Biodiversity
60-Md. Jobair AlamABA Renewal and EJAIB Subscription
88

Editorial: Ecological HealthThis issue is lengthy, but includes only threepapers, on the themes of (Ecological Health) andBiodiversity. Juichiro Tanabe explores the links
between a Buddhist mind and sustainability. It takes up
further on the theme of mindfulness that was discussed
in a paper in the January issue with reference toeducational outcomes. We could take a holistic view ofhealth to include the appropriate relationships between
human beings and the environment. A review ofliterature on ecohealth by Aryn Lisitza and Gregor
Wolbring is an excellent stating point for anyone
wanting to develop an understanding of the issue, anddevelop research or action programmes.
Md. Jobair Alam reviews the ethical approaches inbiodiversity
andenvironmental
legislationinBangladesh, in a paper that is a synopsis of his AUSN
Masters in Bioethics and Global Public Health thesis.
This is a critical analysis of how many laws and policies
can be developed, implemented, monitored andreviewed in efforts to develop a practical framework forcommunities and nations to preserve biodiversity. The
global rate of biodiversity loss is still accelerating and
we need to assess our ethics, and laws, to attempt toslow this accelerating rate of biodiversity loss.
There are announcements of forthcoming training
workshops, scholarships and conferences at the end of
the issue. Happy reading.
- Darryl Macer

A Buddhist philosophy ofthe human mind for asustainable future- Juichiro Tanabe, Ph.D.
Kumamoto University, 2-39-1 Kurokami Chuo-ku, Kumamoto
860-8555, JAPANE-mail address: j-tanabe@kumamoto-u.ac.jp

Abstract
Many of major problems facing us are humancaused. While social/global injustices, inter-groupconflict, any form of violence to name a few are ourtargets to tackle in order to achieve a more peacefuland humane future, they are in reality caused andsustained through our own thoughts. Though externalcauses or factors cannot be ignored, an equally criticalproblem confronting us is an epistemological one – ourway of knowing and understanding the world. As theshape of the global conditions relies on our mind-set,
both individual and collective, it is imperative to make acritical analysis of the mindset that causes troubles
facing us since the world changes when our thoughts
and perspectives on the world change. This paper
engages in a Buddhist philosophical analysis of humanmind for a sustainable and peaceful future. Buddhism,
since its foundation, has deepened the analysis of how
the human mind itself turns into a root cause of conflictand violence and how it can be overcome. This
research explores how this analysis of the human mind
contributes to realizing a sustainable and peaceful
future and promoting intercultural dialogue on ethics in
our globalized time.
Key words: Buddhism, the conditioned mind,
mindfulness, dialogue, peace, ethics
1. Introduction
Many of the major problems facing us are humancaused. While social/global injustices, inter-groupconflict, any form of violence, to name a few are ourtargets to tackle to achieve more peaceful and humane
future, they are in reality caused and sustained throughour own thoughts. Though external causes or factors
must not be omitted, an equally crucial problem
confronting us is an epistemological one – our way of38

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

knowing and understanding the world. As the shape ofthe global conditions relies on our mind-set, bothindividual and collective, it is imperative to make acritical analysis of mindset that causes troubles since
the world changes when our thoughts and perspectives
on the world change. This paper engages in a Buddhist
philosophical analysis of human mind for a sustainable
and peaceful future. Buddhism, since its foundation by
the Buddha, Gautama, has deepened the analysis of
how human mind itself turns into a root cause of conflictand violence and how it can be overcome. This
research explores how this analysis of human mind
contributes to realizing a sustainable and peaceful
future.
2. Methodological considerations
As is well known, Buddhism is categorized into
three major schools – Theravada, Mahayana, andVajrayana. Each of these schools further has subschools that have respectively developed distinct
teachings and traditions along with the sharedobjective, that is, uprooting suffering. It is beyond thescope of this paper to examine all of those schools in
detail and to take up all their teachings to analyze theircontributions to the achievement of sustainable future.
Therefore, the paper employs the following texts
1and teachings to develop the research: Dhamapada ,2
3Surangama-Sutra , Nagarjuna ’s Seventy Stanzas on
Emptiness, Catustava or Four Hymns to Absolute
Reality. However, it must be emphatically noted that
although it embraces those texts and teachings to
unfold the argument on sustainable future, what is
discussed here is merely one of the possible ideas of a
Buddhist approach to peace and sustainable future asother texts and teachings would lead us to develop
ideas distinct from the one explored in this paper.
3. Foundational aim of Buddhism
The main focus of Buddhism is the human mind,
which is stated in the Dhamapada: “All experience ispreceded by mind, led by mind, made by mind.”(Fronsdall, 2005: 1). Furthermore, the Surangama
Sutra states, “The Tathagata has always said that allphenomena are manifestations of mind and that allcauses and effects including (all things from) the world
to its dust, take shape because of the mind” (Luk, 2001:
16). These statements do not mean there are no
objects outside our minds. Rather, they signify that “thequalities of the things come into existence after themind, are dependent upon mind and are made up ofmind” (Lai, 1977: 66). From a Buddhist view, the state1

Dhamapada is a collection of sayings of the Buddha.
Surangama Sutra is a sutra in Mahayana Buddhism.
Especially it has been influential in the Chinese Chan
Buddhist school.
3
Nagarjuna is one of the most important Buddhist
philosophers, who lived between the second and third
century. Chang (1971) states Nagarjuna is a founder andexponent of Madhyamaka philosophy that centers on sunyata(emptiness) doctrine to achieve liberation from suffering.
Regarding the details of Nagarjuna’s works and Madhyamaka
philosophy, Murti’s The Central Philosophy of Buddhism: A
Study of Madhyamika System would be helpful.
2of the world around us is a reflection of the condition of
our mind (Ramanan, 1978).
As the condition of our mind frames the state of
the reality, the root cause of suffering or problem facing
us is attributed to our mind as stated in the
Dhamapada: “Speak or act with a corrupted mind, andsuffering follows as the wagon wheel follows the hoof ofthe ox” (Fronsdall, 2005: 1). However, when weovercome the cause of suffering, we can achieve innerserenity and well-being: “Speak or act with a peacefulmind, and happiness follows like a never-departing
shadow” (Fronsdall, 2005: 1). Thus, it becomes crucial
to make a critical analysis of the nature of one’s mind or
the principles of epistemic function to deepen our
understanding of an internal dynamics of suffering
including conflict and violence: knowing, first of all,reality as a mind-construct, critically reflecting how themind turns into the root cause of suffering andcontemplating and enacting the way to resolve it
constitute the core of Buddhism (Matsuo, 1981). And
the Four Noble Truths doctrine assumes the central rolein understanding and addressing human suffering inline with dynamics of human mind.
4. Analyzing the Four Noble Truths doctrine
The Four Noble Truths doctrine is the Buddha’s
first and foundational teaching (Geshe Tashi, 2005) andthe doctrinal framework of every school of Buddhism(Yun, 2002). According to Pereira and Tiso, the Four
Noble Truths are “truths of pain, origin of pain,
suppression of pain and the way to suppress pain”(1988: 172).
The first noble truth states that from a Buddhist
perspective, our life is basically filled with suffering andtrouble (Rahula, 1974). However, this statement does
not mean a pessimistic or a nihilistic view of reality.
Rather, the acknowledgement of our reality being full ofsuffering leads us to a deeper and more profoundquestion of “What is the root cause of suffering?” andthis is the core of the second noble truth.
The second truth proposes the cause of suffering(Rubin, 2003). It derives from craving, that is, a mental
state of attachment characterized as the tendency ofmind to cling to certain specific objects or views(Burton, 2002). Besides craving, ignorance is seen as afundamental cause of suffering (Cho, 2002). It is
understood as our basic misapprehension of the natureof reality (Geshe Tashi, 2005) or lack of self-awarenessand correct knowledge of reality (Cho, 2002). The basic
feature of ignorance is that we tend to see things
including human beings as having permanent, or fixednature and cling to anything that reinforces our conceptof permanence, pushing away those views thatthreaten it (Geshe Tashi, 2005). Further, craving andignorance give rise to three mental defilements: greed,anger, and delusion (Olendzki, 2003). From a Buddhist
view, the human mind itself is the locus wherein the
gap between reality and the human hermeneuticalreality represented in conceptual or linguistic rendering
accompanied by desire takes place, which results insuffering (Park, 2008).

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
The third truth claims human beings will be
inspired to overcome suffering by knowing its root
cause (Yun, 2002). What is emphasized here issuffering is neither everlasting nor beyond humanreach: rather, since our own craving and ignorance
cause us suffering, we can resolve suffering when we
properly address those causes (Yun, 2002). As boththe causes of suffering and liberation from suffering are
two different states but are created by our minds (Park,
2008), the solution is within our minds.
The fourth truth shows the way to address
suffering and achieve mental well-being and serenity,
which is generally called the noble eightfold path4
5
(Rubin, 2003). It is: right view , right thought , right678
9
speech , right action , right livelihood , right effort , right10
11
mindfulness , and right concentration (Rahula, 1974).
The gist of the fourth truth is that when we resolve oursuffering, three angles – ethical conduct (right speech,right action, right livelihood, and right effort), mental
discipline (right mindfulness and right concentration),
and wisdom (right view and right thought) need to work
together (Rahula, 1974). When wisdom – an insight into
reality, that is, impermanence, interdependence, andempty nature or lack of fixed or unchanging nature,
mental discipline – the ability to observe whatever
object, view, standpoint we choose or build and to
sharpen the level of awareness of our own internal
dynamics, and ethical conduct – practicing a moral life
with honesty, altruism, and compassion that takes into
account others’ feelings, perspectives, rights and wellbeings as well as our own are well integrated (Geshe
Tashi, 2005), we can break suffering and construct a
positive and harmonious relationship.
5. A Buddhist analysis of conflict dynamics
The practical implication of the Four Noble Truth
doctrine is that the main cause of problems facing us isbasically internal. Although external conditions orcauses cannot be ignored, looking at them alone andseeing them as externally created blocks us fromdeepening the understanding of our problems:
examining our own mind and its dynamics enables us
to grab the inner cause of problems and to explore what4

Yun characterizes it as a correct view of reality, that is,mutual interdependence and ultimate empty nature (2002).
It refers to a correct perception that our bodies will
eventually decay and disappear and that our emotions andthoughts are temporal and impermanent (Yun, 2002).
6
According to Rubin, it means speaking trustfully, sincerely,
and compassionately (2003).
7
It refers to refraining from needless killing, stealing, andsexual misconduct (Rubin, 2003).
8
It means living a reasonable economic life, an altruistic life,
and a harmonious communal life (Yun, 2002).
9
It means correct diligence in developing wholesomenessthat not yet arisen, increasing wholesomeness that has
already arisen, and preventing unwholesomeness fromarising (Yun, 2002).
10
It signifies constant awareness of phenomena that are
happening at present and careful recollection of phenomenathat occurred in the past (Rubin, 2003).
11
It refers to spiritual concentration and mental tranquility
achieved through the act of meditation to recall the actions
and thoughts in the past, perceive the dynamics of mind atpresent and cultivate goodwill and compassion (Rubin, 2003).
539

kinds of mind or mind-state we should achieve forpeace. This section examines a conflict dynamics
based upon the idea that conflict and violence of any
kind begin with our thinking (Park, 2008).
At first, to develop an analysis of how our thinking
becomes a root cause of conflict, the concept of “theconditioned mind” is proposed. The conditioned mind ischaracterized as mind shaped by the belief and form of
truth that are conventionally accepted as valid andeffective in the practical matters of social or cultural lifeworld (Wright, 1986). We inhabit socially constructedand historically evolved and succeeded life-worlds thatform certain cultural patterns – identities, beliefs,
values, norms and so on – as scaffolding formeaningful experience (Reysen and Katzarska-Miller,2013). We build and accept certain frame of reference –certain pattern of worldviews, cultural values, politicalorientations and ideologies, religious doctrines, moralethical norms, and so on – to construct conceptuallyframed reality to lead a meaningful life (Mezirow, 2003).
The conditioned mind is essential to make sense ofreality and acquire ways to think, infer, behave, andinteract with other people in a certain and supposedmanner.
Furthermore, constructing a frame of reference isconnected to an expression of our eagerness forpsychological security in the face of the uncertainty ofpractical life (Gordon, 2006). According to Loy, security
refers to “the conditions where we can live without care,
where our life is not preoccupied without worrying about
our life” (2002, p. 8) and that involves stabilizing
ourselves by controlling and fixing the real with certain
attributes (Mipham, 2002). Put differently, the fragility or
instability of constructed views or presuppositions isseen as a threat to security. So getting ourselves
conditioned by a particular frame of reference gives us
a sense of security as it helps to understand reality in astable and predictable manner.
However, the potential danger lurks within theestablishment of socially patterned frame of reference.
The fundamental problem with the conditioned mind lies
in our propensity to absolutize any particular frame ofreference as universal or complete (Gomez, 1976).
Once we establish a specific frame of reference or
discursive thought and cling to it as complete, it causes
us to fix upon the real – objects, persons, group ofpeople, events and so on – by various supposedly
unchanging attributes (Chang, 1971). Forming thesedimented and habitual ways of seeing the real with
fixed perspectives on what and how things are, or are
not, restricts patterns of awareness and limits ourintentional range and capacity for meaning-making
commitments (Hershock, 2006).
When we build some particular thought and claim
completeness for the perspective constructed, thatcauses us to be dogmatic, exclusive and intolerant ofother views or thoughts (Ramanan, 1978). As fixed ideaof identity becomes strong and extreme, we become
exclusive of other identities or views of identity(Ramanan, 1978) and take extreme behaviors against
those with different attributes of identity (Der-lan, 2006).

40

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

The extreme attachment to our own views can elapse
into polarity or negation of other views, values, andultimately of people who are different from us (Der-lan,2006). Once the frame of reference is seen ascomplete, we are prone to feel threat, anger, or hatredto those with different frames of reference, which canprovide us with a self-serving justification for
discrimination or injustice and impede engagement incommunication with those holding different or opposing
views and perspectives (Der-lan, 2006).
What should be further discussed is the basicmode of thinking in conditioned state. Thoughbecoming conditioned by social frame of reference isnatural and essential to us, as Wade insightfully claims,
it is fundamentally of a dualistic nature of thought(right/wrong, good/bad, black/white, to name a few) anddivides the world into ‘in-group’ and ‘out-group’ (1996).
Those people who exhibit dualistic thought are informedby the principle of the excluded middle (Nicolescu,
2006) or ‘either-or’ stance (Nagatomo, 2000). This‘either-or’ logical stance in nature prioritizes one over
the other by sharpening the dichotomous relationshipbetween in-group and out-group, whereby animbalanced attitude invested by extreme in-group selfinterest and desire is favored and promoted(Nagatomo, 2000). Consequently, the subject, relying
on the strong in-group ego-consciousness, becomesthe generative factor for creating and cementing thediscriminatory and oppositional relationship (Nagatomo,2000).
Once we treat the other as something
disconnected from us as a result of the establishmentof conceptual boundary based on dualistic or
dichotomous thought, it tends to become easier topropagate violence of any kind upon the other who is
outside the constructed boundary, whether it is anindividual or group of individuals (Hart et al, 2000). In
dualistic logical and epistemological structures, we tend
to project negative qualities upon the outside and seethem objectively belonging to them (Wilber, 1993),
which promotes a self-righteousness to make adiscriminatory attitude for them. Furthermore, the mind
in dualistic stance swings from extreme to extreme, andclings to dead-ends (Ramanan, 1978), whereby values,
ideas or norms of our own group are not viewed as oneof many alternatives, but the only right one: otherpossibilities are dimly conceived or denied as wrong or
inferior (Wade, 1996).
Social conditionedness, though essential to us, in
its dualistic or dichotomous nature, can cause us toexaggerate differences between people, creating
supposedly firm boundaries between in-group and outgroup (Waldron, 2003). And as those boundaries are
fixated, we reify them into fixed entities segregatingfrom one another by imputing intrinsic andinsurmountabledifferences(Waldron,2003).
Consequently, interaction to construct a harmonious
and constructive relationship is blocked. Whereassocially built distinction made by a frame of reference isa natural phenomenon, it also becomes the crux of the
problem by its very nature (Wilber, 1993).

6. Examining a Buddhist conflict resolution
6-1. Mindfulness
As our absolutized conditioned minds become theroot cause of conflict and violence, the core of Buddhist
conflict resolution is to break the absolutizedconditioned state. Once we become conditioned bycertain thought or frame of reference, we tend to remain
identified with it and kept imprisoned in the conditioned
state, which constricts the purview of our thinking andknowing (Welwood, 2000). So the first step for conflict
resolution is to disidentifiy ourselves from theconditionedness to make it conscious and reflect upon
it to listen to and accommodate those with different
frames of reference. And mindfulness is proposed as apractical method.
Mindfulness means disciplining our minds byfocusing on a certain object of thought and be letting goof all thoughts and emotions, and observing whateverarises in consciousness (Kabat-Zinn, 1994). The
engagement in mindfulness capacitates us to develop
the abilities for moment-to-moment awareness ofinternal states such as feelings, emotions, thoughts,
attitudes, and so on (Brantmeier, 2007). Instead ofbeing controlled by our habitual behavioral patterns,
emotions, and thoughts, we can turn the contents of ourconsciousness, thoughts, feelings and reaction into
objects of reflection and analysis (Hart, 2001).
Through the practice of mindfulness, we cultivate
a first-hand awareness and experience the social
conditionedness of our thinking and knowing andbecome less identified with our habits of mind andstandpoint (Gunnlaugson, 2007). Practicing mindful
disengagement creates a space in our own minds forthe development of enlarged awareness, attentivenessto broader dimensions of how mind can work by going
beyond socially built presuppositions and sedimented
habits of thinking and knowing (Hart, 2001). By
objectifying the contents of our minds for reflection, we
can temporarily mute external factors to discover therole of our mental and emotional habits in framing ourperceptions of reality (Chappell, 1999). We come torealize the contents of reality depend not so much on
what happens to us, but on what attitudes,
understanding, feelings and reactions we give to those
events (Chappell, 1999).
As we practice mindfulness, monitoring how ourmind works and controlling emotions, we can reach adeeper and more profound intellectual insight into thenature of reality to address absolutized conditioned
state that causes negative feelings and dogmatism(Daneth, 2006). The reason for transforming our view ofconceptual thought that socially conditions us is that,since conceptual thought construction provides us witha sort of lens to view and organize our world and builds
our lived experience, it becomes imperative to correct
our misunderstanding of it when it causes us conflictand violence (Orr, 2014). Though exchanging
information and opinions between/among those in
conflict is important, more crucial is to change thefoundational cognitive structure that affects how thoseEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
information and viewpoints are understood and given
meaning (Zajonc, 2006) so that more positive andconstructive values and perspectives beyond conflictualones can be explored. Through contemplative practicethat disidentifies ourselves from frames of referencesocially conditioning us and creating ‘in-group’ and ‘outgroup’ boundaries, we are awakened to theinterdependent and interpenetrating nature of reality orconceptual thoughts that form our reality (Apffel-Marglin
and Bush, 2005).
For instance, interdependent and interpenetrating
nature of conceptual thought forming our reality is
expounded by Nagarjuna: “Without one there cannot bemany and without many it is not possible to refer toone. Therefore, one and many arise dependently andsuch phenomena do not have sign of inherent
existence.” (Komito, 1987: 80) He also states that “Ifthere is existence, then is non-existence; if there issomething long, similarly (there is) something short;and if there is non-existence, (there is) existence;
therefore, both (existence and non-existence) are notexistent.” (Tola and Dragonetti, 1995: 128). He further
states, “Unity and multiplicity and past and future, etc.,
defilement and purification, correct and false – how canthey exist per se?” (Tola and Dragonetti, 1995: 128).
The realization of the dependent-originated natureof any conceptual or linguistic framework awakens us tounderstand that any form of symbolic knowledge
shaping dichotomous human relations cannot be seen
as existing outside of the purview of interdependency(Muller, 1998). This does not mean total erasure ofdifference or demise of all distinctions into an all-frozen
sameness, but advocates a reformulation of dualistic
thinking. What needs to be known here is that dualistic
either-or thinking, though important in somecircumstance, is “only one product of the total
functioning of the mind” (Tart, 2000: 28). Being
awakened to the interdependent and interpenetrating
nature of symbolic or linguistic knowledge forming
dichotomous relations, we can effect a perspectival
shift from the dualistic stance to non-dualistic stance(Nagatomo, 2000), wherein prima facie opposing views
are not seen as fixed pair of opposites, but as interrelational constructs. When we transcend dualistic
thinking, we become empowered to hold multiplex,
complementary both/and dialectical thinking and toappreciate the opposite of a deep truth is another deep
truth (Braud and Anderson, 1998).
6-2. Dual dimension of dialogue
Besides mindfulness, dialogue assumes a crucialrole in conflict resolution. The main objective of
dialogue is not just to share information but to uncoverprocesses shaping us and the struggle we are having
so that mutual respect and a sense of solidarity are to
be aroused (Der-lan, 2006). Dialogue can be seen as
an inter-subjective phenomenon, wherein those with
distinct or even opposing perspectives promote mutual
understanding and transformation.
However, from a mindfulness perspective,reflective dialogue with ourselves also needs to be41

carried out while engaged in intersubjective dialogue
with those in conflict. Mainly focusing on empowering
individuals to control their mind-states and change
perspectives,thepracticeofmindfulnesstransformation plays a critical role in creating mindstate to engage in a constructive dialogue with others.
What must be addressed before and during dialogue isa reactive and impulsive interaction between/among
those with distinct values, perspectives or frames ofreference.
Mindful observation of our own mind-state slows
down the stream of consciousness and suspends
impulsive and automatic reaction in encountering
different ideas, values or identities. Mindful suspensionof habitual reaction facilitates the transition from being
focally embedded with our thoughts and feelings tobeing free to witness them consciously, which leads us
to a different self-sense and more complex and multifaceted form and order of consciousness to appreciatedistinct views and ideas (Gunnlaugson, 2007). The
practice of internal observation exposes anddeconstructs socially conditioned positions of belief,value, thought and frees us to notice and appreciate
multiple perspectives and unexpected insights (Hart,
2004).
Dialogue requires openness to be challenged andtransformed by encountering others’ viewpoints andvalues as well as the willingness and ability to engage
in active listening and understanding of them (Ferrer,2002). Dialogue demands us to let ourselves bechanged in our point of view, attitude, values, mode of
thinking and this requires internal and reflective
awareness of our own mind-state to free us from any
fixed frame of reference (Hadot, 1995). The
enhancement of reflective self-awareness keeps us outof the extreme attachment to a particular conditioned
state and serves to loosen the power of habits ofthought and make our minds a more hospitable placefor openness to differences, diversity and creativity(Claxton, 2006). Learning to be less reified in theperspectives through mindful observation of our internal
states, we can develop a different basis or relationshipto our own mode of thinking and emotional processes(Gunnlaugson, 2007).
Further, the integrative expansion of experiential
range as a result of the practice of mindfulness andperspectival shift enables us to engage interpersonaland intergroup interaction in a more extensive andinclusive manner (Firman and Gila, 2002). Recognizing
an interdependent and interconnected nature of humanrelations leads us to approach the phenomenon of
conflict from a perspective distinct from conventional
dualistic or dichotomous logic. Normally, in conflictcharacterized as
pursuit of incompatible orcontradictory goals or clash of values, ideologies orperspectives (Ramsbotham et al, 2011), a dualistic ordivisive way of thinking and perception predominates.
However, with detachment from a fixed standpoint
through mindfulness and perspectival change, thestructure of conflict is grasped in the form of mutualinterdependence and interpenetration (Park, 2008).

42

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

Understanding conflict as a phenomenon ofmutual interdependence and interpenetration, we cometo realize it is impossible to draw a complete line or
picture that judges which party in the conflict isabsolutely right or wrong (Park, 2008). They are closelyinterwoven on a fundamental dimension despite theirconflictual and dichotomous relationship and clash of
distinct
values,perspectives,andseemingly
incompatible or contradictory goals (Park, 2008). With adualistic view of conflict transcended, violence against
others is recognized as an act of violence against
ourselves and is understood as an undesirable andunrealistic option or course of action to transform aconflictual situation (Brantmeier, 2007).
When interdependent and interpenetrating natureof conflict is realized and resort to force or violence isrejected as a solution, it becomes possible to transcend
dualistic or dichotomous view of the pursuit ofseemingly incompatible goals or clash of distinct
values, perspectives or ideologies. The imposition of
our own views, values or clinging to seek mutually
incompatible or antithetical goals will lead us nowhereand end up in mutual loss. Rather, it becomes
imperative to go beyond the pursuit of incompatible
objectives to explore new values and goals that take
both parties’ needs into consideration (Braud andAnderson, 1998).
Mindful and reflective encounter with ourselves
while facing others hones our capacity for constructive
and productive dialogue with them to make newinterpersonal and intergroup relationship possible(Hadot, 1995). From a Buddhist perspective, conflict
resolution must begin with mutual self-critique andtransformation in terms of expanding the way of
thinking and knowing.
7. On a Buddhist peace
How can peace be understood from the dynamics
of conflict resolution that arises from self-reflection andthe interior self-transformation? It is proposed as a nondualistic peace based on the practice of multiple
functions of mind – contemplative mind, a deep
cognitive transformation framed by interdependent,
interpenetrating understanding of reality including
human relationships, and a compassionate mind – in asynergistic way.
As examined, one of the most powerfultransformative methods is contemplative practiceincluding mindfulness to cultivate a mind-state that is
not imprisoned by an attachment to any particular viewor frame of reference creating social/cultural boundaries(Bush, 2011). Each individual develops the capacity totranscend particular identities while simultaneously
honoring them, to move between/among distinct
worldviews, perspectives, frames of reference to create
new ones with others in an interdependent andinterpenetrating context (Zajonc, 2006), which inspires
us to awaken to the ultimate undivided nature of humanbeings. The dynamics of peace arises fromtranscending the fixed ego-self, freeing ourselves forothers, realizing and enacting compassion (Coleman,2006).
Compassion - an exercise of our courage totranscend a dualistic view of human relations tointerdependent and interconnected one (Park, 2008) is an acknowledgement of shared humanity and thecommonalities in both suffering and aspiration among
those with different identities (Pruitt and McCollum,2010). It is a capacity to feel others’ pain, sorrow,despair or suffering as our own, but at the same time
an ability to have clear awareness of interdependent
origination of phenomenon of any kind (Hoyt, 2014). A
compassionate mind inspires the development of aquality of loving kindness, a universal and unselfish
love that extends to ourselves to friends, family, andultimately to all people including those we are in conflictwith. It drives us to take action, care for, and serve
others (Pruitt and McCollum, 2010).
Transcending the division between self andothers and embracing their ultimate undivided
relationship does not mean to deny uniqueness orindividuality of identity whether it be individual orcollective. Rather, it is a qualitative transformation of
the way we view the nature of identity. Instead ofseeing our identity as independent and fixed existence,
we make a perspectival shift to understand it as theinterdependent web of life with no any fixed nature(Loy, 1993). Realizing identity as an open and dynamic
living system within a larger interdependent andinterpenetrating system leads us to know an ultimate
nondualistic relationship between us and others(Rothberg, 1992). We come to recognize that wecannot discriminate ourselves from the inter-relational
web of life without damaging both others and ourselves(Loy, 1993).
Consequently, we become aware that our wellbeing and others’ are inseparable: without consideringand acting to promote others’ peace, our own peace
would be impossible (Vaughan, 2002). Nondualistic
peace based on compassionate mind is to beunderstood as a transition from self-centered,dichotomous tensions of in-group and out-groupprocesses to an all-inclusive state of awareness of our
fundamental interdependence and interpenetration. The
awareness drives us to make an effort to gratify basic
needs of all, promote freedom, and justice for others aswell as of our own and to resort to peaceful methods tomanage differences constructively and creatively in thelong run.
8. Implications for intercultural dialogue on ethics
in the globalized era
So far, conflict dynamics, its resolution and nondualistic peace based on the practice of multiple
functions of mind have been examined. What are theirimplications for intercultural dialogue on ethics in the
globalized era?
Ethics can be understood as a theory or systemof right action (Karlberg, 2010), which allows us tointeract with each other and with the world virtuously.
The crucial question that an ethical system of any kindEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
needs to address is how individual and group actions,needs and interests can be reconciled with the greatercommon good (Karlberg, 2010). The emergence of avariety of problems and challenges affecting the entire
globe have expanded the boundaries of this question to
include all of humanity (Karlberg, 2010).
Our age has shown increasing interdependence
in many fields on a global scale. Humankind has
evolved into being interdependent and interconnectedin political and socioeconomic system (White, 2007).
The world has become increasingly compressed into aninterconnected and interpenetrating system in many
dimensions and their global ramifications beyond
borders cannot be avoided (White, 2004). We have acollective responsibility to address many common
problems and challenges for co-creating a peacefulglobe. We need to build new ethical norms acrosscultural lines to deal with shared problems (Evanoff,2006). In other words, it has become increasingly
imperative that those with different ethical frameworks
construct new ethics according to the emerging
globalized context.
Intercultural dialogue on ethics in the globalized
era needs to be understood as a process, whereinthose with different ethical frameworks keep unfolding
new ethical norms in an interdependent context. One of
the biggest problems in intercultural dialogue on ethics
in the globalized era is that even if each social/culturalgroup or state tries to solve the common problems suchas international conflict, global terrorism, environmental
problems to name but a few, it will resolve none of them
if each group sticks to its own ethical framework as
absolute, rejecting to alter it according to changing
global circumstances. Intercultural dialogue on ethics
itself can become a root cause of conflict and worsen
the relationship between different cultural groups. As
Evanoff (2006) argues, the tendency to cling to our own
ethical framework as universal or absolute occurs at
relatively unreflective stages, which closes ourselves todifferent ethical frameworks. At the core of interculturaldialogue should lie reflective practices.
Becoming critically reflective of our own cultural
premise or foundation of ethical framework andunderstanding of problems based on the framework
can lead to a transformative redefinition of the problems
or problem posing (Mezirow, 1998). Enhancing criticalreflection and awareness of differences leads us torecognize all ways of thinking and behaving areconstructed,
contextualandcontingent
andconsequently to know alternative ways of thinking andbehaving are available (Evanoff, 2006). While realizing
no any cultural tradition offers a universal conception of
ethics, intercultural dialogue with reflective practice can
expand our views of how ethics can be conceived(Evanoff, 2006). This does not mean to abandon or
reject ethical framework each culture has developed.
Rather, reflective intercultural dialogue leads us torealize new global context requires us to transcend
particular ethical contexts of respective cultures(Evanoff, 2004).

43

Transcending ethical frameworks of respective
cultures through critical reflection in an interdependentand interconnected circumstance broadens the purview
of our understanding of the problem facing us. While
our perception of the global problems might be narrowand simplistic when we cling to our own ethicalframework, reflective self-critique and dialogue withother cultural ethical norms can make our perception
more comprehensive and more complex. An integrative
approach to reflective intercultural dialogue based on
the recognition of interdependent and interconnected
reality of our globe allows us to construct ways ofcombining prima facie opposite ethical frameworks ofrespective cultures into a wider and more holistic
framework to address common problems (Evanoff,2006).
Critiquing existing ethical frameworks built by
each culture is not easy. But when new forms ofproblems that require cooperation across cultures
emerge, new ethical frameworks also need to beconstructed that not only consider the distinct values,
interests, and goals of the respective cultures but also
are capable of resolving the common problems they
face effectively and constructively (Evanoff, 2004).
Reflective intercultural dialogue to see our own ethicalnorms as constructed and contingent can generate
new, more comprehensive and integrative ethicalframeworks in which new approaches to resolving
global common problems might be proposed (Evanoff,2004). To make intercultural dialogue on ethics viable
and sustainable in our globalized era, it is essential tounderstand culturally conditioned and bound nature of
ethical framework and to reframe our understanding of
the problems we need to face and resolve in aninterdependent and interconnected relation bybecoming open to co-constructing more complex andholistic ethical frameworks.
9. Conclusion
Expanding the purview of thinking and knowing bygoing beyond social/cultural conditioned state andenacting multiple functions of mind for a sustainable
peace and intercultural dialogue on ethics is not easy.
However, the profound complexity and uncertainty ofour times facing several unprecedented global
problems requires us to exercise our collective
creativity to construct more holistic visions of order,
new forms of action and appreciate and hold a varietyof viewpoints in interdependence and mutual respect(O’Hara, 2005).
By liberating ourselves from social/cultural
constraints through contemplative practice andreflective thought, we can open up our untapped
potential to unfold new forms of imagination and holistic
visions of future (Dabrowski, 1995). Then, political,
social, economic, and environmental problems in which
we perceive ourselves as being powerless to address
can come to be appreciated as something that provides
us with precious opportunities to develop more complex
and holistic ways of thinking and knowing to redesign
our social and global systems (White, 2007). With the44

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

development of complex and holistic thinking that
integrates seemingly different and/or even opposing
views and perspectives, we engage in a critical andtransformative dialogue with ourselves and our existingsocio-cultural world and show empathy toward every
human being in the larger social and global dimension
to for a sustainable future.
Here, a core of sustainable future is enacting unity
in diversity in addressing complex and multi-facetedcommon social and global problems. Diversity does not
merely mean differences or different perspectives andethical norms exist separately. Rather, touching
diversity and differences makes the rise of complex andcoordination-enriching interdependence (Hershock,2012), whereby we experience difference anddistinctiveness not as a threat or a subject for division
but as an opportunity for mutual insight and inspiration
to explore something new to all participants. Unity indiversity means that those with different or evenopposing frames of reference engage in an exploratory,
ongoing and ever-lasting process that explicates or
unfolds new values and meanings to achieve andsustain their interdependent, mutually liberating andtransformative relational dynamics. Achieving asustainable globe by those with different social/cultural
frames of reference and distinct thoughts, needs andinterests is a hard challenge. However, the direction of
the future of the world is always in our hands (White,2004).
References
Apffel-Marglin, Frederique, and Bush, Michael. (2005) ‘Healing theBreach of Faith Toward Everything That Is: Integration in
Academia
2005’.
http://www.contemplativemind.org/programs/academic/summer05/
Apffel-Marglin_Bush.pdf Date accessed: 15 August 2015.
Brantmeier, J. Edward. (2007) ‘Connecting Inner and Outer Peace:
Buddhist Meditation Integrated with Peace Education’, Journal ofpeace education and social justice, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 120-157.
Braud, William, and Anderson, Rosemarie. (1998) Transpersonal
Research Methods for the Social Sciences: Honoring Human
Experience. London: SAGE.
Burton, David. (2002) ‘Knowledge and Liberation: Philosophical
Ruminations on a Buddhist Conundrum’, Philosophy East andWest, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 326-345.
Bush, Mirabai. (2011) ‘Mindfulness in Higher Education’,Contemporary Buddhism, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 183-197.
Cabezon Jose Ignacio. (1999) ‘The UNESCO Declaration: A Tibetan
Buddhist perspective’ in Chappell, David. W. (ed.), Buddhist
Peacework: Creating Cultures of Peace (pp. 183-188). Boston:Wisdom Publications.
Chang, C. C. Garma. (1971) The Buddhist Teaching of Totality: The
Philosophy of Hwa Yen Buddhism. University Park: The
Pennsylvania State University Press.
Chappell, David W. (1999) ‘Buddhist Peace Principles’ in Chappell,David W, (ed.), Buddhist Peacework: Creating Cultures of Peace(pp. 199-231). Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Cho, Sungtaek. (2002) ‘The Rationalist Tendency in Modern
Buddhist Scholarship: A
Revaluation’, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 52, No. 4, pp. 426440.
Claxton, Guy. (2006) ‘Nirvana and Neuroscience: The self-liberating
brain’, in Nauriyal, D. K., Drummond, M. S., and Lal, Y. B. (eds.),
Buddhist Thought and Applied Psychological Research:
Transcending the boundaries (pp. 93-111). London, Routledge.
Coleman David L. (2006) ‘Buddhist Peace Practice: Sunyata,
Wisdom and Compassion’, Journal of Globalization for the

Common Good http://lass.purduecal.edu/cca/jgcg/ 2006/fa06/jgcgfa06-coleman.htm Date accessed: 15 August 2015.
Dabrowski, Irene, J. (1995) “David Bohm’s Theory of the Implicate
Order: Implications for Holistic Thought Processes. Issues inIntegrative Studies, No. 13, pp. 1-23.
Danesh, H. B. (2006) ‘Towards an integrative theory of peaceeducation’, Journal of Peace Education, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 55-78.
Der-lan Yeh. (2006) ‘The Way to Peace: A Buddhist perspective’,
International Journal of Peace Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 91-112.
Evanoff, Richard. (2004) ‘Universalist, Relativist, and Constructivist
Approaches to Intercultural Ethics’ , International Journal ofIntercultural Relations, Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 439-458.
Evanoff, Richard. (2006) ‘Integration in intercultural ethics’ ,International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 30, pp. 421437.
Ferrer, Jorge. (2002) Revisioning Transpersonal Theory: A
Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality. Albany, New York: State
University of New York Press.
Firman, John. and Gila, Ann. (2002) A Psychology of the Spirit.
Albany, New York: University of New York Press.
Fronsdal, Gil. (2005) The Dhammapada: A New Translation of the
Buddhist Classic with Annotations. Boston: Shambala.
Geshe Tashi Tsering. (2005) The Four Noble Truths: The
Foundation of Buddhist Thought volume 1. Boston: Wisdom
Publications.
Gomez, Louis. (1976) ‘Proto-Madhyamika in the Pali Canon’,Philosophy East and West, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 137-165.
Gordon, Mordechai. (2006) ‘Welcoming Confusion, Embracing
Uncertainty: Educating Teacher Candidates in an Age of Certitude’,
Paideusis, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 15-25.
Gunnlaugson, Olen. (2007) ‘Shedding Lights on the Underlying
Forms of Transformative Learning Theory: Introducing ThreeDistinct Categories of Consciousness’, Journal of Transformative
Education, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 134-151.
Hadot, Peter. (1995) Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual
Exercises from Socrates to Foucault. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hart, Tobin. (2001) ‘Teaching for wisdom’, Encounter; Education for
Meaning and Social Justice, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 3-16.
Hart, Tobin. (2004) ‘Opening the Contemplative Mind in theClassroom’, Journal of Transformative Education, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.
28-46.
Hart, Tobin, Nelson Peter L. and Puhakka, Kaisa. (2000)‘Introduction’ in Hart, Tobin, Nelson, Peter L. and Puhakka, Kaisa(eds.), Transpersonal Knowing: Exploring the horizon of
consciousness (pp. 1-9). Albany, New York: State University of
New York Press.
Hershock, Peter D. (2006) Buddhism in the Public Sphere:
Reorienting Global Interdependence. London: Routledge.
Hershock, Peter D. (2012) Valuing Diversity: Buddhist Reflection on
Realizing a More Equitable Global Future. Albany, NY: State
University of New York Press.
Hoyt, Mei. (2014) ‘Engaging Bodhisattva Compassion in
Pedagogical Aporias’, Paideusis, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 24-31.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994) ‘Catalyzing Movement Towards a More
Contemplative/Sacred-Appreciating/Non-DualisticSociety’.
http://www.contemplativemind.org/programs/academic/kabatzinn.pdf Date accessed: 13 August 2015.
Karlberg, Michael. (2010) “Education for Interdependence: The
University and the Global Citizen”, The Global Studies Journal, Vol.
3, No. 1, pp. 129-138.
Komito, David R. (1987) Nagarjuna’s “Seventy Stanzas”: A Buddhist
Psychology of Emptiness. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion.
Lai, Whalen. (1977) ‘The Meaning of “Mind-Only” (Wei-Hsin): An
Analysis of a Sinitic Mahayana Phenomenon’, Philosophy East andWest, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 65-83.
Loy, David. (1993) ‘Indra’s Postmodern Net’, Philosophy East andWest, Vol. 43, No. 3, pp. 481-510.
Loy, David. (2002) ‘On the Nonduality of Good and Evil: Buddhist
Reflections
on
the
New
Holy
War’.
http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Mescellaneous/NonDuality_
Good_and_Evil.htm Date accessed: 11 August 2015.
Luk, Charles. (2001) The Surangama Sutra. New Delhi: Munshiram
Manoharlal.
Matsuo, Hosaku. (1981) The Logic of Unity: The Discovery of Zeroand Emptiness in Prajnaparamita Thought. Translated by Inada
Kenneth. Tokyo: Hokuju Shuppan.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
Mezirow, Jack. (1998) “On Critical Reflection”, Adult Education
Quarterly, Vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 185-198.
Mezirow, Jack. (2003) ‘Transformative Learning as Discourse’,
Journal of Transformative Education, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 58-63.
Mipham, Jamgon. (2002) Introduction to the Middle Way:
Candrakirti’s Madhyamakavatara with Commentary by Jamgon
Mipham. Boston: Shambhala.
Muller, Charles A. (1998) ‘Innate Enlightenment and No-thought: A
Response to the Critical Buddhist Position on Zen’. Paper
presented at the International Conference on Son, Paekyang-sa,
Kwangju, Korea, August 18-22, 1998.
Nagatomo, Shigenori. (2000) ‘The Logic of the Diamond Sutra: A is
not A, therefore it is A. Asian Philosophy’, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 213244.
Nicolescu, Basarab. (2006) Transdisiplinarity – past, present andfuturehttp://www.movingworldviews.net/Downloads/
Papers/Nicolescu.pdf Date accessed: 11 August 2015.
O’Hara, Maureen. (2005) The Challenge for education in uncertain
times. Paper presented at the General Assembly of the World
Academy of Arts and Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia November, 2005.
Olendzki, Alexander. (2003) ‘Buddhist Psychology’ in Segall, Seth R(Ed.), Encountering Buddhism: Western Psychology and Buddhist
Teachings (pp. 9-30). Albany, New York: State University of New
York Press.
Orr, Deborah. (2014) ‘In A Mindful Moral Voice: MindfulCompassion, The Ethic of Care and Education’, Paideusis, Vol. 21,
No. 2, pp. 42-54.
Park, Jin Y. (2008) Buddhism and Postmodernity: Zen, Huayan, and
the Possibility of Buddhist Postmodern Ethics. Plymouth, United
Kingdom: Lexington Books.
Pereira, Jose. and Tiso, Francis. (1988) ‘The evolution of Buddhist
systematics from the Buddha to Vasubandhu’, Philosophy Eastand West, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 172-186.
Pruitt, Irene T. and McCollum, Eric E. (2010) ‘Voices of Experienced
Meditators: The Impact of Meditation Practice on Intimate
Relationships’.
http://portal.idc.ac.il/he/main/research/aware/research/documents/s
ocial/attachment/voices%20_of%20_experienced%20_meditators%20_the%20_im Date accessed: 4 May 2015.
Rahula, W. S. (1974) What the Buddha Taught. New York: Grove.
Ramanan, Vekanta. (1978) Nagarjuna’s Philosophy As Presented in
the Maha-Prajnaparamita-Sutra. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Ramsbotham, Oliver., Woodhouse, Tom., and Miall, Hugh. (2011)
Contemporary Conflict Resolution: The prevention, managementrdand transformation of deadly conflicts (3 edition). Cambridge,
Polity.
Reysen, Stephen. and Katzarska-Miller, Iva. (2013) “Intentional
Worlds and Global Citizenship”, Journal of Global Citizenship andEquity Education, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 34-52.
Rothberg, Donald. (1992) ‘Buddhist responses to violence and war:
Resources for a Socially Engaged Spiritality’, Journal of Humanistic
Psychology, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 41-75.
Rubin, Jeffrey B. (2003) ‘Close Encounters of a New Kind: Toward
an Integration of Psychoanalysis and Buddhism’ in Segall, Seth R(ed.), Encountering Buddhism: Western Psychology and Buddhist
Teachings (pp. 31-60). Albany, New York: State University of New
York Press.
Tart, Charles. (2000) States of Consciousness. Lincoln, Nebraska:
iUniverse.
Tola, Fernando and Dragonetti, Carmen. (1995) On Voidness: A
Study on Buddhist Nihilism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Vaughan, Francis. (2002) ‘What is Spiritual Intelligence?’, Journal of
Humanistic Psychology, Vol. 42, No. 2., pp. 16-33.
Wade, Jenny. (1996) Changing of Mind: A Holonomic Theory of the
Evolution of Consciousness. Albany, New York: State University of
New York Press.
Waldron, William S. (2003) ‘Common Ground, Common Cause:
Buddhism and Science on the Afflictions of Identity’ in Wallace,
Alan (ed.), Buddhism and Science: Breaking new ground (pp. 145191). New York: Columbia University Press.
Welwood, John. (2000) ‘Reflection and Presence’ in Hart Tobin,
Nelson Peter L. and Puhakka Kaisa (eds.), Transpersonal
Knowing: Exploring the horizon of consciousness (pp. 85-111).
Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.

45

White, R. Stephen. (2004) ‘Educating toward Future Globalization: A
New Societal Myth and Pedagogic Motif’, Educational Foundations,
Winter, pp. 71-96.
White R. Stephen. (2007) ‘Aurobindo’s Thought and Holistic Global
Education’, Journal of Thought, Fall-Winter, pp. 115-132.
Wilber, Ken. (1993) The Spectrum of Consciousness. Wheaton,
Illinois: Quest Books.
Wright, Dale. (1986) ‘Language And Truth In Hua-Yen Buddhism’,Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Vol. 13, pp. 21-47.
Yun, Hsin. (2002) From the Four Noble Truths to the Four Universal
Vow. Hacienda Heights, California: Buddha's Light Publishing.
Zajonc, Arthur. (2006) ‘Contemplative and Transformative
Pedagogy’, Kosmos Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 1-3.

EcoHealth and Ethics:
Where is the guidance?
1

2 ,- Aryn Lisitza and Gregor Wolbring *1
Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary,
Calgary T2N4N1, Alberta, Canada; ablisitz@ucalgary.ca
2
Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming
School of Medicine, Stream of Community Rehabilitation
and Disability Studies, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital
Drive NW, Calgary T2N4N1, Alberta, Canada
Correspondence: gwolbrin@ucalgary.ca

Abstract
EcoHealth is an emerging field whose premise is topositively influence the health and wellbeing of humans,
animals and ecosystems globally. Ethical concepts andtheories are used to reason for certain actions
influencing humans (e.g. bioethics), animals (animal
ethics) and the environment (environmental ethics)
globally. The purpose of this study was twofold; a) todetermine how and to what extent the terms “ethic,
ethics, ethical” and 41 other ethics terms including 20
ethical theories are used in the academic Ecohealthliterature and b) to investigate the geography of
EcoHealth academic article authorships. A total of
n=648 academic articles were downloaded from four
academic databases (EBSCO All, Scopus, Science
Direct and Web of Science) that had the term
“ecohealth” in the article title, article abstract, article
keywords or in the journal title. A content analysis of then=648 articles was performed using ATLAS-ti©, aqualitative analysis software. We found that only nine of
the n=42 ethics keywords showed up in more than one
percent of the 648 EcoHealth articles. Furthermore, we
found that authors from n=70 countries from diverse
geographical areas contributed to the n=648 EcoHealthacademic articles. However, most of these contributions
consisted of 1-3 articles whereby authors from the USA
contributed 250 articles, which is equivalent to 38.5% of
all the EcoHealth articles investigated. The majority ofarticles originated from the USA, Canada, Australia andEurope. Given that the field of EcoHealth is considereda global endeavor, it is problematic that the diversity ofauthorship is so limited geographically. Furthermore thelack of meaningful engagement with ethics terms andtheories in the n=648 EcoHealth academic articles
limits the global guidance on human-human, humananimal and human-environment relationships, which in46

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

turn impedes progress on the goals that the EcoHealthfield is trying to accomplish.
Keywords: ethics, EcoHealth, human-human ethics,
human-animal ethics, environmental ethics
1. Introduction
1.1. The Topic of EcoHealth
EcoHealth is an emerging field [1-3] that seeks to“study [the] changes in the biological, physical, social,and economic environments and the relations of thesechanges to human health” [4]. The first conference of
the International EcoHealth Association’s took place in2006 [4]. EcoHealth as a field emerged as acomprehensive global endeavor, holding the premise to“improve the health and wellbeing of people, animals
and ecosystems” [5]. In pursuing this premise, the fieldof EcoHealth relied initially on transdisciplinarity,
participation, and equity as their three methodologicalpillars [6]. In 2012, Charron, an influential figure in the
EcoHealth field, proposed to expand the threemethodological pillars of the field to six principles:systems
thinking,
transdisciplinary
research,
participation, sustainability, gender and social equity,and finally, knowledge to action [7]. These six principles
are still used to examine the complex linkages between
society, animals, ecosystems and environments inorder to understand and improve the health andwellbeing of humans, animals and environments at a
global scale [7].
1.2. The Topic of Ethics
Ethics fields, theories and reasoning are used
globally to guide the actions that influence humans,
animals and the environment. Human ethics provides
guidance on how to interact and relate with otherhuman beings and communities by critically analyzing
the “important values at stake, the rules and norms thatare [used] to protect these values, the duties implied insocial roles and positions that can foster these values
and further these rules, and human virtues orcapabilities that enable us to act accordingly” [8].
Human ethics influences every aspect of our lives andcomes in many different forms including religious
ethics, legal ethics, professional ethics, business ethics,
healthcare ethics, bioethics, neuroethics, nanoethics
and others [9]. The phrase “human ethics” generates
39,500 hit counts in Google Scholar™ [accessed onthJuly 27 2015].
Animal ethics is also a global endeavor used to
guide how animals are raised and treated by humans(animal ethics philosophy), as well as to consider
animal quality of life and how to improve animal use
practices (animal welfare science) [10]. Animal ethics
provides this guidance by questioning the oldanthropocentric view of animals as tools, resources,
machines or commodities for our own use andintroducing the idea that animals are sentient and assuch, they have intrinsic value and should be treatedwith respect [11]. The phrase “animal ethics” generated
113,000 hits is Google Scholar™, [accessed on Julyth
27 2015]. The field of animal ethics continues to makestrong arguments for animal rights, which seeks toprovide animals with their most basic interests [12].
There are no rigorous borders between animals andhumans that can be upheld or sustained according toDerrida, author of the “The Animal” [13]. Derrida argues
that the subjugation of animals cannot be dissociatedfrom questions of human ethics and rights[13]. In fact,
the human and animal ethics discourses areinterconnected and have been combined to create
several different frameworks, one of which is the One
Health framework. One Health recognizes that humanhealth cannot be disaggregated from animal health,especially in the context of diseases transmitted
between animals and humans known as zoonoses [14].
Current strategies to addresses these emerging
diseases strongly reflect human interest and thus callinto question both human and animal ethics [14].
Environmental ethics (73,200 hits in Googleth
Scholar™ [accessed on July 27 2015], is used to
guide how humans interact with, and affect, theenvironment [15]. This guidance includes considerationof the quality of the environment and the ability of theenvironment to provide ecological services and tosustain life [15]. Environmental ethics does this byconsistently considering the “appropriate concern for,values in, and duties regarding the natural world” [15].
This consideration is employed through several
different approaches such as land ethic, biocentrism,
ecojustice and political ecology [15]. Environmental
ethics has six levels of concern, including humans,
animals, organisms, species, ecosystems and Earth,which further demonstrates an overlap between humanand animal ethics as well as the added component ofenvironmental ethics [15].
1.3. Ethics within EcoHealth
The field of EcoHealth examines human-human,
human-animal and human-environment relationships inorder to improve the health of humans, animals and theenvironment [7].
The 2014 annual EcoHealth conference singled out
three themes as important for EcoHealth scholars toengage with: a) drivers of change to health,ecosystems and society: integrating understanding
from global to local scales, b) innovations in theory,
methods and practice and c) moving between research
and action: mobilizing knowledge to benefit health,ecosystems, and society [16]. Ethical theories andreasoning can be useful in exploring the drivers ofchange to health in an equitable way, to reason what
innovations are appropriate to employ, and to address
knowledge-to-action barriers in an ethically sound way.
Charron’s 2012 paper “EcoHealth Research inPractice: Innovative Applications of an Ecosystem
Approach to Health” outlines EcoHealth’s goal of
employing innovative research in order to improve
people’s interactions with the environment to achievesustainable and equitable change in human health andwell-being [7]. Charron claims that “ethical dimensions
are emphasized in EcoHealth research and practicethrough integration of stakeholder perspectives andEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
participation, and through the research intent to …make
ethical, positive and lasting changes” [7].
Given the past and present ethics engagement in
human-human, human-animal and human-environment
relationships, as well as the views of the 2014
EcoHealth Conference and Charron in his “EcoHealthResearch in Practice: Innovative Applications of an
Ecosystem Approach to Health” paper, it is of interest
to analyze how ethical fields, theories and reasoning
are framed within the academic EcoHealth literature. To
do this, we will analyze how ethics and 41 related terms
or theories are covered in the academic EcoHealthliterature. We will discuss the findings and implicationsof the portrayal of ethical reasoning and theories in theacademic EcoHealth literature.
2. Methods
2.1. Data Source and Collection
Google Scholar™ was used to find the number ofhits for each ethics discourse term or ethical theory
when paired with each of the three types of ethics(human, animal, environmental) and the field ofth
EcoHealth separately [accessed on July 27 2015].
This analysis demonstrates how often human, animal,and environmental ethics mention, and perhaps engage
with, ethics terms or ethical theories compared withhow often the field of EcoHealth engages or employs
these terms or theories.
A search was conducted for the term “ethic*” in thejournal title in four academic databases (EBSCO All (anumbrella database consisting of over 70 databases),
Scopus, Science Direct and Web of Science). The
articles generated from this search were then searched
for the term “ecohealth” in the abstract (December, 01,2015).
A total of n=648 academic articles were downloadedthfrom May 5-7 2015 from four academic databases(EBSCO All, Scopus, Science Direct and Web of
Science) that had the term “ecohealth” in the article
title, article abstract, article keywords or in the title ofjournal. These journal articles (n=648) were imported
into ATLAS-ti7©, a qualitative analysis software, where
they were analyzed to produce both quantitative andqualitative data.
2.2. Data Analysis
Once in an ATLAS-ti7© hermeneutic unit, we used
the Family Manager function to separate the n=648
academic articles into two different families: “social”
and “non-social”. This distinction was based on whether
the articles had the term “social” anywhere throughout
the paper, which enabled us to analyze which papers
had more social focal points compared with those that
do not. In addition, we investigated whether there is anexisting difference in the geographical origin of authors
between the two sets of articles (Table 4).
The term “ethic* (the * character is used in search
queries in ATLAS-ti7©, it takes all results that matchwith the initial word before the * regardless of theending) was coded for using the Auto-Coding function
within ATLAS-ti7©. The Auto-Coding function reveals

47

all the content in all the articles linked to the term andthe number of times this term was found in the literature(hit counts). This process was repeated for n=22 ethics
terms and n=20 ethics theories. The terms that we
coded for were: value, harm, philosophy|philosophical,
justice, moral*, autonomy, humane, animal ethics,
bioethics, dignity, ecocentrism, environmental ethics,
anthropocentrism, care ethics, ecological ethics, virtue
ethics, feminist ethics, human ethics, public healthethics, beneficence, maleficence. The following ethics
theories were coded: Kant, Socialist, Egalitarian, Moral
Relativism, Individual Relativism, Cultural Relativism,
Psychological Hedonism, Psychological Altruism,
Female Care Based Ethics, Virtue Theories, SamuelPufendorf, Rights Theory, WD Ross, Consequentialism,
Deontology, Utilitarianism, Preference Utilitarianism,
Libertarian and Feminist Approach. The 42 terms weretaken from Beauchamp and Childress’ 1979 paper“Principle of Biomedical Ethics” [17] as well asencyclopedia or web sources [18-21]. Anthropocentrism
and ecocentrism terms were used to explore different
ways to relate to nature. To obtain quantitative data we
examined in how many articles these n=42 terms were
present and how often the terms were present in agiven article (Tables 2 and 3). To obtain qualitative
data for the terms that were present in the n=648
articles, we read the context in which these terms werementioned in the articles.
2.3. Limitations
There are several limitations to our study. To start,
only articles written in the English language were
downloaded, meaning that the study has excluded
different cultural viewpoints that could be present inacademic literature that is written in other languages. In
addition, limiting our study to English language articles
may have led to an under-appreciation of thegeographical origin of the authors who are engaging
with the field of EcoHealth. Also, the articles we usedwere drawn from only four databases (EBSCO All,
Scopus, Science Direct and Web of Science). The
selectivity of the databases could have led to a biased
collection of EcoHealth articles, which might not be a
representative sample of the field of EcoHealth as awhole. Likewise, only articles that had the term
“EcoHealth” in the article title, article abstract, article
keyword or in the title of journal were downloaded.
Other similar discourses and terms such as “ecologicalhealth” were not included and this too could have led toa selection bias related to the EcoHealth discourse [22].
The ethics keywords we chose are not considered acomplete list representative of the entire field of ethics,
however it does reflect a variety of visible ethics terms,
fields and theories. Finally we only searched forjournals with ethic* in the title in only four databases(EBSCO All, Scopus, Science Direct and Web of
Science) and as such our results cannot be generalized
for all journals with ethic* in the title.

48

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

Table 1: The number of hit counts for each ethics discourse term or theory when paired with the human, animal orthenvironmental ethical sub-fields and the EcoHealth field, according to Google Scholar™ [accessed July 27 2015].
Term
Value
Philosophy/philosophicalHarm
Justice
Moral*
Autonomy
Ethic*
HumaneAnimal ethics
Environmental ethics
Dignity
Bioethics
Socialist
Kant
Egalitarian
Anthropocentrism
Utilitarianism
Human ethics
Public health ethics
Care ethics
Ecological ethics
Beneficence
Hedonism
Ecocentrism
Feminist Approach
Consequentialism
Deontology
lLbertarian
Psychological hedonism
Pychological altruism
Rights theory
Maleficence
Individual relativism
Virtue ethics
Cultural relativism
Feminist ethics
Samuel Pufendorf
WD Ross
Moral relativism
Female care based ethics
Virtue theories
Preference utilitarianism

Sub Groups of Ethics Discourses
Human ethics
Animal Ethics
25,10063,1008,040 / 5,170
7,280 / 4,860
4,880
3,590
5,580
3,620
7,000
5,580
4,040
1,630
2,690
2,030
1,170
3,520
877
113,000
940
2,110
2,470
1,290
855
1,860
889
316
1,630
1,810
784
423
554
950
809
1,180
39,500
877
36
76
126
36
206
181
515
305
262
151
149
175
97
63
210
291
243
287
243
175
8
6
10
4
116
317
163
117
6
2
342
559
186
84
120
204
10
17
63
92
156
80
0
0
16
18
47
127

3. Findings
3.1. Google Scholar
In the first step we compared how often the n=42
ethics related terms were mentioned when paired withthe phrases “animal ethics”, “environmental ethics”,“human ethics” and “EcoHealth” in the Google Scholar
search.
Table 1 reveals that the ethics keywords had greater
hit counts when paired with human, animal orenvironmental ethics than with the term “ecohealth” ineach case except for the terms “Psychological Altruism”
and “Individual Relativism” (Table 1). “Female Care
Based Ethics” was the only one of the ethics keywords(n=42) that had zero hit counts when paired with all

Environmental Ethics
47,90039,900 / 29,600
14,80024,50032,60010,70018,1004,430
4,430
73,200
6,710
5,980
4,100
8,050
3,540
7,050
5,450
941
348
747
2,730
1,350
928
2,370
325
3,010
1,390
1,740
40
27
955
385
28
2,770
702
971
64
294
617
0
132
318

EcoHealth
6,480
1,320 / 1,280
1,170
1,030
621
387
222
200
200
147
136
96
91
78
74
53
32
17
17
13
13
13
13
12
12
8
6
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
1
1
1
0
0
0
0

three ethics types and the term ecohealth (Table 1). In
n=36 of n=42 cases, the three types of ethics had morethan threefold the hit counts than “ecohealth” did when
paired with the ethics keywords (n=42) (Table 1). In
general, the ethics terms had much more coverage inthe three types of ethics and term “ecohealth” than the
ethical theories did (Table 1). For each ethics keyword,
there were many more hit counts for environmental
ethics, than there were for human ethics, animal ethics
or the term “ecohealth” (Table 1). Therefore, eachethics discourse term, field or theory engages withhuman, animal and especially environmental ethics far
more often than with the field of EcoHealth as reflectedby the presence of the term “ecohealth” according tothGoogle Scholar™ [accessed on July 27 2015].

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
3.2 Mentioning of ecohealth in ethics journals
In a second step we searched for the term “ethic*” inthe journal title of four academic databases (EBSCO
All, Scopus, Science Direct and Web of Science)
generating n=122,320 article hits in EBSCO All,
n=43,430 article hits in Scopus, n=1,479 article hits inScience Direct and n=10,026 in Web of Science andthe presence of the term “ecohealth” in the abstracts ofthese articles. All four databases had zero article
counts when searched for both the term “ethic*” in thejournal title and the term “ecohealth” in the article title,
abstract, keyword (Scopus and Science Direct); topic(Web of Science) and abstract (EBSCO).
3.3 EcoHealth academic Literature
In the third step, we compared how often the n=42
ethics related terms were mentioned in the n=648
downloaded EcoHealth academic articles.
Table 2 and 3 reveal the following: the term “ethic*”
had n=195 hit counts in n=123 of the n=648 articles
covered (Table 2). Of the n=22 ethics terms and n=20
ethics theories, there were only nine ethics terms, with
hit counts ranging from n=17-2282, that were present ingreater than or equal to six (≥ 1 percent) of the n=648
articles covered. Only one of the n=20 ethics theories(Kant) was present in greater than or equal to six (≥ 1
percent) of the n=648 articles covered. N=17 ethics
theories were not mentioned.
From the nine keywords that are represented in
more than one percent of the downloaded articles, only
five of them are considered to have substantial
coverage with hit counts greater than or equal to 100
and article counts greater than or equal to 50: “value”(n=2282, n=414), “harm” (n=656, n=195), “ethic*”(n=195, n=123), “philosophy|philosophical” (n=174,n=78), “justice” ( n=118, n=51).
3.4. Qualitative Analysis
3.4.1 ValueOf the 42 keywords, the term “value” was mostprevalent throughout the n=648 EcoHealth academic
articles (n=2282 hit counts in n=414 articles). The
phrase “value of” (n=277 hits) highlighted a number ofvalues throughout the n=648 EcoHealth academic
articles which included numerical or percentage values
3(n=46 hits) such as the value of PM10 levels (65 µg/m ),ecosystems or environments themselves and theconservation of their ecological services (n=10), thenutritional or economic value of several foods (n=7)
including berries [23] and rice [24] and the value of
ecosystem approaches to health (including EcoHealth& One Health) (n=6) in three articles [6, 25-28]. Also
included under the phrase “value of” was networking
and social connections (n=6) in four articles [25, 29-31],
several animals and forms of wildlife for food orentertainment (n= 6) such as bats [32], birds [33, 34]
and salmon [35], participatory research [36-38]
community involvement (n=4) in one article [29],transdisciplinary research (n=3) in two articles [39, 40],

49

partnerships and collaboration (n=3) in three articles[25, 41, 42], conservation medicine (n=3) in two articles[43, 44] and Indigenous values including respect andreciprocity (n=2) in two articles [45, 46]. There wereseveral other values such as science [47], a systems
approach in exploring human response to threats [48],risk reductions for certain types of risk [49], a holistic
understanding of interventions [50] and cultural notionsof well-being [51] that were mentioned once or twice.
Table 2: The hit count and the article count for eachethics discourse term (by name in ATLAS-ti©) using
ATLAS-ti© software
Term

value
harm
ethic*
philosophy|philosophicaljustice
moral*
autonomyhumaneanimal ethics
bioethics
dignityecocentrism
environmental ethics
anthropocentrism
care ethics
ecological ethics
virtue ethics
feminist ethics
public health ethics
human ethics
beneficence
maleficence

Hit Counts(ATLAS-ti©)

2282
656
195
174
118
62
31
17
8
8
4
4
3
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0

Number of
Articles(ATLAS-ti©)(n=648)
414
195
123
78
51
46
13
13
6
5
3
2
2
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0

The n=648 EcoHealth academic articles used thephrase “value in” 34 times covering many aspects suchas changing social value in community [23],EcoHealth’s value in integrating health [52], and net
value in selected technologies [49, 53]. The n=648
EcoHealth academic articles perceived there to be“value from” n=22 times covering different cultural
settings [54], intact ecosystems [55], wastes such as
fertilizer [56], samples collected in certain seasons [57],p-values [58] and others. The coverage of “value”
included “value chain[s]” n=25 times covering different
types such as poultry or agricultural [34]. “Culturalvalue[s]” was mentioned n=20 times covering
Indigenous cultural values [59], the cultural values ofsociety reflected in ethics [45] and sociocultural values[23, 51, 60]. The phrase “indicator value[s]” was used
n=19 times ranging from ecological [61] to bird [62]indicator values. “Economic value” were mentioned
n=19 time covering livestock [63], berries [23] andenvironmental and health benefits [49] among others.
“Stakeholder value” as a phrase was used (n=14), but
only in one article, which indicated that stakeholder

50

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

values are used to increase planning, understanding
and decision-making, and this is often translated into
policy [64].
Aside from the terms mentioned above with greaterthan fifteen hits, there is little coverage of the following
terms: human value (n=14), nutritional value (n=12),
social value (n=12), intrinsic value (n=10), market value(n=9), commercial value (n=7), highly valued (n=7),
ecological value (n=6), spiritual value (n=5), aesthetic
value (n=5), health value (n=5), Western values (n=5),
limited value (n=4), value-based (n=4), community
values (n=4), risk value (n=4), personal values (n=4),
collective value (n=3), property value (n=3), womenvalue (n=2), future value (n=2), normative value (n=2),
novel value (n=2), academic value (n=2), democraticvalue (n=1), traditional value (n=1), financial value(n=1), value-free (n=1), European value (n=1), global
value (n=1), value diversity (n=1), quantifiable value(n=1), scientific value (n=1), diverse values (n=1),
interdependent value (n=1), valued members of society(n=1), value of nature (n=1), shift in values (n=1) andfundamental value (n=1).
Table 3: The hit count and the article count for eachethical theory (by name in ATLAS-ti©) using ATLAS-ti©
software
Term

Kant
Socialist
Egalitarian
Moral Relativism
Individual Relativism
Cultural Relativism
Psychological Hedonism
Psychological Altruism
Female Care Based Ethics
Virtue Theories
Samuel Pufendorf
Rights Theory
WD Ross
Consequentialism
Hedonism
Deontology
Utilitarianism
Preference Utilitarianism
Libertarian
Feminist Approach

Hit Counts(ATLAS-ti©)
21
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Number of
Articles(ATLAS-ti©)
14
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

3.4.2. Harm
The term “harm” had a high hit count in theacademic EcoHealth literature (n=656), however there
were a large number of false positives associated with
this
term.
Terms
such
as
pharmaceutical,
pharmacology, pharmacists or harmony, harmonious,
harmonizing and names such as Harmon and Sharma
within the references sections accounted for 421 hit
counts.
Of the other 235 hit counts that were in fact the term
“harm*”, there was a wide variety of coverage. The
most common uses of the term harm was harmful
products, organisms or occurrences, which were

natural, man-made or otherwise (n=139). Of the natural
harm, algal blooms or toxins (n=21), pathogens (n=11),
seafood or fish consumption (n=15), and environmental
change, degradation or disasters (n=18) werecommonly mentioned. Other natural harms included
light exposure (UV) (n=3) in three articles [60, 65, 66],
cyanobacteria (n=3) in two articles [65, 67], lead (n=3)
in three articles [44, 68, 69] and mosquitos (n=2) in two
articles [58, 70]. The human-made harms were mostcommonly pesticides (n=16) and (methyl) mercury (13),although chemicals[66, 71-74], urbanization [47],vehicles [75], industrial food production[74] andinappropriate use of technology [66] were among
others mentioned as well. Other indirect harms included
nutrient deficiencies in children [76], limited surveillance[77], the pace of human activity [66] and lack ofenvironmental regulations [78].
The term harm also covered aspects that protect
against, minimize or prevent harm (n=34) including
precautionary measures [72, 79-81], the immune
system [82], regulations and guidelines [47, 71, 83-85],
sustainability [72, 86] and EcoHealth [79, 81, 87]among others. Harm was tied to vulnerability [88] andin turn, tied to vulnerability assessment [88]. “Hazard is
the potential for harm” [47, 89], while adaptive capacity
is the potential to cope with a hazard and reduce harm[82, 88]. Harm was also linked with risk [47, 83, 85] andrisk assessments specifically after harm has occurred[85, 90]. Lastly, the academic EcoHealth literature
briefly mentions that there are harmful [68], harmless[68] and “modern” practices [68] as well as thresholdsof harm [72, 91] associated with these practices.
3.4.3. Ethic
The term “ethic*” (n=195) was most frequently used
to affirm ethics approval or to outline the ethicalconsiderations or implications of the research (n=79).
Research ethics approval (n=62) included approval forhuman participants (n=45), animal subjects (n=15) anduse of Code of Research Ethics for Indigenous
populations [45]. Ethical considerations (n=17) were
employed in risk assessments or management [47], theexploitation of resources [47, 92], vaccines [77, 93],
Inuit communities [94], and technology [93, 95, 96].
Beyond ethical approval and considerations, theacademic EcoHealth literature examined ethicalapproaches or frameworks (n=9), which emphasized
citizenship to land [97, 98], human responsibility for the
global biosphere[99] and partnerships with theIndigenous [45]. The term “ethic*” was used to talkabout Leopold’s land ethic concept (n=6) [97, 100],which
involves
appropriate
stewardshipandmaintenance of the land and is strongly related to thecapacity of the environment [97]. Types of ethics
emerged such as ethic of reciprocity [51] and ethic ofplace [48], which was similar to Leopold’s land ethic.
“Ethic*” was also used to talk about ethics concerning
human-nature relationships [101], the protection ofsensitive habitats[47], the exploitation of water
resources by current generations [47], the technology
of change[95, 96] and climate change [84].
Interestingly, Johnston et al. claimed that according toEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
aboriginals, social security benefits deplete work ethic[102]. Finally, the academic EcoHealth literature
covered unethical practices (n=5), including Inuit
research [36], harmful sampling in animals [103, 104],
advertisement of benefits of illegal consumption ofendangered species [105] and to reduce consumptionof bush meat without alternative food [106]. There were
37 hit counts for the term “ethic*” that were represented
in the references of the articles, and were notconsidered meaningful.
3.4.4. Philosophy / philosophical
Of
the
174
hit
countsfortheterm“philosophy|philosophical”, 81 hits were false positives,
the most common of which is the PhilosophicalTransactions of the Royal Society series in thereference sections of the articles. Of the other 93 hitcounts,many
articles
used
the
term
“philosophy|philosophical” to discuss the philosophicalbasis or foundation of several concepts or theories(n=6) including Leopold’s land ethic concept [97], theSettings Approach [107], evolution or cultural theories[108], sustainable land-based food production [35], andthe concept of partnership [45, 107]. The academic
EcoHealth literature covered how the field of philosophy
has informed EcoHealth’s concept of health [25], andhow community participation philosophy in particular
had a place in the initial stages of the EcoHealthframework[68]. A pattern emerged whereby
philosophy was being used as a synonym for approach(n=5), and as a result the term philosophy was used totalk about a top-down approach [59] and a holistic
approach [109], among others. In addition, the term
philosophy was used to refer to a branch of knowledgeor thought (n=7), which included EcoHealth [36, 43, 99,110], socio-ecological resilience [59], Western [102]and “Indian” thinking [47]. Lastly, there were some subdiscourses such as Chinese philosophy, which
recognized that opposite forces complement each other[111], or scholastic philosophy that emphasized the
Catholic dogma [112].
3.4.5. Justice
The term “justice” was used throughout the n=648
EcoHealthacademic
articles(n=118),withenvironmental and social justice emerging as prominent
themes in watershed management processes [113,114]) and across the EcoHealth literature [115]).
Environmental justice was advocated for in one
EcoHealth articles [68] and exercised by Leopold’s land
health concept[97]. Environmental justice and
EcoHealth thinking were combined to create a political
ecology of human and environmental health to combat
injustices [116]. Interestingly, environmental justice
was recognized as a social determinant of health within
the EcoHealth field [68], while social justice wasconsidered a condition for health according to the
Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion [87, 117] and acore element in the field of EcoHealth [27, 98, 118,
119].
Justice, as well as sustainability and equity, are said
to affect health in the EcoHealth approach, which is in

51

part because all three link to transdisciplinary research[25, 27, 70, 118, 120]. According to Orozco,transdisciplinary practice requires commitment to social
justice and citizenship [120]. In addition, Wahbe et al.,claims that partnerships with groups, the Indigenous inparticular, contributes to self-determination and thepromotion of social justice [45]. In the academic
EcoHealth literature social justice is viewed as
dependent on the distribution of environmental andecological resources (n=1) [87], valuable in the Settings
Approach [107] and public health [9], but not generally
reflected in public policy [47].
Certain articles pointed out past or ongoing
injustices [116, 121-124] and the groups that facethese injustices namely women [30, 125], the poor [78,84] and minorities [44], which is well aligned with
EcoHealth’s focus on inequities. Other articles looked atjuvenile justice [126], international justice [127], thesupreme court justice and subsequent environmental
courts [128].
3.4.6. Moral
The coverage of the term “moral*” made up 15 of 62
hit counts, while the remaining 47 hit counts were false
positives including humoral, femoral and several
reference names such as Morales. The term “moral*”was most frequently used to talk about the importanceof having a moral compass [97] – moral responsibility
or integrity – when dealing with land use and thenatural resources control and conflict that results fromecosystem services management [81, 129]. Similar tothis coverage was talk of reparation for the moral valueof the environment, a concept termed “environmental
security” [47]. Another use of the term stemmed fromtransdisciplinary practices within the EcoHealth field ,which similar to the other ethics terms, relies on
citizenship and the exploration of moral values [120].
The academic EcoHealth literature possessed certain
unique and idealistic quotations associated with theterm “moral*”, the first of which is the idea that natureand human nature are themselves moral [47, 130], thesecond of which is what is termed the ‘Ideal Sphere of
Existence’ (n=1), meaning all that individuals or the
population holds as the best way to be [47]. Finally, theterm “moral*” was used negatively to identify moral
hazards such as participant reimbursement insurveillance participation [131], or to look at the
demoralization and moral injustice occurring around theissues of gender inequity [50] and state marginalization[116].
3.4.7. Autonomy
Of the subset of articles which discussed autonomy(n=31), many mentioned factors that increaseautonomy (n=7), such as the participant approach[125] and empowerment [132], but also natural andcultural resource management [102] and car ownership[47]. Some articles examined how the role of genderassumptions, processes and inequities affected
people’s ability to make decisions regarding health andwell-being (n=13) in three articles [125, 133, 134].
Other articles looked at autonomy as a part of the52

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

overall health and well-being of both individuals [51]and ecological or environmental systems [135, 136].
Lastly, the invasion of land and policies and theresulting disease, depression and loss of connection
with the land reduced the autonomy of Indigenous
people according to the EcoHealth discourse content[102, 137].
3.4.8. Kant
The coverage of Kant and Kantian theory was poor
(n=21) throughout the literature, revealing the lack ofconceptual or theoretical coverage in the field of
EcoHealth. There was only one relevant quotation,
which discussed the idealist view of Kantian Optimists’
who believe that international law and human rights are
crucial to the perception of security threats [47].
3.4.9. Humane
The term “humane” was rarely used in the n=648
EcoHealth academic articles (n=17). The most common
use of the term was to inform readers that subjects
within the study had been humanely euthanized [138142] and that the research was performed in a humanemanner [143]. Two other articles separately discussed
humane and wildlife conservation communities andhumane means of reducing production [144, 145].
Several other articles (n=4) were false positive.
3.4.10 Bioethics
The use of bioethics discourse (n=8) was notcovered beyond ethics approval for research studies[146, 147] or the name of certain bioethics journals [37,148, 149].
3.4.11 Animal Ethics
The term “animal ethics” (n=8) was used only toaffirm animal ethics approval within the field of
EcoHealth [104, 139, 150-153].
3.4.12 Dignity
The “quality of environment that permits a life ofdignity”[79] is Daszak’s meaningful quote from theStockholm Conference (1972), which uses the term
“dignity” (n=4) to emphasize the importance of theenvironment. However, it was one of only three relevant
quotations in the academic EcoHealth literature. The
other two quotations talk about the death of flowers andin turn the death of the flower’s dignity, which in thiscase was a poetic illustration of the effects of climatechange [154]. The coverage of the term “dignity” wasminimal.
3.4.13 Ecocentrism
According to the one relevant quotation in the
coverage of the term “ecocentrism” (n=4), EcoHealthcareerists make both ecocentrism and mitigatingclimate change strong focuses [111].
3.4.14 Environmental Ethics
Despite being a main sub-type of ethics,“environmental ethics” (n=3) as a term connects directly
to EcoHealth literature only in that it links to Leopold’s
concept of land ethic that was previously mentioned[97].
3.4.15 Socialist

The term “Socialist” (n=2) was used to speak aboutsocialist millworkers in early protests for civil rights[155] as well as the lack of resources for healthcare
during the post-socialist transition period [156].
3.4.16 Egalitarian
There was one quotation for the term “Egalitarian”,
which talks about the rapid economic growth that
occurred in a relatively egalitarian social structure in
Japan and the increase in life expectancy that resulted[99].
3.4.17 Anthropocentrism
The coverage of the term “anthropocentrism” islimitedtoone
quotation
which
says
that
anthropocentrism conflicts with sustainability, one of six
principle pillars of the field of EcoHealth [157].
3.4.18 Care Ethics
There was one quotation for the term “care ethics”,
which was a false positive employing the term
“Healthcare ethics” [78].
3.4.19 Ecological Ethics
The term “ecological ethics” had one quotation
which stated that The International Association for
Ecology and Health biennial conference has diverse
topics ranging from ecological ethics to conservation
medicine [158].
3.5. Geographical origin of authorship
Table 4 reveals that although there are authors fromdiverse geographical areas contributing to our sample
of n=648 EcoHealth academic articles, most of thesecontributions consist of 1-3 articles for a given country.
The USA contributed 38.5% to our n=648 articles, The
second largest contributor was Australia, although it
contributed more than four times less articles than the
USA did (n=62). There were very few articles that
contain the term “social”, and of those that did, thegeographical distribution of authorship across countries
is quite different, with Canada being the top country(n=30).
4. Discussion
We found that despite extensive ethics engagement
within the areas of human-human, human-animal andhuman-nature relationships in general, our findings
generated from our sample of n=648 EcoHealthacademic articles suggest that the EcoHealth field has
not engaged extensively with ethics terms and theories
and, if there is engagement, it is applied rather thanconceptual. Furthermore, we found that althoughauthors from over 70 countries contributed to the n=648
EcoHealthacademic
articles,mostcountries
contributed only 1-3 articles in comparison to the USA
who contributed 250 articles, which is equivalent to38.5 percent of the sample of the n=648 EcoHealthacademic articles we investigated.
4.1. Lack of Coverage of ethical discourse terms andtheories
We posit that the lack of conceptual engagementwith ethics terms and theories in our smple of articles isEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
problematic. Existing ethics literature covering humanhuman, human-animal and human-nature indicates that
ethics terms and ethical theories could be useful tools
for the EcoHealth field. A good example is the term“care ethics”, which was only mentioned once as afalse positive employing the term “healthcare ethics”[78]. According to the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, care
ethics recognizes the significance of relationships anddependencies [159]. Care ethics seeks to motivate
people to meet the needs of both others and ourselves,
and to care for others who are vulnerable or dependent[159]. Care ethics has been used in human-humanrelationships [160, 161], human-animal relationships[162, 163] and human-environmental relationships[164] to bring about understanding and empathy forothers and other forms of life. EcoHealth as a fieldseeks to examine how humans, animals and theenvironment interact and influence each other as asystem and how these interactions affect the health ofeach of these dimensions [7]. If the field of EcoHealthengaged further with the term “care ethics”, perhaps
EcoHealth could gain a better understanding of therelationships between humans, animals and theenvironment, and how to respect, care for and improve
the health of each dimension simultaneously.
Table 4: Geographical origin of authors
Code

EuropeAustria
Belgium
CyprusCzech Republic
Denmark
FinlandFranceGermany
GreeceGrenadaItaly
Lithuania
Northern Ireland
NorwayPortugal
PolandRomania
Slovenia
Spain
SwedenSwitzerland
The Netherlands
TurkeyUK
North America
Canada
USA
Asia
China
India
Indonesia
Japan
Korea
Lao People’s
Democratic Republic
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
ThailandSocial (n =articles ofauthors from agiven country)Non-social(n=articles ofauthors from agiven country)

0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
4
0
0
9

0
9
1
1
4
3
24
12
0
1
8
0
1
2
1
0
0
0
9
7
15
5
0
37

30
23

40
227

1
0
0
0
0

20
9
1
2
0
4

1
0
1
3

1
2
3
5

53

TaiwanVietnam
Other
Argentina
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
Benin
BelizeBolviaBotswana
BrazilCameron
Chad
Chile

0
2

0
8

0
11
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
0
0
0

7
51
1
3
2
1
1
1
13
1
2
3

Colombia
Cost Rica
Cuba
Democratic Republicof Congo
Ecuador
EthiopiaFiji Islands
Gabon
Ghana
GuatemalaIsrael
Ivory Coast
Kenya
Kyrgyzstan
LebanonMadagaskar
Malawi
MexicoMongolia
Nepal
New ZealandPakistan
PanamaPeru
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Syria
Tanzania
TobagoTunesia
UgandaVenezuela
ZambiaZimbabwe

2
1
1
0

5
3
1
2

2
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
2
0
1
0
0
3
0
1
1
0
0
2
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0

4
1
1
1
2
2
2
4
11
1
1
1
8
1
3
9
4
7
1
3
1
1
1
2
1
2

The “Egalitarian” theory had one hit count in the
EcoHealth literature, which talked about the rapid
economic growth that occurred in the relatively
egalitarian social structure in Japan [99]. Egalitarian
theory emphasizes equality and equal treatment [165].
The term “Egalitarian” was used much more frequently
in human (n=784), animal (n=423) and especiallyenvironmental (n=3,540) ethics than in the relation to“ecohealth” (n=74) in Google Scholar™ [accessed onthJuly 27 2015] (Table 1). Egalitarian theory is employedin human ethics to guide society to give equal rights
and basic status for every individual as well as equal
treatment across differences such as gender [166].
Animal ethics employs Egalitarian theory to argue that
equality applies to every being that can have a wellbeing of his/her own, which includes sentient nonhuman animals [167]. Egalitarian environmental ethics
is ecocentric because it maintains that “all organisms
and entities in the ecosphere, as parts of theinterrelated whole, are equal in intrinsic value” and have54

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)an equal right to live [168]. As one of the mainprinciples of EcoHealth, the field addresses unequal
and unfair conditions that affect the health ofdisadvantaged groups including women [7]. The field of
EcoHealth could make advancements towards genderand social equality across all humans, as well as fostera sense of equality across humans, animals and theenvironment if it engaged further with the “Egalitarian”
theory.
The term “virtue ethics” is also used infrequently
when paired with the term “ecohealth” (n= 3), as
compared to human (n=342), animal (n=559) andenvironmental (n=2,770) ethics in Google Scholar™
th[accessed on July 27 2015] (Table 1). In addition,“virtue ethics” had zero hit counts in the academic
EcoHealth literature (Table 2). As a field, virtue ethics
does not give direct guidance to our actions, but rather,
it focuses on having a virtuous character and being amoral agent, which will in turn lead to appropriate
actions [169]. To situate virtue ethics, many view its
emphasis on the role of virtues and moral character tobe in contrast to the deontology’s adherence to duties
and rules or consequentialism’s focus on theconsequences of one’s actions [170]. This sub-field isimportant because humans have more power overanimals, which drives humans to be indifferent or evento benefit from the harm that occurs to animals [169].
Virtue ethics brings forward the virtuous character inindividuals, which leads them to avoid insensitive or
abusive behaviour [169]. The external EcoHealthguideline documents consider animals and their health[7, 16], although it is largely an anthropocentric view of
the consequences of the transmission of infectious
diseases from animals to humans, similar to the field of
OneHealth [7, 16]. If the field of EcoHealth engaged
more with the keyword “virtue ethics”, this ethical subfield could help to improve human-animal interactions
beyond infectious diseases and avoid unnecessary
harm to animals.
“Feminist ethics” was one of several terms that was
employed often when paired with human (n=120),animal (n=204) and environmental (n=971) ethics, yet
not when paired with “ecohealth” (n=1) according tothGoogle Scholar™ [accessed on July 27 2015] (Table1). The term “feminist ethics” had zero hit counts within
the academic EcoHealth literature (Table 2). According
to Tong, feminist ethics “is an attempt to revise,reformulate, or rethink traditional ethics to the extent it
depreciates or devalues women's moral experience”[171]. Feminist ethics considers women’s interests anddomestic role, male and female characteristic traits andthe emphasis on male ethics of rules and rights rather
than female ethics of relationships and responsibilities[171]. EcoHealth seeks to understand the reasons forgender inequality and seeks to minimize the inequalities
and the consequences of these inequalities such as
unfair health status [7]. If there was more engagementwith the term “feminist ethics” in the EcoHealthdiscourse, then perhaps the EcoHealth field could
improve its understanding of how relationship dynamics
between males and females causes gender inequality

and how to avoid the consequences of suchinequalities. In addition, feminist ethics has frequently
been applied to environmental ethics (n=971) (Table 1),
creating a sub-field called ecofeminists [172].
Ecofeminists claim that patriarchalism has played acrucial role in “shaping the cultural categories (atomism,
hierarchalism, dualism, and androcentrism) responsible
for Western humanity’s domination of nature” [172],
which leads to the exploitation of the environment forhuman benefit. This argument is of interest to
EcoHealth, which focuses on ecological dimensions
and its influence on human health, as well as “howpeople use or influence ecosystems, the implications
for the quality of ecosystems, the provision of
ecosystem services, and sustainability” [7]. Charron
claims that ecosystems have intrinsic value, which is an
ecocentric view that looks beyond the use of
ecosystems for human benefit [7]. EcoHealth could
continue to improve human health, while also improving
human interaction with the environment andsustainability, if the field engaged further with the term
“feminist ethics”.
The coverage of “autonomy” included ways toincrease autonomy such as empowerment [132], waysthat autonomy has been decreased [102, 137], and therole of gender assumptions and inequities in making
health-related decisions [125, 133, 134]. However, themeaning of autonomy is unclear when looking at an
ecosystem. Ecosystem autonomy is a concept used bysome [173, 174] but is not engaged with within the
EcoHealth literature yet.
Even if a term was mentioned frequently this did notensure that the term was used in a conceptual orotherwise substantial fashion. “Ethic*” for example as aterm had 195 hit counts, which were widely dispersed
across 123 articles in the EcoHealth literature (Table 2).
The coverage for the term “ethic*” was largely ethics
approval or ethical considerations of the research(n=79). Beyond this, the coverage included several
ethical approaches or frameworks [45, 97-99],
Leopold’s land ethic concept [97, 100], ethics
concerning human-nature relationships [47, 84, 101],
technology [95, 96] and unethical practices [36, 103106]. The field of ethics (moral philosophy) involves
systematizing, defending and recommending conceptsof right and wrong behavior, which can be used togovern individuals and groups [18]. The field of
EcoHealth had coverage on certain moral principles
that ought to govern humans’ behaviour concerning theenvironment [47, 84, 97, 100, 101], however thecoverage was lacking in that it did not discuss why
these principles were needed. In addition, despite
talking about ethical issues and unethical practices
involving humans and animals [36, 103-106], the field
did not propose moral principles to guide thoseinteractions between humans and animals. Finally, theliterature touched on ethical concerns regarding
technology [95, 96], which is linked to innovation, oneof three main themes in the field of EcoHealth [16].
However, the literature did not engage with the moral
principles needed in order to govern and guide newEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
innovation in the field. The EcoHealth field attempts toemploy systems thinking, whereby humans, animals
and the environment are all interconnected andinfluence each other and each other’s health [4]. Ethics
principles and theories are often employed to govern
scientific and technological advancements andinnovation products and processes. If the field
conceptually engaged with the term “ethic*” in a moremeaningful way, it could outline moral rules andstandards for guiding the treatment and interactions
among humans and the technology they employ, ofanimals and the environment.
The term “justice” had 118 hit counts within 51
articles in the academic EcoHealth literature (Table 2).
Justice was used mostly to talk about environmental
and social justice, which were seen as core elements ofhuman health [87, 117] and environmental health [97,116]. Justice was employed in relation to certain
aspects of EcoHealth including transdisciplinary
research and the field of EcoHealth as a whole [115,120]. Several injustices to vulnerable populations werealso observed [116, 121-124]. The coverage of “justice”
in the field of EcoHealth was relevant in that it
addressed transdisciplinarity, sustainability, and thesocial equality principles of EcoHealth [4], although thecoverage did not include animals. Animal justiceconsiders how animals are raised and treated byhumans and attempts to avoid abusive or unsafe
animal practices [175]. Poor animal practices such aslive bird markets not only affect the health of animals,
but also the health of humans [14]. Similar to
OneHealth, EcoHealth examines unsafe animal
practices and the ill-health which it brings to bothanimals and humans, especially in the context of
infectious diseases [14]. Current strategies toaddresses
theseemerging
diseasesareanthropocentric as they strongly reflect human interestand thus do not consider animal justice [14]. The fieldof EcoHealth could address these human-animal
interactions and the resulting health of both humans
and animals in a more fair and considerate way if it
engaged further with the concept of animal justice.
We posit that each of the 42 ethics terms andtheories, if employed in the EcoHealth literature, would
have differential impact within the EcoHealth discourse.
For example innovation is a term often used within the
EcoHealth literature. It is mentioned n=154 in the n=648
downloaded articles and 1,200 hits are obtained withthe keyword combination of “ecohealth” and“innovation” in Google Scholar™. The 2014 annual
EcoHealth conference mentions that there is a need forinnovations in theory, methods and practice [16] andCharron’s 2012 paper is called “Ecohealth Research inPractice: Innovative Applications of an Ecosystem
Approach to Health” [7]. Ethical reasoning and ethics
theories are often employed in innovation discourses[176-181]. The type of ethics theories and principles
employed, for example, would lead to different
conclusions around the boundaries of innovation andutility of a given innovation.
To give another example; an ethics of responsibility

55

is used by some to defend the deep ecology movement
and to question the shallow ecology movement [182]whereby the deep ecology movement is seen as
ecocentric and the shallow ecology movement is seen
as anthropocentric [5]. Based on the premises of the
deep ecology movement and the shallow ecology
movement, these movements, if linked to the EcoHealthfield, could impact the field in different ways [5]. The
concept of ethics of responsibility is not engaged within
the EcoHealth academic literature as demonstrated by
the zero hit counts in Google scholar™. However, theethics of responsibility might be an interesting one for
EcoHealth scholars who are to engage with: a) driversof change to health, ecosystems and society:integrating understanding from global to local scales, b)
innovations in theory, methods and practice and c)moving between research and action: mobilizing
knowledge to benefit health, ecosystems, and society[16].
Interestingly, in addition to the minimal coverage of
ethical discourse terms and theories within theacademic EcoHealth literature, the term “ecohealth”
was also not present in the abstract of any article within
the identified ethics journals, which suggests that thefield of EcoHealth is not yet a main focus for ethicalinquiry either.
4. 2 Global EcoHealth
We posit further that a broader conceptual
engagement with ethics terms and theories is also
warranted given the global scope of the EcoHealth field[16]. The geographical origin of authors outlined inTable 4 highlights the global scope of the n=648
EcoHealth academic articles although, notably, thegeographical origin of authorship is uneven andrequires some improvements. EcoHealth was originallypart of IDRC’s international effort to link humans andecosystems to improve health, and it remains part of a
global effort to achieve healthier, more equitable andsustainable lives and livelihoods all over the world [7].
An implication of being a global community is that there
is not always agreement on what each relevant groupshould adhere to on a global scale. Ethics terms andtheories as well as ethics reasoning are not employedin the same way across different geographical regions.
Ecuador for example added in 2008 “rights of nature”
into its constitution [183-185]. This concept could havevarious impacts on EcoHealth at the conceptual andpractical level. For example, the “rights of nature” could
disfavor anthropocentrism, although this depends on
how the “right of nature” is implemented. There are no
articles from the academic EcoHealth literature that has
engaged with this concept yet, including articles that
had coverage on Ecuador or had authors from Ecuador.
Indeed numerous authors discuss the realization ofa global ethics [9, 168, 186-197]. The EcoHealth field
has not yet started to engage with the diverse use of
ethics reasoning and ethic theories globally and theimpact this might have on the global EcoHealth scopeand vision. However, given its global scope and theglobalization of many of the problems the EcoHealth

56

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

field tries to address, it might be useful to engage withthe global ethics discourse.
5. Conclusion
The field of EcoHealth examines the complex
linkages between society, animals, ecosystems andenvironments in order to understand and improve thehealth and wellbeing of people, animals andecosystems [5, 7]. Ethical reasoning and theories areuseful in guiding actions which influence humans,
animals and the environment. As such, it would followthat ethical reasoning and theory are prevalent in the
EcoHealth field. Based on our sample of n=648 articles
our findings suggest that while the academic EcoHealthliterature has applied certain ethics terms, it has not yet
engaged fully with the conceptual aspects of ethics.
This lack of meaningful engagement with ethics terms
and theories is problematic because it limits theguidance on human-human, human-animal and humanenvironment relationships, which in turn impedes
progress on the principles and goals that the EcoHealthfield is trying to accomplish. In order to positively
influence actions in service of the stated principles andgoals, the field of EcoHealth could develop an
EcoHealth ethics framework that conceptually guides
how human-human, human-animal and humanenvironmental relationships should interact and relate
to each other on a global scale.
6. Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the support of the Wolbpack. The
authors declare no conflict of interest.

7. References
1. Wilcox, B.A., et al., EcoHealth: a transdisciplinary imperative for asustainable future. EcoHealth, 2004. 1(1): 3-5.
2. Butler, C.D. and P. Weinstein, Global ecology, global health,ecohealth. EcoHealth, 2011. 8(3): 253-254.
3. Charron, D.F., Ecosystem Approaches to Health for a Global
Sustainability Agenda. EcoHealth, 2012. 9(3): 256-266.
4. Unahalekhaka, A., et al. EcoHealth manual. 2013; Available from:https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/33566.
5. Wolbring, G., Ecohealth through an ability studies and disability
studies lens in Ecological Health: Society, Ecology and Health,
M.K. Gislason, Editor. 2013, Emerald: London, UK. 91-107.
6. Lebel, J., Ecohealth and the Developing World. EcoHealth, 2004.
1(4): 325-326.
7. Charron, D.F., Ecohealth Research in Practice, in EcohealthResearch in Practice, D.F. Charron, Editor. 2012, Springer New
York. 255-271.
8. Food and Agriculture Organization, U.N. Ethical issues in fisheries.
FAO Ethics Series 4 2005
Aug 2, 2015]; Available from:http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/y6634e/y6634e00.htm.
9. Wolbring, G., Ethical Theories and Discourses through an Ability
Expectations and Ableism Lens: The Case of Enhancement andGlobal Regulation. Asian Bioethics Review, 2012. 4(4): 293-309.
10. Fraser, D., Animal ethics and animal welfare science: bridging thetwo cultures1. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 1999. 65(3):171-189.
11. Franklin, A., Animals and modern cultures: A sociology of humananimal relations in modernity. 1999: Sage.
12. Regan, T., The case for animal rights. 1987: Springer.
13. Derrida, J. and D. Wills, The animal that therefore I am (more tofollow). Critical inquiry, 2002. 28(2): 369-418.
14. Capps, B., et al., Introducing One Health to the Ethical Debate
About Zoonotic Diseases in Southeast Asia. Bioethics, 2015. 29(8):588-596.
15. Bunnin, N. and E. Tsui-James, The Blackwell companion tophilosophy. 2003: John Wiley & Sons.

16. EcoHealth 2014 Conference organizers. EcoHealth 2014. 2014;
Availablefrom:https://ecohealth2014.uqam.ca/en/apropos/themes.html.
17. Beauchamp, T.L. and J.F. Childress, Principles of biomedical
ethics. 2001: Oxford University Press.
18. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ethics | Internet
Encyclopediaof
Philosophy.
2015;
Availablefrom:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/care-eth/.
19. Peacock, K. Ethical Theories. 2003 Aug 2, 2015]; Available from:http://classes.uleth.ca/200303/phil3406b/Ethical_Theories.html.
20. Scott. Annotated List of Ethical Theories. 2012; Available from:http://files.meetup.com/1715539/Annotated%20List%20of%20Ethic
al%20Theories.pdf
andhttp://www.meetup.com/History-ofPhilosophy/messages/boards/thread/24479582.
21. Cushman, R. ETHICS TERMS AND TERMINOLOGY. 2015 Aug
2,2015];
Availablefrom:
http://www.lasalle.edu/~price/Hon%20365%20ethics%20terms.htm
22. Pannucci, C.J. and E.G. Wilkins, Identifying and Avoiding Bias in
Research. Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 2010. 126: 619-625.
23. Parlee, B. and F. Berkes, Health of the land, health of the people:
a case study on Gwich’in berry harvesting in northern Canada.
EcoHealth, 2005. 2(2): 127-137.
24. Sarkar, A., S. Patil, and L.B. Hugar, Sustainability of current
agriculture practices, community perception, and implications forecosystem health: an Indian study. EcoHealth, 2011. 8: 418-431.
25. Leung, Z., D. Middleton, and K. Morrison, One Health andEcoHealth in Ontario: a qualitative study exploring how holistic andintegrative approaches are shaping public health practice in
Ontario. BMC public health, 2012. 12(1): 358.
26. Gumi, B., et al., Zoonotic transmission of tuberculosis between
pastoralists and their livestock in South-East Ethiopia. EcoHealth,2012. 9(2): 139-149.
27. Koné, B., et al., Facilitating the relationship between researchersand policy-makers: experiences from three ecohealth projects inWest and Central Africa. EcoHealth, 2011. 8(4): 413-417.
28. Hueston, W., et al., Assessing global adoption of one healthapproaches. EcoHealth, 2013. 10(3): 228-233.
29. Moore, M., M. Townsend, and J. Oldroyd, Linking human andecosystem health: The benefits of community involvement inconservation groups. EcoHealth, 2006. 3(4): 255-261.
30. Pesek, T.J., L.R. Helton, and M. Nair, Healing across cultures:
Learning from traditions. EcoHealth, 2006. 3(2): 114-118.
31. McKellar, K.A., et al., Evaluating communities of practice andknowledge networks: A systematic scoping review of evaluation
frameworks. EcoHealth, 2014. 11(3): 383-399.
32. Kamins, A.O., et al., Characteristics and risk perceptions of
Ghanaians potentially exposed to bat-borne zoonoses throughbushmeat. EcoHealth, 2014. 12(1): 104-120.
33. Naysmith, S., Observations from a live bird market in indonesia
following a contained outbreak of avian influenza A (H5N1).
EcoHealth, 2014. 11(1): 50-52.
34. Alders, R., et al., Impact of avian influenza on village poultry
production globally. Ecohealth, 2014. 11(1): 63-72.
35. Stephen, C., E. DiCicco, and B. Munk, British Columbia’s Fish
Health Regulatory Framework’s Contribution to Sustainability
Goals Related to Salmon Aquaculture. EcoHealth, 2008. 5: 472-81.
36. Harper, S.L., V.L. Edge, and A.C. Willox, ‘Changing Climate,
Changing Health, Changing Stories’ Profile: Using an EcoHealthApproach to Explore Impacts of Climate Change on Inuit Health.
EcoHealth, 2012. 9(1): 89-101.
37. Burger, J., M. Gochfeld, and T. Fote, Stakeholder participation in
research design and decisions: Scientists, fishers, and mercury insaltwater fish. EcoHealth, 2013. 10(1): 21-30.
38. Sripa, B., et al., Toward integrated opisthorchiasis control inNortheast Thailand: The Lawa project. Acta tropica, 2015. 141:361-367.
39. Kittinger, J.N., et al., Toward holistic evaluation and assessment:
linking ecosystems and human well-being for the Three Gorges
Dam. EcoHealth, 2009. 6(4): 601-613.
40. Min, B., L. Allen-Scott, and B. Buntain, Transdisciplinary researchfor complex One Health issues: A scoping review of key concepts.
Preventive veterinary medicine, 2013. 112(3): 222-229.
41. Ali, R. and H. Zhao, Wuhan, China and Pittsburgh, USA: Urban
environmental health past, present, and future. EcoHealth, 2008.
5(2): 159-166.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
42. Wallace, C.C., et al., Increase in antimicrobial resistance inbacteria isolated from stranded marine mammals of the Northwest
Atlantic. EcoHealth, 2013. 10(2): 201-210.
43. Kaufman, G.E., et al., Designing graduate training programs inconservation medicine—Producing the right professionals with theright tools. EcoHealth, 2008. 5(4): 519-527.
44. Pokras, M.A. and M.R. Kneeland, Lead poisoning: usingtransdisciplinary approaches to solve an ancient problem.
EcoHealth, 2008. 5(3): 379-385.
45. Wahbe, T.R., et al., Building international Indigenous people’s
partnerships for community-driven health initiatives. EcoHealth,2007. 4(4): 472-488.
46. Goy, J. and D. Waltner-Toews, Improving health in Ucayali, Peru:
a multisector and multilevel analysis. EcoHealth, 2005. 2(1): 47-57.
47. Koren, H. and C. Butler, The interconnection between the built
environment ecology and health, in Environmental Security andEnvironmental Management: The Role of Risk Assessment. 2006,
Springer. 109-125.
48. Cleland, D. and C. Wyborn, A reflective lens: Applying criticalsystems thinking and visual methods to ecohealth research.
EcoHealth, 2010. 7(4): 414-424.
49. Molinos-Senante, M., F. Hernández-Sancho, and R. Sala-Garrido,
Economic feasibility study for wastewater treatment: a cost–benefit
analysis. Science of the Total Environment, 2010. 408: 4396-4402.
50. Singer, M., Toward a critical biosocial model of ecohealth inSouthern Africa: The HIV/AIDS and nutrition insecurity syndemic.
Annals of Anthropological Practice, 2011. 35(1): 8-27.
51. Panelli, R. and G. Tipa, Placing well-being: A Maori case study ofcultural and environmental specificity. EcoHealth, 2007. 4: 445-60.
52. Colwell, R.R. and B.A. Wilcox, Water, ecology, and health.
Ecohealth, 2010. 7(2): 151-152.
53. Bowen, L., et al., Differential gene expression induced byexposure of captive mink to fuel oil: a model for the sea otter.
EcoHealth, 2007. 4(3): 298-309.
54. Fillion, M., et al., Quality of life and health perceptions among
fish-eating communities of the Brazilian Amazon: An ecosystemapproach to well-being. Ecohealth, 2009. 6(1): 121-134.
55. Burger, J., et al., Frequency and Rates of Outdoor Activities, andPerceptions of Places to Perform these Activities by Native
Americans and Caucasians Interviewed in Tennessee. EcoHealth,2012. 9(4): 399-410.
56. Nguyen-Viet, H., et al., Improving environmental sanitation,
health, and well-being: a conceptual framework for integral
interventions. EcoHealth, 2009. 6(2): 180-191.
57. Kirk, C.M., et al., Hematology of Southern Beaufort Sea polar
bears (2005–2007): biomarker for an arctic ecosystem healthsentinel. EcoHealth, 2010. 7(3): 307-320.
58. Linard, C., et al., Risk of malaria reemergence in southern
France: testing scenarios with a multiagent simulation model.
Ecohealth, 2009. 6(1): 135-147.
59. Kaneshiro, K.Y., et al., Hawai ‘i’s mountain-to-sea ecosystems:social–ecological microcosms for sustainability science andpractice. EcoHealth, 2005. 2(4): 349-360.
60. Bélanger, J. and T. Johns, Biological diversity, dietary diversity,and eye health in developing country populations: establishing theevidence-base. EcoHealth, 2008. 5(3): 244-256.
61. Lane, C.R., Assessment of isolated wetland condition in Florida
using epiphytic diatoms at genus, species, and subspecies
taxonomic resolution. EcoHealth, 2007. 4(2): 219-230.
62. Hanowski, J., et al., Consideration of geography and wetland
geomorphic type in the development of Great Lakes coastal
wetland bird indicators. EcoHealth, 2007. 4(2): 194-205.
63. Finucane, M.L., et al., An exploration of how perceptions of therisk of avian influenza in poultry relate to urbanization in Vietnam.
EcoHealth, 2014. 11(1): 73-82.
64. Seager, T.P., et al., Coupling Public Participation and Expert
Judgment for Assessment of Innovative Contaminated SedimentTechnologies, in Environmental Security and Environmental
Management:The Role of Risk Assessment, B. Morel and I. Linkov,
Editors. 2006, IOS Press: Amsterdam. p. 223-245.
65. Hu, W., et al., Weather variability, sunspots, and the blooms of
cyanobacteria. EcoHealth, 2009. 6(1): 71-78.
66. Tong, S. and C.L. Soskolne, Global environmental change andpopulation health: progress and challenges. EcoHealth, 2007. 4(3):352-362.

57

67. Sadgrove, N.J., A ‘Cold-Case’Review of Historic Aboriginal andEuropean-Australian Encounters with Toxic Blooms of
Cyanobacteria. EcoHealth, 2012. 9(3): 315-327.
68. Anticona, C., et al., Easier said than done: challenges of applying
the Ecohealth approach to the study on heavy metals exposure
among indigenous communities of the Peruvian Amazon. BMC
public health, 2013. 13(1): 437.
69. Johnson, C., T. Kelly, and B. Rideout, Lead in ammunition: apersistent threat to health and conservation. EcoHealth, 2013.
10(4): 455-464.
70. Sheffield, P.E., et al., Emerging Roles of Health Care Providers to
Mitigate Climate Change Impacts: A Perspective from East
Harlem, New York. Health and Human Rights, 2014. 16(1): 113121.
71. Fang, J., et al., Water management challenges in the context ofagricultural intensification and endemic fluorosis: the case of
Yuanmou County. Ecohealth, 2011. 8(4): 444-455.
72. Hernke, M.T. and R.J. Podein, Sustainability, health andprecautionary perspectives on lawn pesticides, and alternatives.
Ecohealth, 2011. 8(2): 223-232.
73. Lam, B.A., D.B. Walton, and R.N. Harris, Motile zoospores of
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis move away from antifungal
metabolites produced by amphibian skin bacteria. EcoHealth,2011. 8(1): 36-45.
74. Romanelli, C., et al., From Manaus to Maputo: toward a publichealth and biodiversity framework. EcoHealth, 2014. 11(3): 292-9.
75. Patz, J., Launch of the International Association for Ecology and
Health at Its First Biennial Conference: Message from the
President Elect. EcoHealth, 2007. 4(1): 6-9.
76. Hales, S. and C. Corvalan, Public health emergency on planet
earth: Insights from the millennium ecosystem assessment.
EcoHealth, 2006. 3(3): 130-135.
77. Sainsbury, A.W., et al., Poxviral disease in red squirrels Sciurusvulgaris in the UK: spatial and temporal trends of an emerging
threat. EcoHealth, 2008. 5(3): 305-316.
78. Vatovec, C., L. Senier, and M. Bell, An ecological perspective on
medical care: environmental, occupational, and public healthimpacts of medical supply and pharmaceutical chains. EcoHealth,2013. 10(3): 257-267.
79. Rapport, D.J. and A. Singh, An ecohealth-based framework forstate of environment reporting. Ecological Indicators, 2006. 6(2):409-428.
80. Howard, J., Cover Essay: Children and EcoHealth. EcoHealth,2006. 3(3): 215-217.
81. Savard, H.I., J. Howard, and M. Simon, Community Based
College Education: A Model for Resolving Conflicts in Natural
Resource Management. EcoHealth, 2007. 4(3): 287-297.
82. Janssen, M.A. and E.E. Osnas, Adaptive capacity of socialecological systems: lessons from immune systems. EcoHealth,2005. 2(2): 93-101.
83. Aguirre, A.A., et al., Hazards associated with the consumption ofsea turtle meat and eggs: a review for health care workers and thegeneral public. EcoHealth, 2006. 3(3): 141-153.
84. Patz, J.A., et al., Climate change and global health: quantifying a
growing ethical crisis. EcoHealth, 2007. 4(4): 397-405.
85. Ralston, N.V., Selenium health benefit values as seafood safety
criteria. EcoHealth, 2008. 5(4): 442-455.
86. Sadgrove, N.J., The influence of indigenous food procurement
techniques on populations of cyanobacteria in pre-european
Australia: a potential small-scale water amelioration tool.
EcoHealth, 2009. 6(3): 390-403.
87. Butler, C.D. and S. Friel, Time to regenerate: ecosystems andhealth promotion. PLoS Med, 2006. 3(10): e394.
88. Dickin, S.K., C.J. Schuster-Wallace, and S.J. Elliott, Developing avulnerability mapping methodology: applying the water-associateddisease index to dengue in Malaysia. PLos One, 2013. 8(5):e63584.
89. Stephen, C., J. Berezowski, and V. Misra, Surprise is a Neglected
Aspect of Emerging Infectious Disease. EcoHealth, 2014. 12(2):208-.
90. Grace, D., et al., Participatory probabilistic assessment of the risk
to human health associated with cryptosporidiosis from urban
dairying in Dagoretti, Nairobi, Kenya. Tropical animal health andproduction, 2012. 44(1): 33-40.
91. Van Hoomissen, S., et al., Blood and Hair Mercury
Concentrations in the Pacific Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina richardii)

58

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

Pup:
Associations
with
Neurodevelopmental
Outcomes.
EcoHealth, 2015. 12(3): 490-.
92. Ashford, R.W., Disease as a stabilizing factor in the protection oflandscape: the leishmaniases as models. EcoHealth, 2007. 4(1):99-103.
93. Sommerfeld, J. and A. Kroeger, Eco-bio-social research on
dengue in Asia: a multicountry study on ecosystem andcommunity-based approaches for the control of dengue vectors inurban and peri-urban Asia. Pathogens and global health, 2012.
106(8): 428-435.
94. Aenishaenslin, C., et al., Characterizing rabies epidemiology inremote Inuit communities in Québec, Canada: a “one health”
approach. Ecohealth, 2014. 11(3): 343-355.
95. Šunde, C., The Grass Is Always Greener. EcoHealth, 2005. 2(1):
4-5.
96. Rabinowitz, P.M., L. Odofin, and F.J. Dein, From “Us vs. Them” to“Shared Risk”: Can Animals Help Link Environmental Factors to
Human Health? EcoHealth, 2008. 5(2): 224-229.
97. Berkes, F., N.C. Doubleday, and G.S. Cumming, Aldo Leopold’s
land health from a resilience point of view: self-renewal capacity ofsocial–ecological systems. EcoHealth, 2012. 9(3): 278-287.
98. Brown, V.A., Principles for EcoHealth Action: Implications of the
Health Synthesis Paper, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment,
and the Millennium Development Goals. Workshop Group,
EcoHealth ONE, Madison, Wisconsin, October 2006. EcoHealth,2007. 4(1): 95-98.
99. Asakura, T., et al., The ecosystem approach to health is apromising strategy in international development: lessons fromJapan and Laos. Globalization and health, 2015. 11(1): 1-8.
100. Rapport, D.J., Response to EcoHealth editorial, Parkes MW(2011) Vol. 8, Issue 2. EcoHealth, 2012. 9(4): 378-379.
101. Waltner-Toews, D., et al., Agro-urban ecosystem healthassessment in Kathmandu, Nepal: epidemiology, systems,
narratives. EcoHealth, 2005. 2(2): 155-164.
102. Johnston, F.H., et al., Ecohealth and Aboriginal testimony of thenexus between human health and place. EcoHealth, 2007. 4(4):489-499.
103. Gilbert, A.T., et al., Deciphering serology to understand theecology of infectious diseases in wildlife. EcoHealth, 2013. 10(3):298-313.
104. McMichael, L.A., D. Edson, and H. Field, Measuringphysiological stress in Australian flying-fox populations. EcoHealth,2014. 11(3): 400-408.
105. Senko, J., et al., To eat or not to eat an endangered species:
views of local residents and physicians on the safety of sea turtle
consumption in northwestern Mexico. EcoHealth, 2009. 6: 584595.
106. Subramanian, M., Zoonotic disease risk and the bushmeat
trade: Assessing awareness among hunters and traders in Sierra
Leone. EcoHealth, 2012. 9(4): 471-482.
107. Harris, N., J. Grootjans, and K. Wenham, Ecological Aging: The
Settings Approach in Aged Living and Care Accommodation.
EcoHealth, 2008. 5(2): 196-204.
108. Rostami, R., et al., The Role of Historical Persian Gardens on
the Health Status of Contemporary Urban Residents. EcoHealth,2014. 11(3): 308-321.
109. Stephens, C., M.W. Parkes, and H. Chang, Indigenous
perspectives on ecosystem sustainability and health. EcoHealth,2007. 4(4): 369-370.
110. Yacoob, M., B. Hetzler, and R. Langer. The ecohealth systemand the community engagement movement in foundations: A casestudy of mutual benefits from grants funded by the United Nations
Foundation. in Natural resources forum. 2004. Wiley Online
Library.
111. Custer, B., et al., News from the IAEH. EcoHealth, 2014. 11(3):286-289.
112. Howard, S.E. and P. Daszak, Questions of Time and Nature.
EcoHealth, 2011. 8(3): 404-405.
113. Bunch, M.J., Promoting health and well-being by managing forsocial–ecological resilience: the potential of integrating ecohealthand water resources management approaches. Ecology andSociety, 2011. 16(1): art. 6.
114. Bunch, M.J., et al., Watershed management and public health:An exploration of the intersection of two fields as reported in theliterature from 2000 to 2010. Environmental management, 2014.
54(2): 240-254.

115. Berbés-Blázquez, M., et al., Ecohealth and resilience thinking: a
dialog from experiences in research and practice. Ecology andSociety, 2014. 19(2): art24.
116. Tschakert, P. and K. Singha, Contaminated identities: mercury
and marginalization in Ghana’s artisanal mining sector. Geoforum,2007. 38(6): 1304-1321.
117. Aoyama, M. and M.J. Hudson, No Better Medicine: Health inAmerican Environmental Writing. EcoHealth, 2014. 11(4): 461-463.
118. Muñoz, G., et al., Ecosystem approach to promoting appropriate
antibiotic use for children in indigenous communities in Ecuador.
Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, 2011. 30(6): 566-573.
119. Sarkar, A., Ecosystem perspective of groundwater arsenic
contamination in India and relevance in policy. EcoHealth, 2010.
7(1): 114-126.
120. Orozco, F. and D.C. Cole, Development of transdisciplinarity
among students placed with a sustainability for health research
project. EcoHealth, 2008. 5(4): 491-503.
121. Bunch, M.J., et al., Research in turbulent environments: slums in
Chennai, India and the impact of the December 2004 Tsunami on
an EcoHealth project. EcoHealth, 2005. 2(2): 150-154.
122. Butler, C., Peering into the fog: ecologic change, human affairs,
and the future. EcoHealth, 2005. 2(1): 17-21.
123. Waltner-Toews, D. and P. Daszak, When Science Meets
Advocacy. EcoHealth, 2007. 4(1): 1-2.
124. Cifuentes, E. and S. Rodriguez, Urban sprawl, water insecurity,and enteric diseases in children from Mexico City. EcoHealth,2005. 2(1): 70-75.
125. Vansteenkiste, J., Considering the ecohealth approach: Shaping
Haitian women's participation in urban agricultural projects.
Development in Practice, 2014. 24(1): 18-29.
126. Davies, K., Economic Costs of Childhood Diseases andDisabilities Attributable to Environmental Contaminants inWashington State, USA. EcoHealth, 2006. 3(2): 86-94.
127. Waltner-Toews, D., Cover Essay: Darkness in Paradise.
EcoHealth, 2006. 3(2): 123-124.
128. Añabieza, M., et al., Philippine alliance of fisherfolk: ecohealthpractitioners for livelihood and food security. EcoHealth, 2010.
7(3): 394-399.
129. Dobson, A.P., Sympathy for the Devil. EcoHealth, 2007. 4(3):241-243.
130. Vanwambeke, S.O. and G.E. Rosen, Cover Essay: The
Fearsome and the Fuzzy. EcoHealth, 2009. 6(2): 316-317.
131. Forster, P., Ten Years on: Generating Innovative Responses to
Avian Influenza. EcoHealth, 2014. 11(1): 15-21.
132. Caprara, A., et al., Entomological impact and social participationin dengue control: a cluster randomized trial in Fortaleza, Brazil.
Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine andHygiene, 2015. 109(2): 99-105.
133. Mertens, F., J. Saint-Charles, and D. Mergler, Social
communication network analysis of the role of participatory
research in the adoption of new fish consumption behaviors. Social
Science & Medicine, 2012. 75(4): 643-650.
134. El Azar, G.E., et al., Effect of women’s perceptions andhousehold practices on children’s waterborne illness in a low
income community. EcoHealth, 2009. 6(2): 169-179.
135. Connell, D.J., Sustainable livelihoods and ecosystem health:exploring methodological relations as a source of synergy.
EcoHealth, 2010. 7(3): 351-360.
136. Lander, M.E., et al., Serum chemistry reference ranges for
Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) pups from Alaska: stock
differentiation and comparisons within a North Pacific sentinel
species. EcoHealth, 2013. 10(4): 376-393.
137. Napolitano, D.A., Towards understanding the health vulnerabilityof Indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation in the Amazon
rainforest: experiences from the Kugapakori Nahua Reserve, Peru.
EcoHealth, 2007. 4(4): 515-531.
138. Burger, J., et al., Selenium: mercury molar ratios in bullfrog andleopard frog tadpoles from the northeastern United States.
Ecohealth, 2014. 11(2): 154-163.
139. Flint, M., et al., Clinical and Pathological Findings in Green
Turtles (Chelonia mydas) from Gladstone, Queensland:
Investigations of a Stranding Epidemic. EcoHealth, 2014. 12(2).
140. Gervasi, S.S., et al., Experimental evidence for American
Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) susceptibility to chytrid fungus(Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). EcoHealth, 2013. 10: 166-71.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)141. Rocke, T.E., et al., Age at vaccination may influence response tosylvatic plague vaccine (SPV) in Gunnison’s prairie dogs
(Cynomys gunnisoni). EcoHealth, 2015. 12(2): 278.
142. VanWormer, E., et al., Toxoplasma gondii, source to sea: Higher
contribution of domestic felids to terrestrial parasite loading despite
lower infection prevalence. EcoHealth, 2013. 10(3): 277-289.
143. Polop, F.J., et al., Temporal and spatial host abundance andprevalence of Andes Hantavirus in Southern Argentina. EcoHealth,2010. 7(2): 176-184.
144. Pearl, M.C., Wildlife trade: Threat to global health. EcoHealth,2004. 1(2): 111-112.
145. Engeman, R.M., et al., Egg oiling to reduce hatch-year ringbilled gull numbers on Chicago’s beaches during swim season andwater quality test results. EcoHealth, 2012. 9(2): 195-204.
146. Waleckx, E., et al., An innovative ecohealth intervention for
Chagas disease vector control in Yucatan, Mexico. Transactions of
The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2015. 109(2):143-149.
147. Sallaberry-Pincheira, N., et al., Molecular Epidemiology of Avian
Malaria in Wild Breeding Colonies of Humboldt and Magellanic
Penguins in South America. EcoHealth, 2014. 12(2): 267-.
148. Alonso Aguirre, A., Developing Global Capacity in Conservation
Medicine: Predicting and Preventing the Next Epidemic from
Wildlife. Human evolution, 2012. 27(1-3): 47-50.
149. Venema, H. and M. Bunch, The State of the Art in Integrating
Ecohealth and Watershed Management Approaches. Human
evolution, 2012. 27(1-3): 55-64.
150. Bennett, M.D., et al., Coxiella burnetii in western barredbandicoots (Perameles bougainville) from Bernier and Dorre
Islands in Western Australia. EcoHealth, 2011. 8(4): 519-524.
151. Breed, A.C., et al., Bats without borders: long-distancemovements and implications for disease risk management.
EcoHealth, 2010. 7(2): 204-212.
152. McCallum, H., et al., Distribution and impacts of Tasmanian devil
facial tumor disease. EcoHealth, 2007. 4(3): 318-325.
153. Woods, G.M., et al., The immune response of the Tasmaniandevil (Sarcophilus harrisii) and devil facial tumour disease.
EcoHealth, 2007. 4(3): 338-345.
154. Daszak, P., A Beautiful Death. EcoHealth, 2010. 7(3): 405-7.
155. Daszak, P., Cover Essay: My Jerusalem, My EcoHell.
EcoHealth, 2010. 7(1): 148-149.
156. Zolzaya, B., et al., Representative seroprevalences of humanand livestock brucellosis in two Mongolian provinces. EcoHealth,2014. 11(3): 356-371.
157. Fowler, C.W., Sustainability, health, and the human population.
EcoHealth, 2005. 2(1): 58-69.
158. Hahn, M.B., M.A. Barrett, and P. Horwitz, Student Dialogues:
EcoHealth Offers a Home to the Interdisciplinary Student.
EcoHealth, 2012. 9(3): 241-242.
159. Care Ethics | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2015 Aug 2,
2015]; Available from: http://www.iep.utm.edu/care-eth/.
160. Lachman, V.D., Applying the ethics of care to your nursing
practice. Medsurg Nursing, 2012. 21(2): 112-116.
161. Alcabes, P. and A.B. Williams, Human rights and the ethic ofcare: A framework for health research and practice. Yale J. HealthPol'y L. & Ethics, 2001. 2(2): art.
162. Donovan, J., The feminist care tradition in animal ethics: A
reader. 2007: Columbia University Press.
163. Gifford, F., Animal care ethics, ANZCCART, and public
perceptions of animal use ethics. Journal of Agricultural andEnvironmental Ethics, 2000. 13(3-4): 249-257.
164. Johns-Putra, A., Environmental Care Ethics: Notes Toward a
New Materialist Critique. symploke, 2013. 21(1): 125-135.
165. Arneson, R., Egalitarianism. 2002.
166. Buchanan, A., The egalitarianism of human rights. Ethics, 2010.
120(4): 679-710.
167. Faria, C., Equality, Priority and Nonhuman Animals. Dilemata,2014(14): 225-236.
168. Yang, T., Towards an egalitarian global environmental ethics, inEnvironmental Ethics and International Policy, H.T. Have, Editor.
2006, UNESCO. p. 23-46.
169. Virtue ethics and care ethics. 2015; Available from:http://www.animal-ethics.org/virtue-ethics-care-ethics/.
170. Hursthouse, R., Virtue Ethics. 2003.
171. Tong, R. and N. Williams, Feminist Ethics. 1998.

59172. Zimmerman, M.E., Feminism, deep ecology, and environmental
ethics. Environmental Ethics, 1987. 9(1): 21-44.
173. Throop, W. and B. Vickers, Autonomy and Agriculture, in
Recognizing the Autonomy of Nature: Theory and Practice. 2013,
Columbia University Press: New York. p. 99.
174. Morito, B., Examining Ecosystem Integrity. Environmental
Ethics, 1999. 21(1): 59-73.
175. Animal Justice Canada - Advancing public knowledge of animal
practices and preventing the abuse and killing of animals. 2015;
Available from: http://animaljustice.ca.
176. Ozdemir, V., et al., Personalized medicine beyond genomics:
New technologies, global health diplomacy and anticipatory
governance. Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized
Medicine, 2009. 7(4): 225-230.
177. Wallach, W., From Robots to Techno Sapiens: Ethics, Law and
Public Policy in the Development of Robotics and
Neurotechnologies. Law, Innovation and Technology, 2011. 3(2):185-207.
178. Grunwald, A., Responsible innovation: Bringing together
technology assessment, applied ethics, and STS research. 2011:
run.unl.pt.
179. Spruit, S., Responsible innovation through ethics education:
educating to change research practice. Journal of Responsible
Innovation, 2014. 1(2): 246-247.
180. van den Hoven, J., Responsible innovation: A new look attechnology and ethics, in Responsible Innovation 1, J.v.d. Hoven,
et al., Editors. 2014: New York.
181. Holitzki Hannah and Wolbring Gregor, Responsible Innovationand Ethics: A need for Globalization. Eubios journal of asian andinternational bioethics, 2016. 26(1).
182. Naess, A., The shallow and the deep, long‐range ecology
movement. A summary. Inquiry, 1973. 16(1-4): 95-100.
183. Pinto, J., Legislating ‘Rights for Nature’in Ecuador, in
Environment and Citizenship in Latin America: Natures, Subjects
and Struggles, A. Latta and H. Wittman, Editors. 2012, Berghahn:
New York, .
184. Cho, H.S. and O.W. Pedersen, Environmental rights and future
generations, in Routledge Handbook of Constitutional Law, M.
Tushnet, T. Feiner, and C. Saunders, Editors. 2013, Routledge:
London. 401-412.
185. Wolbring, G., Ableism and energy security and insecurity:.
Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology, 2011. 5(1): Article 3.
186. Buller, P.F., J.J. Kohls, and K.S. Anderson, The challenge ofglobal ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 1991. 10(10): 767-775.
187. Gorniak-Kocikowska, K., The computer revolution and the
problem of global ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 1996.
2(2): 177-190.
188. Twiss, S.B. and B. Grelle, Explorations in global ethics:
Comparative religious ethics and interreligious dialogue. 1998:
Westview Pr.
189. Plumwood, V. and N. Low, Global Ethics and Environment.
1999.
190. Low, N., Global ethics and environment. 1999: Psychology
Press.
191. ten Have, H., The activities of UNESCO in the area of ethics.
Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 2006. 16(4): 333-351.
192. Chiarelli, B., Ethical anthropocentrism: Humanistic ethics andthe need for a new global bioethics. Mankind Quarterly, 2007.
47(4): 105-115.
193. ten Have, H. and T.W. Ang, Unesco's Global Ethics
Observatory. Journal of Medical Ethics, 2007. 33(1): 15-16.
194. Widdows, H., Is Global Ethics Moral Neo-colonialism? An
Investigation Of The Issue In The Context Of Bioethics. Bioethics,
2007. 21(6): 305-315.
195. Pogge, T.W.M., D. Moellendorf, and K. Horton, Global
Responsibilities: Global ethics: seminal essays. 2008: Paragon
House.
196. Sass, H.M. and Z. Xiaomei, Global Bioethics: Eastern orWestern Principles? Asian Bioethics Review, 2011. 3(1): 1-2.
197. Ryan, C., The Dialogue of Global Ethics. Ethics & International
Affairs, 2012. 26(01): 43-47.

60

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

A Critical Assessment of the
Ethical Approaches toEnvironmental Legislation in
Bangladesh with an
Emphasis on Biodiversity- Md. Jobair Alam
Assistant Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, University of
Dhaka, Bangladesh; Currently pursuing his Ph.D atMacquarie Law School, Macquarie University, Sydney,
Australia.
Email: jobairalam@du.ac.bd

Abstract
The conservation of biological diversity and thenecessity of using biological resources sustainably
became crucial within the socio-political milieu from the
beginning of the 1990s when the global community
began revisiting this issue following the adoption of theConvention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This was
further augmented by the IUCN Guide that reminds
parties to the CBD that in order to: i) institutionalize thedevelopment and implementation of the biodiversity
strategy cycle; and ii) create an oversight mechanism,
the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan
(NBSAP) needs to be anchored in legislation andpolicy. However, apart from these intricate legal
paradigms, there are innate ethical frameworks ofvalues and principles for policy options that have
proven useful in combating the biodiversity challenges.
Bangladesh has nearly a hundred laws that deal withnumerous environment related issues including
biodiversity. Additionally Bangladesh is also a party to
the various international environmental instruments,
including the CBD, albeit with certain reservations. The
aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which theenvironmental legislation of Bangladesh coheres to the
ethical approaches in addressing the issue of
biodiversity, as well as to delve into examples of
implementation. An interdisciplinary approach with legal
and ethical analysis of biodiversity backed up by
secondary data is used. In order to actualize theobjective the study, after providing conceptual clarity on
certain related issues such as ethical approaches to theenvironment, biodiversity and so forth, focuses on thelegal framework for addressing environment andbiodiversity in Bangladesh. The ethical approaches toenvironmental
legislation
andbiodiversity
inBangladeshis thereafter critically appraised. The study
argues and concludes that intrinsic reorientation isnecessary in the way the government advocates before
the environmental legislation of Bangladesh can besaid to reverberate the demands of a general ethicalapproach to the environment and in particular tobiodiversity.
Key Words: Ethics, Bioethics, Environmental Ethics,
Environmental Legislation, Biodiversity
1. Introduction
Environmental considerations are integral to all
aspects of life. Protection of the environment
represents big challenges in terms of the size of the1

problems faced and the solutions required. These
range from the seemingly intractable global problems tomore local, but not less keenly felt, issues relating to2things like conservation of biodiversity.
Environmental law has a large and increasing role toplay to combat the environmental degradation or toaddress
particularenvironmental
issue
like,
biodiversity. Environmental law is a key tool to manage
the environment owing to its regulatory response to theinadequacies of the existing law. Common law thatreflects environmentalism has two policy objectives, i)the protection and preservation of natural areas; and ii)
the protection of public health from risks associatedwith involuntary exposures to pollutants and3
contaminants.
Since, the environmental issues are interdependent
4and do not respect national boundaries, environmental
laws are found from international to national to local
5levels. There are over five hundred multinational
environmental treaties (Rai, et al. 2000). Bangladesh
has nearly a hundred laws that deal with numerous
environment related issues which include but are notconfined to just biodiversity. Additionally, Bangladesh
is also a party to the various international
environmental instruments, including the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD), albeit with certain
6
reservations.
The conservation of biological diversity and thenecessity of using biological resources sustainably
became crucial within the socio-political milieu from the
beginning of the 1990s when the global community
began revisiting this issue following the adoption of the
7
CBD. This was further augmented by the IUCN Guide
that reminds parties to the CBD that in order to: i)institutionalize the development and implementation of
the biodiversity strategy cycle; and ii) create anoversight mechanism, the National Biodiversity Strategy
and Action Plan (NBSAP) needs to be anchored inlegislation and policy. Bangladesh has complied with8
those requirements to some extent.
However, apart from these intricate legal paradigms,
there are innate ethical frameworks of values andprinciples for policy options that have proven useful in

1

Stuart Bell, Donald McGillivray, Ole Pedersen,
Environmental
Law, Oxford University Press, 2013, p.3.
2
Ibid.
3
A Dan Tarlock, The Future of Environmental Rule of Law
Litigation (2002) 19 Pace Evnt L Rev 575, 576-577.
4
Domestic issues have international implications. See:
Equality Among Unequal in International Environmental Law,
Halvorssen ,A .M. 1999, p.1. The Stockholm Legal
Principles,1972 , principle 21 speaks that states to ensure
the activities within their national jurisdiction or control do notcause damage to other states beyond national jurisdiction ,principle 22 requires states to co-operate in the developmentof international environmental law, principle24 calls forinternational organizations to play a co-ordinate, efficient anddynamic role.
5
William J. Snape (III.), Biodiversity and the Law, Island
Press, 1996, chapter, 14.
6
For a total list of the International Instruments to which
Bangladesh is a party, see Appendix II.
7
Anne Becher, Biodiversity: A Reference Handbook, ABCCLIO, 1998, pp. 163-185.
8
Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, Research
report on changing farming pattern in the hill areas of
Bangladesh, Dhaka, 2006, p. 5.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)9combating the biodiversity challenges.
Morespecifically,
when
conflictofinterests
overenvironmental and quality of life issues are at stake,ethical approaches may be useful in analyzing theimplicit ethical positions assumed by the stakeholders
and such an undertakings may further lead to grow the
improved environmental policies that are needed for all
10
species both people and nonhuman nature. This
study is centralized to assess the environmental
legislation of Bangladesh through the lens of ethics.
The study mainly covers the environmental
legislations of Bangladesh, but it is also extended to
discuss the relevant policies as well. The main
objective of the thesis is to evaluate the environmental
legislation of Bangladesh and laws relating tobiodiversity from an ethical perspective. Since theethical approach to the environment and biodiversity
has not been brought into scrutiny, the study aims toinvestigate the extent to which the environmental
legislation of Bangladesh includes ethical approaches
in addressing the issue of biodiversity, as well as to
examine selected examples of implementation. The
essential questions of this study in order to achieve theaims are:i. What is the legal framework for addressing
environment and biodiversity in Bangladesh?
ii. What are the ethical approaches inserted in thelegislations that bear on the environment andbiodiversity in Bangladesh?
iii. What are the examples of implementation which
testify to the ethical approaches in the arena ofenvironment and biodiversity?
An interdisciplinary approach with legal and ethicalanalysis of biodiversity backed up by secondary data isused. In order to actualize the objective the study, after
providing conceptual clarity on certain related issues
such as ethical approaches to the environment,
biodiversity and so forth, focuses on the legal
framework for addressing environment and biodiversity
inBangladesh.
The
ethicalapproaches
toenvironmental
legislation
andbiodiversity
inBangladeshis thereafter critically appraised. The study
argues and concludes that intrinsic reorientation isnecessary in the way the government advocates before
the environmental legislation of Bangladesh can besaid to reverberate the demands of a general ethicalapproach to the environment and in particular tobiodiversity.
2. Conceptualizing Ethical Approaches to theEnvironment and Biodiversity
2.1 Genes, Species and Ecosystem
It is not unusual that sometimes the needs or desiresof people conflict with an endangered species requires
11
for survival. When a conflict occurs, a debate aboutbiodiversity unfolds. This debate is not a static one and12
the definition of biodiversity and related concepts
9

Lawrence S. Hamilton, Helen F. Takeuchi, Ethics, Religion
And, Biodiversity: Relations Between Conservation andCultural Values, White Horse, 1993, at p. 193.
10
Carolyn Merchant, Environmental Ethics and Political
Conflict: A View from California, Journal of Environmental
Ethics, Volume 12, Issue 1, Spring 1990, at pp. 45-68.
11
Maczulak, Anne Elizabeth, Biodiversity: Conserving
Endangered
Species, New York, 2010, at p. 5.
12
In 1992, Edward O. Wilson wrote the Diversity of Life theaim of which was to draw the attention to species loss and in61

have even changed over time. Currently the definitionof biodiversity is frequently cited from the Convention
on Biodiversity that states the term as “the variability
among living organisms from all sources including, interalia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems
and the ecological complexes of which they are part:
this includes diversity within species, between species
13
and of ecosystems.” Species diversity is only one partof biodiversity. The proper categorization of all the lifeon earth also requires the reorganization of the genetic
diversity that exists within species as well as the14
diversity of entire habitats and ecosystems.
The reasons for conserving biodiversity are15
essentially threefold. First, biodiversity provides anactual and potential source of biological resources
including food; secondly, it contributes to themaintenance of the biosphere in a condition which
supports human and other life; and thirdly, biodiversity
is worth maintaining for non-scientific reasons of ethicaland aesthetic value.
2.2 Components of Biodiversity
There are many theories although the perspectives
are similar in how things came to be the way they are.
The diversity of life forms found, is estimated today
between 10-100 million varieties with more than 1
16
million already identified. Although the classification oflife is a contentious issue because, i) each species is
unique, ii) there is an ambiguity in micro-taxonomy
classification system, and iii) ethical values are
dependent on our learning and thinking of life and its
manifestation, counts of species numbers which
incorporate alternative definitions can return differences17
as high as 150 percent.
The major components of biodiversity as listed by
IPCC are ecosystem diversity, species diversity andgenetic diversity. Ecosystem diversity relates to varietyof habitats, biotic communities and ecologicalprocesses in the biosphere, and is considered ascomplex level of diversity. Species diversity is the mostcommon level of diversity, and comprises the numberof different species at a place. Genetic diversity refers
to total genetic information contained in the genes ofindividuals of plants, animals and microorganisms. The
accepted norms of classification of life used in fields of
ecological thought are widely understood but not24
without s o m e points of debate.

particular to the loss of species caused by human activities.
Wilson’s was the first of a number of books that have
popularized the term ‘biodiversity’. By 1992, Wilson was
speculating that extinction rates might be between 27,000 and
100,000 species per year (280), although in recent times
these alarming estimates have come under serious criticism,
particularly in Bjorn Lomborg’sThe Skeptical Environmentalist.
For details see, Maclaurin, James and Sterelny, What Is
Biodiversity?, The University of Chicago Press, 2008, pp. 1-2.
13
The Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), 1992, Art. 2.
Available at: https://www.cbd.int/doc/legal/cbd-en.pdf, lastaccessedon 28 June 2015.
14
See https://www.ipcc.ch, last accessed on 28 June 2015.
15
Sands, Philippe, Principles of International
EnvironmentalndLaw, Cambridge University Press, 2 edn, pp. 499-500.
16
See for details, Wilson, Edward O., The Diversity of Life,
Harvard University Press, 1992. pp.12-23.
17
Hey,J., Genes, Categories and Species: The Evolutionary andCognitive Causes of the Species Problem ,Oxford University
Press, 2001 p.34.

62

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

2.3 Measuring Biodiversity
Losses of biodiversity have accelerated over the lasttwo centuries as a direct and indirect consequence ofhuman population growth, unsustainable patterns ofresource consumption and associated environmental
18
changes. Measuring biodiversity is needed because
in absence of which it is not possible, i) to monitorchanges in the abundance of biodiversity; ii) toformulate policy on biodiversity; and iii) to ensure theconservation of biodiversity.
On the other hand, it is also difficult to measure
biodiversityforcertainreasons,
inter
alia,
interconnected nature of biodiversity and its
19
ecosystems , difficulty of collecting of all required field
data, quantify the dynamics of biodiversity and so forth
2.4 Threats to Biodiversity
The expansion of the threat at recent time is wider
than any time of the history i.e., the species go extinct.
Indeed, the current debate is on how much greater theextinction rates are than the previous rate, withestimate usually ranging from less than 100 times to201000 times greater, with some estimates like WHO ,as high as10,000 times higher.
There are a variety of causes leading to the loss of
biodiversity. Some causes are anthropogenic withdirect ethical implications and other causes are not21
are not as a result of f human activity. The main
dangers to biodiversity as a result of human activities
worldwide are population growth and resource
consumption, climate change and global warming,
habitat conversion and urbanization, invasive alien
species, over-exploitation of natural resources and22
environmental degradation. To be further added inthis connection, the five direct drivers of biodiversity
loss as stipulated by the CBD are climate change,
introduced species, nutrient loading, land usechange, and overexploitation.
Habitat loss is one of the biggest threats tobiodiversity. This is because some species need alarge area for survival i.e., for food chain, seasonal
migration from north to south or lowland to highland. If
the habitat is disconnected then some species will not
be able to migrate and not survive. Habitat loss has
been identified as a major threat to 85% of all species
described in the IUCN’s red list and it affects 86% of all
threatened birds, 86% of the threatened mammals
23
assessed and 88% of the threatened amphibians.
2.5. Ethical Approaches to the Environment and the
Biodiversity
The development of the modern environmentalism
has been accompanied by the resurgence ofenvironmental ethics which seeks to explore the natureof the moral relationships that might be said to exist
between humans and non-humans. According to

Bosworth et al. (2012): “Understanding the categoricalapproach or view used as a basis for ethics is importantin conceptualizing biodiversity and its accompanying
factors and its relation to aspects of biodiversity anddeterminants of such a concept. Such anunderstanding begins with definitive issues andprogresses to include the deeper complexities of theidea. This occurs as certain concepts associated withbiodiversity, such as indices, measures and qualities;change related to the values contained within an
approach for example, anthropocentrism. … However,other approaches note differing qualities, indices andmeasures, which ultimately change the perception ofwhat constitutes biodiversity and how it should be
24
approached in policymaking.”
This paper refers readers to the full thesis for ananalysis of the ethical approaches. Anthropocentricism
places humans at the Centre in relation to nature andbiodiversity. The Philosopher Mary Midgely explained
the term anthropocentricism in the following terms:“People have seen themselves as placed, not just at
the relative centre of a particular life, but at theabsolute, objective centre of everything. The centralityof man has been pretty steadily conceived…not as anillusion of perspective, imposed on us by our starting
point, but as an objective fact, and indeed an essential
25
fact, about the whole universe.”
Biocentrism is an ethical point of view that26
extends inherent value to all living beings. It contends
the inherent worth of all members of the biosphere andthus, stands in contrast to anthropocentrism which
27
centers on the value of humans.
Ecocentrism recognizes the intrinsic values of allliving organisms and their natural environment
regardless of their perceived usefulness or importanceto human beings.
3. Biodiversity in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is one of the biodiversity rich countries in
the world. Distinct physiographic characteristics,
variations in hydrological and climatological conditions,and difference in the soil properties in Bangladesh
contribute in developing diverse forms of ecosystems
enriched with great diversity of flora and fauna. Thus,
the major three elements of biodiversity i.e., ecosystem
diversity, species diversity and genetic diversity arefound in Bangladesh.
3.1. Forest Ecosystems
Tropical evergreen and semi evergreen hill forests,
Tropical moist deciduous forests, Mangrove forest andFresh water swamp forest constitutes the arena ofForest Ecosystem in Bangladesh.
Remnants of tropical evergreen and semi evergreen
28
forests extend over the eastern parts of the country
24

18

See
https://royalsociety.org/policy/publications/
2003/measuring-biodiversity/
19
Neem,S.,Bunker,D.,Hector,A.,Loreau,M., and Perrings, C.,
Biodiversity, Ecosystem Functioning and Human Wellbeing.
New York, Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 45-67.
20
World Health Organization, Ecosystem and Human Wellbeing, Geneva, WHO Press, 2005, at p.19.
21
Supra note 23.
22
See http://www.biodiv.be/biodiversity/threats.
23
Why
is
biodiversity
incrisis?.
Onlineathttps://www.iucn.org/iyb/about/biodiversity_crisis/.

Supra note 23, p. 10.
Midgley, M. (1994) ‘The End of Anthropocentricism’, in R.
Attfield (ed), Philosophy and the Natural Environment(Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge) 17.
26
Derr, Patrick George; Edward M. McNamara, Case Studies
inEnvironmental Ethics, Rowman & Littlefield. 2003, p. 21.
27
Encyclopedia Britannica, 2009.
28
This covers an area of 670,000 hectares which is 4.54%
of total landmass of the country and 44% of national forest
land. The hill forests comprise of numerous plant as well asanimal species; an estimated 2,259 species of angiosperm
were reported from Chittagong region alone.
25

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
lying within the divisions of Chittagong and Sylhet. The
central and northern districts of Bangladesh covering
29
an area of 120,000 hectares, about 0.81% of total
land area of the country and 7.8% of the country's
forest land, are bestowed with Tropical Moist
30
Deciduous Forests. Sal (Shorearobusta ) is the main
species in these forests with 70 to 100 percent upper
canopy coverage with association of other tree species.
31
A recent forest inventory estimated that about 3.75
million cubic meters of wood remain in the Sal forests.
Once these forests were very rich in faunal diversity.
Indian rhinoceros used to live here in the twentiethcentury. Only five species of globally threatened wildlife
species presently occur in these heavily degraded andfragmented forests.
Mangrove forest is one of the primary features of thecoastlines throughout the tropics and sub-tropics of theworld and, “Sundarbans” mangroves in Bangladesh is
one of the major important coastal habitats and a major
component of the vegetative cover in the coastal
region. The mangrove forest is very rich in biotic
diversity supporting around 330 species of plants, asmany as 400 species of fishes, about 40 species ofshrimps and other crustaceans, 35 species of reptiles,
over 270 species of birds, and 42 species of32
mammals.
The Sundarbans is the largest single
remaining habitat of the famous and magnificent animal
Royal Bengal Tiger (Pantheratigris) and estuarine
crocodile (Crocodylusporosus). A large number of
threatened and endangered species are still found in
the Sundarbans mangrove areas, which are not33
available in other parts of the country. Four cetacean
species have been identified in the mangrove channels,
including the endangered Ganges River Dolphin and
Irrawaddy Dolphin. 139,700 hectares of forest land of
Sundarbans is declared as World Heritage Site where
34
three wildlife sanctuaries are located.
The forest
inventory of 1998 reported that 12.26 million cubic
meters of timber was standing. Sundori is the mostimportant tree species in the Sundarbans. The
Sundarban also offers high value non-timber forest
products like Golpata, honey, wax, fish, and crabs.
Fresh water swamp forest consists of flood-tolerant
evergreen trees. Depending on local conditions,particularly the extent of human disturbance, theluxuriance of the vegetation varies, from sparse low
trees with undergrowth grasses, as at Rangchi and
Rupnagar in TanguaHaor, to dense closed canopy with

29

FAO, National Forest and Tree Resources Assessment
2005-2007,
Dhaka: Bangladesh,
Forest Department,
SPARRSO, 2007.
30
There are three different belts of deciduous forests in the
country – The largest belt is Madhupur Garh, Then the Garohills and the third belt is located in the north-western part ofthe country.
31
FAO, National Forest and Tree Resources Assessment
2005-2007,
Dhaka: Bangladesh,
Forest Department,
SPARRSO, 2007.
32
Hussain, K.Z. &Acharya, G. (eds.), Mangroves of the
Sundarbans. Volume II : Bangladesh. IUCN, Bangkok,
Thailand, 1994.
33
Seidensticker, J., Large Carnivores and theConsequences of Habitat Insularisation: Ecology andConservation of Eigers in Indonesia and Bangladesh, 1986,
p.219.
34
Sundarbans East, Sundarbans West and Sundarbans
South.

poor undergrowth, as was at PashuaBeel
35
GurmarHaor,Tahirpur, Sunamganj District.

63
in

36

3.2. Wetlands Ecosystem
Bangladesh is a land of water and wetlands.
Wetlands constitute more than fifty percent of theterritory of the total country and play significant role insocial and economic livelihood of the population.
37
Wetlands can be of different types based on theirhydrological and ecological attributes. There is no
recent assessment of wetland area in Bangladesh.
38
However, National Water Resources Database has
estimated about 172,087 hectares of permanent
wetlands (excluding rivers and estuary) in the country.
Wetlands of Bangladesh are particularly rich inbiodiversity; the number of aquatic macrophytes
39reaches more than 200 species.
Moreover,approximately 150 species of birds are found to be fullyor partially wetland dependent. The Haor Basin of
Sylhet and eastern Mymensingh have special biologicalsignificance. This area is recognized as a wetland
ecosystem of international importance, especially forwaterfowl habitats. These wetlands provide habitat for
about 125 species of resident and migratory water birds
as well as a diversity of aquatic and terrestrial plants,
aquatic invertebrates, fish, mammals, amphibians and40
41
reptiles. Not only the haors but also the main river
system provide vital habitat for a diverse fauna offreshwater turtles, the majority of which are now
globally threatened.
3.3. Coastal and Marine Ecosystem
42
The coastline of Bangladesh is 714 km long and canbroadly be divided into three regions: the eastern region(Pacific type), the active delta of the central region, andthe stable deltaic western region (Atlantic type). The
biological resources of the Bay of Bengal not only
comprise fishes but also include crustaceans,elasmobranches, cetaceans, and highly significant
habitats for wintering shorebirds. The coastal andpelagic waters of Bangladesh host a large diversity ofcetaceans (dolphins, whales and porpoise), including
35th

4 National Report to the Convention on Biological
Diversity, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of
the People's Republic of Bangladesh, 2010.
36
According to Ramsar Convention, wetlands are areas ofmarsh, fen, peat land or water, whether natural or artificial,permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing,
fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water thedepthof which at low tide does not exceed six meters.
37
Open water wetlands - Rivers, Estuarine and mangrove
forest, Beels and haors, Inundable floodplains, Kaptai Lake;
Closed water wetlands – Ponds, Baors, Brackish water farms.
38
National Water Resources Database, Dhaka: Bangladesh,
Water Resources Planning Organization, Government of
Bangladesh,
1997.
39
th
4 National Report to the Convention on Biological
Diversity, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of
the People's Republic of Bangladesh, 2010.
40
Ibid.
41
A small reservoir of natural water in Bengali language iscalled“Haor”.
42
Bangladesh is situated at the head of the Bay of Bengal.
The coast is characterized by a vast network of rivers (24,000
km in length) covering an area of 9,380 square kilometers, alarge number of islands between channels, a submarine
canyon (Swatch of No Ground), the funnel shaped part of thenorthern Bay of Bengal, huge amount of sedimenttransportation (annually about 2.4 x 109 m tons), low relief(1.2-4.5 m above mean sea level) and tropical cyclones.

64

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

eight globally threatened species. The highly productive
tip of the Swatch of No Ground has been identified as acetacean hotspot with a relatively high abundance of atleast four small and one large cetacean species. The
estuarine and coastal waters of Bangladesh haverecently been discovered to host the world's largest
population of the vulnerable Irrawaddy Dolphins.
3.4. Species Diversity
Bangladesh possesses rich species diversity
particularly for angiosperms and avifauna. A total of
653 fish species are recorded, of which 251 are
freshwater fishes belonging to 61 families and 402 areestuarine and marine finishes including sharks andrays. A total of 650 bird species have been reliably
recorded in the country. The country is also inhabitedby 34 amphibian and 154 reptile species. The
mammalian species diversity in Bangladesh isrepresented by 121 species of mammals, however
43
many of which are now endangered.
In different phyla, some of the known species are Cyanobacteria,
Proteobacteria,
Firmicutes,
Actinobacteria, Bactroidetes (41 species under thephyla Firmicutes, 70 species under Actinobacteria and1 species under Bactroidetes have so far been
identified), Fungi (A total of 275 fungal species havebeen identified so far under 125 genera), Algae (1,98844
species have been identified in Bangladesh),Bryophytes (248 species of bryophytes under 34
45
families),Pteridophytes or ferns, Gymnosperm,
46
Angiosperm (in the recent publication 3,611 under
198 families have been identified ), Protozoa, Porifera,
Cnidaria or Coelenterata, Ctenophora, Rotifera,
Gastrotricha, Platyhelminthes, Nematoda, Mollusca,
Echinodermata (There are five classes of living
47
echinoderms. Four of these are free living and areable to move freely), Arthropoda (1,270 species under
708 genera have so far been identified and described48
from Bangladesh ), Fish, Amphibians and reptiles,
Birds (The national list of the birds includes as many as
49
650 species) . Out of which, 620 species of birds havebeen recorded in recent years and can be asserted to
be present today. Of these 620 species of birds, 143
are vagrant (occurring very irregularly or seen
extremely rare) to Bangladesh, which left 477 regularly
seen species.
3.5 Genetic Diversity
Bangladesh has rich genetic resources and diversity
in most of its species. This is more evident of being
center of origin for some important agricultural crops.
43th

4 National Report to the Convention on Biological
Diversity, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of
the People's Republic of Bangladesh, 2010.
44
See for details, Ahmed, Z. U., Begum, Z.N.T., Hassan,
M.A., M. Khondker, Kabir, S.M.H., Ahmed, M., Ahmed,
A.T.A., Rahman, A.K.A. and Haque, E. U. eds.,
2007.;Encyclopaedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh. Vol3. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 2007.
45
Ibid.
46
Ibid.
47
Asteroidea, Echinoidea, Ophiuroidea and Holothuroidea.
48
See, above note 96, p. 204.
49
Ahmed, Z.U., Begum, Z.N.T., Hassan, M.A., Khondker, M.,
Kabir, S.M.H., Ahmad, M., Ahmed, A.T.A., Rahman, A.K.A.
and Haque, E.U. (Eds) 2008a.Encyclopedia of Flora andFauna of Bangladesh, Vol. 6. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh,
Dhaka, pp. 1- 408.

For example, the floodplain of Bangladesh is thought tobe the centre of origin of cultivated rice. An estimated
10,000 rice cultivars have been developed in the
country. Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI)
has so far collected 5,978 varieties of rice germplasms
50from the country. Most of the other cultivated crops
have similar genetic diversity within themselves. Thissituation is also true for banana, mango and other local
fruit species.
3.6 Protected Areas and Ecologically Critical Areas
Bangladesh has nineteen nationally designatedprotected areas. These include ten national parks, eightwildlife sanctuaries and one game reserve (all of which
are forests). In 1997 UNESCO designated three wildlife
sanctuaries of Sundarbans as “World Heritage Sites”.
Sundarbans along with TanguaHaor were designated“Ramsar sites” wetlands of international importance in51
1992 and in 2000, respectively.
The Department of Environment (DoE) has, so far,
52
designated nine areas
significant for biologicaldiversity as Ecologically Critical Areas (ECAs) in the53
country.
The Department of Environment in
54
September 2009 has declared four rivers and theirbanks as ECAs. These rivers surround the capital city
Dhaka and perform as the lifeline of the city.
3.7. Threats to the Biodiversity and Adaptation ofDifferent Strategies
Diversity of ecosystems and its rich floral and faunal
resources have made Bangladesh and its ecosystems
resilient to natural calamities. There are many threatsthat drive biodiversity loss, among which some are
direct while the others are indirect. Direct threats
include changes in land use, habitat destruction,
introduction of invasive alien species and so forth. On
the other hand, examples of indirect threats are theeconomic system and policies of the State;unsustainable exploitation of resources and weak
management systems; gaps in spatial information; lackof public awareness. Other threats emanate from theeffects of natural calamities. In addition, habitat loss is
considered the single largest threat to biodiversity.
These days, biodiversity loss is considered a55
comprehensive global environmental challenge.
Protected areas of Bangladesh are prone to a range of
threats. These multi-dimensional threat factors occur inthe protected areas of Bangladesh, making thecountry’s biodiversity conservation program fragile.
50

The Second Report on Plant Genetic Resources Developed
for Food and Agriculture Bangladesh, Bangladesh Agricultural
Research Council, 2007.
51
Sharif Ahmed Mukul, Biodiversity Conservation Strategies
in Bangladesh: The State of Protected Areas, Dhaka, 2010.
52
Sundarbans, Teknaf Peninsula, St. Martin’s Island, Sonadia
Island, HakalukiHaor, TanguaHaor, MarjatBaor, Jhenaidah,
Gulshan-BaridharaLake, Dhaka.
53
Section 5 of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation
Act, 1995 says that if the Government is satisfied that an area
is in an environmentally critical situation or is threatened to bein such situation, the Government may, by notification in theofficial Gazette, declare such area as an ecologically criticalarea.
54
The Buriganga, Sitalakhya,Turag and Balu.
55
Brashers JS, Arcese P, Sam MK (2004) Bushmeat hunting,wildlife declines, and fish supply in West Africa. Science
306:1180-1183; Cardinale BJ, Duffy JE, Gonzalez A et al(2012) Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity. Nature
486:59-67.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
Understanding the type, patterns, and extent of thethreats is a crucial issue in controlling their magnitude.
4. Legal Framework for Addressing Environment
and Biodiversity in Bangladesh
4.1 International Perspectives
The majority of the state’s obligations relating to theenvironment and biodiversity stem from two main
sources of public international law i.e., customary
56
57
international law and treaties.
In this connection it is to be added that each state
implements treaties and customary international law
according to their own understanding of international
58
law. There are two main approaches to internationallaw and each approach takes into consideration how
international law relates to national law. The monist
59
theory asserts that there is one all-embracing legal
order comprising international and national law; while60
the dualists would view that there are two separate
legal systems; international and n a t i o n a l . At thesame time, it is not unlikely that often, a state may
have different approaches to treaties and to61
international customary law . In Bangladesh, forexample, treaties are regarded as part of a separate
legal system that must be adopted and implemented
by domestic laws in order for it to have any legal
effect. Apart from that, states may rapidly introduce
nationallegislation
in
order
to
manageenvironmental challenges that may come suddenly,
since the development of international law may be a
protracted process. However, customary internationallaw almost automatically applies in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh recognizes the vital importance ofparticipating in the global attempts to halt the process
62
of environmental deterioration.
Bangladesh was
actively involved in the proceedings of the UNCED,
signed the Rio Declaration and endorsed Agenda 21.
This reflects the strong commitment of Bangladesh
towards promoting environmental management and63
sustainable development.
The priority areas of65

concern in Bangladesh are disaster management;
deforestation, including mangroves; biodiversity losses;
water Pollution; land degradation; and air pollution.
As a member of international community and as oneof the most environmentally vulnerable countries
64
Bangladesh has become party to many of the ICTPs
on environment, albeit with certain reservations.
Considering the socio-economic activities and thegeographical location of the country, the most important
ICTPs relating to the environment in general andbiodiversity in particular regarding of which nationallaws are made can be identified as follows: Convention
65
on the Biodiversity (CBD); Ramsar Convention on
Wetlands of International Importance,1971 (amended in66
1982 &1987); Convention on the control of Wild Floraand Fauna (CITES),1973; Basel Convention on theControl of Trans-boundary Movement of Hazardous
67
Wastes and their Disposal,1989;
International
Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by
68
Oil, 1981 and so forth.
With the advent of the CBD biodiversity is now
considered to be “national patrimony of host countries
69
and is under their sovereignty”
Based on theinternational law principle of common concern- which
70
71
is both spatial and temporal , sovereignty in thissense however, is qualified and the qualification isthat states are given a “responsibility to ensure that
activities within their jurisdiction or control do notcause damage to the environment…of areas beyond
72
their jurisdiction” (Article 3 of the CBD). This isfurther strengthened by inserting the provision of‘benefit sharing’ and ensuring the respect for
indigenous rights over their traditional knowledge.
The Ramsar Convention, on the other hand, is thefirst global convention to address the grave issue of73
habitat loss. The Ramsar Convention promotes “wise74
use” of 1907 wetlands which is widely defined toinclude natural sites such as lakes, rivers, oases,
estuaries, tidal flats, mangroves, as well as artificial
sites such as reservoirs, fish ponds and rice paddies.
Unlike CITES and other conventions that focus on the56

Customary International Law arises out of consistent statepractice and a sense of obligation (opinio juris sivenecessitates). They are binding on the states once thecustom has been proven to exist. For details see Brian D.
Lepard, Customary International Law: A New Theory with
Practical Applications, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
57
Legal obligations are only incurred when the state concerned
ratifies the treaty. Treaty is defined as an international
agreement concluded between States in written form andgoverned by international law, whether embodied in a single
instrument or in two or more related instruments and whateverits particular designation. For details about treaty see theVienna Convention on the Law of the Treaties, 1969.
58
See for details Patricia W. Birnie & Alan E. Boyle,
International Law and Environment, Clarendon Press, Oxford,
1992.
59
James Crawford, Brownlie's Principles of Public
International Law, OUP, Oxford,2012, p.48.
60
Gideon Boas, Public International Law: Contemporary
Principles and Perspectives, Edward Elgar Pubication, 2012,
p.120.
61
Bilderbeek, S., Wijgerde, A. and Van Schaik, N. 1992.
Biodiversity and International Law. Amsterdam, IOS Press.
62
Rahman, A.B.M.Z., 2003, Environmental Aspects of Energy
Exploration in Bangladesh and the Role of EIA: the Role of
Sunderbans, 24/3, Bangladesh Institute of International andStrategic Studies Journal, 390.
63
Bangladesh Country Profile, Implementation of Agenda 21:
Review of Progress Made since the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development, 1992, United
Nations Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable

Development,
availableat:
http://www.un.org/esa/earthsummit/bang-cp.htm, last accessedon
May 22, 2015.
64
International Conventions, Treaties and Protocols.
65
Ratified by Bangladesh on 3 May 1994.
66
Bangladesh has become a party to this on 21 may 1992
after
the Sundarban is declared as a Ramsar site.
67
Bangladesh ratified this on 1 April 1993.
68
For a Comprehensive List of ICTPs see the appendices.
69
Laird, S.A. 2005. The Convention on Biological Diversity:
Changing Ethical and Legal Frameworks for Biodiversity
ResearchandProspecting.
http://www.cbd.int/doc/articles/2002-/A-00394.pdf
70
The spatial aspect of common concern implies that there is“cooperation of all states on matters similarly important to… thewhole of international community”(Secretariat of UNEP, 1991).
71
The temporal aspect of common concern arises from “longterm implications of environmental challenges which affectrights & obligations not only of present but also of future
generations”(Secretariat of UNEP, 1991).
72
Principle 21 of the Stockholm Declaration (1970) whicharticulates the concept of limited sovereignty.
73
Another habitat conserving convention is the World Heritage
Convention which protects cultural and natural sites of universal
values. The habitats protected by the World Heritage
Convention include the Great Barrier Reef, the Everglades andtheOlympic Rainforest.
74
Encompasses both the conservation of biodiversity as well as
the sustainable use of biodiversity.

66

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

protection of plant and animal life, the Ramsar
Convention aims to protect the whole ecosystem of75
wetlands.
By extension, the Ramsar Convention
protects living organisms that depend on those76
wetlands on the Ramsar list.
The CITES provides a framework for its m e m b e r
states to implement national legislations in relation to
the regulation of trading wild animals and plants
specimens. It protects wildlife species that areendangered as well as those that are not endangeredin order to “ensure the sustainability of trade… [and] tosafeguard these resources for the future”.
Apart from those, the Basel Convention on the Controlof Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes andtheir Disposal is designed to protect biodiversity andhuman health by regulating pollution and wastes.
International Convention for the Prevention of Pollutionof the Sea by Oil, 1981 aims to prevent the marine
environment. By extension of a healthy ecosystem,
these treaties help to protect biodiversity bypreserving the lives of the living organisms within thoseecosystems.
Another aspect of international environmental law
having impact on local level framework development isinternational custom as mentioned earlier. One of themost prominent customs is the obligation of each state
to not use or disallow the use of its territory in a waythat would cause trans-boundary environmental
77
damage. Another matter is the use of resources thatare shared between states, for example transboundary water systems. Here, it is customary that
there be equitable use of such resources.
4.2 Constitution of the People’s Republic ofBangladesh
The 1972 adopted Constitution of the People’s
Republic of Bangladesh contained no direct provision
on environment or biodiversity either in the preamble orin the fundamental principles of state policy or in thefundamental rights but the judiciary is free to take78
account of them. There are several scopes in thisconnection and some are already been tested. For
79
example, firstly, the Supreme Court in its several
decisions has expanded the meaning of fundamental
80
81
right to life as enunciated under articles 31 and 32 of
the said constitution to include protection and75

Wetlands are ecological systems which support a variety of
mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds and invertebrates.
They also store plant genes such as wild rice, fruits,
vegetables and herbs. Simply put, some have considered it asa “biological supermarket”, see, Barbier, E.B., Acreman, M, andKnowler, D. 1997. Economic Valuation of Wetlands. http://
www.ramsar. org/pdf/lib/lib_valuation_e.pdf.
76
For the list see http://www.ramsar.org/document/the-list-ofwetlands-of-international-importance-the-ramsar-list.
77
Brunnee, J. and Abouchar, J. and Ball, G. 1993. Beyond
Rio? The Evolution of International Environmental Law.
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G114692031/beyond-rio-evolution-international.html.
78
Mohiuddin Farooque vs. Bangladesh, 49 (1997) DLR (AD) 1
and Dr. Mohiuddin Farooque vs. Bangladesh, 48 (1996) DLR(HCD) 438.
79
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh as per article 94 of theConstitution is composed of two divisions: the Appellate
Division (AD) and the High Court Division (HCD).
80
Article-31 states that “… in particular no action detrimental
to the life, liberty, body, reputation or property of any person
shall be taken except in accordance with law.”81
Article-32 says No person shall be deprived of life or
personal liberty save in accordance with law.

preservation of the ecology and right to have pollution
82
free environment. Under the current judicial set up theword “life” within the purview of the right to life is settled
83
to provide a wider meaning
along with rules of84
precaution and prudence for the environment on one
hand and the biodiversity on the other. Secondly, the85right to property , another fundamental right, implies
that an owner is entitled to the enjoyment of his
property without the interference of any one even theGovt. But a balance between the individual ownershipand the common interest is necessary to protect theecology, which can be done by applying the article
86
87
itself.
Here the Roman law
based public trust88
doctrine may come into play as an useful method toprotect natural resources which has been used in the
89
Indian cases. Under this doctrine certain resources
82

The AD in Dr. Mohiuddin Farooque vs. Bangladesh, 49(1997) DLR (AD) 1, stated “…articles 31 and 32 of ourConstitution protect right to life as fundamental right. It
encompasses within its ambit, the protection and preservationof environment, ecological balance free from pollution of air
and water, sanitation without which life can hardly be enjoyed.
Any act or omission contrary thereto will be violative of the said
right to life.”(Para-102, Chowdhury J.). The HCD in Dr.
Mohiuddin Farooque vs. Bangladesh 48 DLR1996 (HCD) 438
stated that “right to life includes the enjoyment of pollution freewater and air, improvement of public health by creating andsustaining conditions congenial to good health and ensuring
quality of life consistent with human dignity.”
83
The word life is very significant as it covers all facets ofhuman existence. The word life has not been defined in theConstitution but it does not mean nor can it be restricted only
to the vegetative or animal life or mere existence fromconception of death. Life includes such amenities and facilities
that a person born in a free country is entitled to enjoy with
dignity, legally and constitutionally, see: Ms.Shehla Zia vs.
WAPDA PLD 1994 SC 693.
84
The word life in the Constitution has not been used in alimited manner. A wider meaning should be given to enable a
man not only to sustain life but to enjoy it. However there is astate of uncertainty and in such a situation the authorities
should observe the rules of prudence and precaution. The
rules of Prudence are to adopt such measure which may avert
the so called danger if it occurs. The rule of precautionary
policy is to first consider the welfare and safety of the humanbeings and the environment and then pick up a policy andexecute the plan which is more suited to obviate the possible
dangeror may ensure safety.
85
Article-42(1) states that,”…every citizen shall have the rightto acquire, hold, transfer or otherwise dispose of property, andno property shall be compulsorily acquired, nationalized or
requisitioned
save by authority of law.”86
As the article starts with the words “subject to restrictions
imposedby law…’
87
Roman law recognized the public trust doctrine whereby
common properties such as rivers, seashore, forests, and the
air were held by the Government in trust for free andunimpeded use of the public. These resources were either
owned by no one (res nullious) or by everyone in common(rescommunious).
88
In English law, the public trust doctrine is more or less thesame but with an emphasis on certain such as navigation ,commerce, and fishing are sought to be preserved for the
public. Professor Joseph L. Sax imposes three restrictions on
governmental authorities , a) the property subject to the trust
musts not only be used for a public purpose , but it must be
held available for use by the general public; b) the property
must be sold ,even for a fair cash equivalent ; c) the property
must be maintained for particular types of uses, see: Public
Trust Doctrine in Natural Resource Law :Effective Judicial
Intervention, Michigan Law Review, vol-68, part 1, p.473.
89
The doctrine came up for consideration in the Kamal NathCase [ M. C. Mehta vs Kamal Nath (1997) 1 SCC 388. Hererather an unusual situation has arisen. The flow of the river
Beas was deliberately diverted because it used to flood Span
Motels in the Kulu Manali valley in which a prominent

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
i.e., sea, air, water, forests etc., are considered as ofgreat importance and as so they are not subject to any
personal use through private ownership rather the stateis the trustee of them and the public are at large thebeneficiary. The state as a trustee is under the legal
duty to protect the natural resources and in this way
this may help to protect the environment against article
90
42 of the Constitution. Thirdly, the state is under the91
constitutional obligation
to halt the environmental
degradation causing negative impacts on the human92
health or which is against the well being of the people
93of the area concerned . The community resources i.e.,water tank, ponds, historical monuments are also
important not only for the enrichment of national
94
cultureor from the perspective of historical95
importancerather they are important for the
maintaining of ecological balance .In India thecommunity resources are now been articulated by theSupreme Court for inclusion in the concept ofenvironment, considering they all affect the quality and96
the enjoyment of life.
However, it is not until in 2011 when the parliament
97
made an amendment to the said constitution andpolitician’s family had a direct interests. The motel was also
allotted protected forestland by the state government and had
also encroached on protected forestland, which encroachment
was subsequently regularized. The Supreme Court used in thiscase the said doctrine to restore the environment to its original
condition . Briefly, the doctrine postulates that the public has aright to expect that certain lands and natural areas will retain
their natural characteristics. Again in Th. Majra Singh vs Indian
Oil Corporation AIR (1999) J&K 81. and M. I. Builders Pvt.vs
Radhey Sahu, AIR (1999) SC 2468 both cases the court madeit clear that the state is under an obligation to see that lakes,
forests, wildlife and environment are duly protected.
90
For more about Public trust Doctrine see: H. C. Dunning ,“The Public Trust : A Fundamental doctrine of American
Property Law” (1989).
91
Article-18(1) states, the state shall regard the raising of levelof nutrition and the improvement of public health as among its
primary duties and in particular shall adopt effective measures
to prevent the consumption, except for medical purposes of forsuch purposes as may be prescribed by law , of alcoholic andother intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious tohealth.
92
In Professor Nurul Islam vs Bangladesh 52 DLR (2000)
HCD 413 a writ petition was issued calling upon the
respondent as to why the respondent would not be directed toenact law for prohibition all forms of tobacco advertisement.
93
In Saleem Ullah vs Banglaadesh 55 DLR (2003) 01 thecourt held that, the action of the respondent in covering theopen space meant for park is without any lawful authority as
the same is violative of fundamental right and detrimental tohealth and well-being of the people of the area .
94
Article 23 of the Constitution states that , the state shalladopt measures to conserve the cultural traditions and heritageof the people, and so to foster and improve the national
language, literature and the arts that all section of the people
are afforded the opportunity to contribute towards and toparticipate in the enrichment of the national culture.
95
Article 24 of the Constitution states that the state shall adopt
the measures, for the protection against disfigurement,
damage or removal of all monuments, objects or places or
special artistic or historical importance or interest.
96
Hinch Lal Tiwari vs. Kamala Devi, (2001) 6 SCC 496: The
material resources of the community like forests, tanks, ponds,
hillock, mountain etc, are nature’s beauty. They maintaindelicate ecological balance. They need to be protected for aproper and healthy environment which enables people to enjoy
a quality life which is the essence of the guaranteed right under
Article 21 of the Constitution.
97
The Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 2011 (Act XIVof 2011), section 12.

67
98

inserted a new provision specifically deals with theenvironment and biodiversity issues. The new provisionin Chapter-II, says: “The State shall endeavor to protect
and improve the environment and to preserve andsafeguard the natural resources, bio-diversity,
wetlands, forests and wild life for the present and future99
citizens”
To be mentioned further, although the latest
amendment widened a constitutional scope for thepreservation and safeguarding the environment andbiodiversity, it is not judicially enforceable, other thanapplying them as principles of policy. However,according to Article 152 of the Bangladesh Constitution,
policies are not the sources of judicially enforceable
obligations rather they enjoy binding impact on theactivities of the GOB agencies and thus, can greatly
influence the shaping of national environmental
regimes.
4.3. National Legislation
Most multilateral environmental agreements provide
frameworks, as opposed to prescriptions, for states tolegislate and govern within. This flexibility allows
states to develop their own legislation based nationalframework addressing environment and biodiversity.
Bangladesh has about a hundred laws that deal with
161A
various environment and biodiversity related issues.
However, among those the most pertinent laws bearing
significant importance on the development of the legal
regime of Bangladesh are mentioned below.
4.3.1. The Environment Conservation Act 1995
(ECA)
The ECA is potentially the most powerful law for
ensuring conservation and sustainable use of thebiological resources of the country and protection of its
environment. The ECA is designed to conserve theenvironment, improve environmental standards andcontrol and mitigate environmental pollution. It has
underscored its overriding effect over other inconsistentlaws, established a Department of Environment
empowered to intervene in almost all areas ofenvironmental concerns, provided operational definitionof important phrases like conservation, environment,
eco-system, pollution etc. and prescribed punishment
for various environmental offences. Section 5 of theEnvironment Conservation Act, 1995 offers scopes forin situ conservation by empowering the Government todeclare areas as Ecologically Critical Area and takemeasures to protect the ecology of those areas
provided that the Govt. is satisfied that the ecosystemof that area has reached or threatened to reach a100`critical state’.
In these ECAs, a ban has been
imposed in general terms on some activities that
include felling or extracting trees and forest; hunting
and poaching of wild animals; catching or collection of98

The title of the Provision is Protection and Improvement ofEnvironment and Biodiversity.
99
Article 18A, the Constitution of the People’s Republic ofBangladesh.
100
In pursuance of the said Section, the Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests, in a Notification dated 19 April ’99
designated seven areas as ECAs. A Subsequent Notification
dated 26-11-2001 declared the Gulshan-Baridhara Lake alsoan ECA.
161A
For a list of the environment related laws ofBangladesh see appendix II.

68

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

snails, corals, turtles and other creatures, any activity
that may threaten the habitat of flora and fauna;activities likely to destroy or alter the naturalcharacteristics of soil and water; establishment ofindustries that may pollute soil, water, air and/or create
noise pollution and other activities that may be harmful
for the fish and other aquatic life.
4.3.2. The Environment Court Act, 2010
The Environment Court Act 2000 was repealed by the101
Act of 2010.
The recent Act provides for the102
establishment of one or more Environment Courts,
primarily in every District of the country, with specificterms of references to deal with environmental
offences. Further, it speaks about of establishing
103
Special Magistrate Court at district level .
Thespecial magistrate who sits in an special magistrate
court would be from the rank of first class judicial
magistrate or metropolitan magistrate. Under section
5(2) as the judge may deal with environmental offences
exclusively or as an additional duty along with hisnormal function. Under section 9(1) the special
magistrate can give imprisonment up to 5 year or can
impose fine up to 5 lacs taka,
The suits in these courts could be initiated only by theDoE except if a private person succeeds in convincing
the court that the DoE has not acted upon his grievancewithin 60 days of lodging a complaint. That failure evenin relation to a reasonable complaint of a private citizen,
however, could not lead to any civil or criminal
responsibility for the DoE if it acted ‘in good faith’, aphrase not defined in the Act. It may encourage abuseof power and negligence, given the only remedy left foraddressing any grievance against the DoE notice, order
or direction is an appellate authority comprising theofficers of the DoE/MoEF itself, the decision of which isfinal and can not be challenged in any court.
4.3.3. The Building Construction Act, 1952
This Act provides for the prevention of haphazard
construction of buildings and excavation of tanks andcutting and razing of hills without previous sanction of
the authorized Officer. It allows cutting and razing ofhills if the authorised officer is satisfied, among otherthings, that such acts shall not cause any serious
damage to the hill or any silting of or obstruction to any
drain, stream or river. In doing so, the Act disregards
the fact that cutting and razing of any hill would
invariably damage the ecosystem, natural habitats andtopsoil and deplete the biodiversity. According to the
public notification of the DoE dated 09/03/02, themaximum punishment for unauthorised cutting andrazing of hill is 10 years’ imprisonment with or without amaximum 10 lakh taka fine, whereas, under the Act of1952, the maximum punishment for the same offence
was 7 years’ imprisonment with or without a fine.
4.3.4. Play-ground, Open Space, Park and Natural
Wetland of All City Areas Conservation Act, 2000
This Act provides for the protection of sports fields,
open spaces, parks and natural wetlands by prohibiting
any activities detrimental to them. It defined sport fields,
open spaces and parks in relation to their inclusion in
101
102
103

Section 24 of Environment Court Act 2010.
Section 4 of Environment Court Act, 2010.
Section 5 of the Environment Court Act,2010.

the master plan of the concerned cities or in circulars orgazette notifications of the government and thus
intends the exclusion of other areas from the protection
offered by this Act. In contrast, it offers a wider andsomewhat vague definition of “natural wetland” as any
land either designated as river, canal, lake or wetland in
the master plan of the concerned cities or declared as
flood water area by the gazette notification of thegovernment or any land that holds rain water. Given
that there could hardly be any place in most of the cities
of Bangladesh that cannot hold rainwater, this definitionreflects a somewhat excessively precautionary
response to indiscriminate land encroachment,
urbanisation and expansion of real estate business.
4.3.5. The Wildlife (Preservation) Order, 1973
The wildlife law provides for the protection of wildlife
as well as the habitats. Considering this the Wildlife(Preservation) Order, 1973 defines various protectedareas in the form of game reserve, national park andwildlife sanctuary and aims at preserving wildlife of
those protected areas. The wildlife sanctuary regime
also requires undisturbed breeding ground for theprotection of wildlife as well as all natural resources inthe sanctuary. The Act classified the wild animals as
game and protected animals and listed them in theannexed schedules. While the game animals can be
killed or hunted with permit, the protected animals are
fully protected except for saving life, crops or livestock.
However, by an executive order dated 18 June 1998,
the Prime Minister’s Office had prohibited hunting of all
types of wild animals for the following five years. For
according meaningfulness to this provision, this ordershould be renewed until the wild life population could befound, through credible survey and mapping, to havereached a viable and safe stage.
The animal species is also taken into consideration.
Several laws could be found here. Animal Slaughter(Restriction) and Meat Control Act, 1957 (amended
by 1983 Ordinance) prohibits slaughtering of female
animals below the age of specified years or female
animal which is pregnant or in milk. The East Pakistan
Society for prevention of cruelty to animals
Ordinance 1962 (amended in 2001) provides for theconstitution of a society for the prevention of cruelty todomesticated or captured animals. The Society is
responsible for exercising authorities under the Cruelty
to Animals Act of 1920 for preventing cruelty toanimals and making arrangements for proper treatment
and care of animals, and educating people for that
purpose. Under the 1920 Act, cruelty to and illtreatment of animals are punishable offence. Cruelty
includes unnecessary or cruel beating, overloading ofanimals and causing unnecessary pain and suffering toanimals. The Livestock Importation Act, 1898
(amended in 1973, ‘74) provides that the Government
may, by Gazette Notifications restrict, or prohibit theimportation of any livestock which may be liable to beaffected by infectious or contagious disorder or disease.
It may also make rules for detention, inspection,
disinfection or destruction of any such livestock. The
Bengal Disease of Animals Act, 1944, provides forthe prevention of spread of contagious diseases
amongst domesticated animals in Bangladesh bymaking provision for reporting contagious disease,segregating the infected animals, declaring infectedEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)69

area and prohibiting movement of animals into and outof such areas.

1000 taka for first offence and double for subsequent
offences.

4.3.6. The Forest Act, 1927
The Act empowers the Government to declareportions of its forest as Reserved or Protected and by
doing that, it may take measures for in situ
conservation of biological diversity. The government
may also establish its control over portions of private
forest by declaring them as controlled or vested forestsand conversely, assign village communities to the
management of portions of reserved forest. Any acts oromission detrimental to the natural resources ofreserved and protected forests are prohibited and arepunishable offences. Among them, the more serious
ones include making fresh clearing of forest lands,
removing timbers, setting fires, felling or otherwise
damaging trees, clearing or breaking up any land for
cultivation or any other purpose, hunting and poisoning
water. The Act, however, allows any such work withpermission of the Forest Officer, without clearlyspecifying what criteria have to be observed by theconcerned officer in giving such permission. The Act
also fails to establish any stringent regulatory regime
for the protected forest areas or to provide for theestablishment of surrounding buffer zones for more
effective regulation of reserved and protected areas. It
also fails to provide sufficient recognition for indigenous
practices and techniques in forest conservation
including sustainable methods of ‘jum’ cultivation. The
Forest Act, 1927 was amended further in April 2000 toprovide for establishment of social forestry involving
local community participation in the management
regime. By virtue of Section 26 (1A) and Section 32, thefisheries resources of the water bodies of any reserveor protected forest are protected from illegal fishing,poisoning of water and setting traps and snares.
Coordination among different management regime (e.g.
forestry, fisheries, land) established in various water
bodies is needed for better and holistic conservation of
aquatic species and their habitats.

4.3.9. Marine Fisheries Ordinance, 1983
Limited fishing by non-mechanised local fishingvessels and local fishing using trawlers equipped withlimited horsepower are allowed in specified zones
under this Ordinance. No entry of foreign fishingvessels into the Bangladesh’s waters would be allowed
except with license. The Government may declare any
area in the territorial waters as marine reserve and theEEZ of Bangladesh which require special protection
and regeneration of the aquatic life (in 2000, a marine
park was established under the Act). The Act does notprovide for specific preventive or precautionary
measures for protection and conservation of aquaticlife.

4.3.7. The Bangladesh Petroleum Act, 1974
Under section 6 of the Act, petroleum operation has
to be carried out in a manner that does not interferewith navigation, fishing, conservation of resources ofthe sea and sea-bed and that takes into account factors
connected with ecology and environment. It does notdefine the factors and the management elements acompany should establish and maintain to discharge its
obligations. Section 6(2) only specifies the safetymeasures to be undertaken that include proper disposalof waste and prevent the escape of drilling fluids.

4.3.12. The Agricultural Pesticide Ordinance, 1971
Under section 5, the Government can refuse theregistration of those pesticides that are detrimental tovegetation, human or animal health. Adverse impact on
the fisheries or aquatic organisms, which are very
vulnerable in particular in the inundated flood plains andthe surrounding habitats of agricultural lands, are nottaken into account. The government, upon advice from
Pesticide Technical Advisory Committee establishedunder the Act, has banned certain pesticides, although
no effective legal mechanism has been put in place tohalt their illegal importation and sale under disguised
names and labels.

4.3.8. Protection and Conservation of Fish Act,1950
The Act defines fish to cover a wide variety of aquatic
species e.g. fish, amphibians, tortoises, turtles, frogs
and explains ‘fisheries’ as any water body offering fish
habitat. It empowers the government to make rules
mostly for the protection of fishes by, for example,
prohibiting and regulating the process, period and sizeof fishing, pollution and other activities detrimental tofish population and fisheries. The maximum
punishment for violating such prohibitions, however, isonly six months’ imprisonment with a fine of maximum

4.3.10. The Territorial Waters and Maritime Zones
Act, 1974
Section 6 of this Act authorizes the Government toestablish conservation zones in the sea adjacent to theterritorial waters to maintain productivity of the living
resources and to ensure their conservation. The
objectives of the Territorial Waters and Maritime
Zones Rules, 1977 include fish conservation,
productivity increase, maintenance of growth andprotection of marine environment and of course,
sustainable exploitation of fish resources. Penal
provisions for violation of the rules are inadequate.
4.3.11. The Embankment and Drainage Act, 1952
It empowers the engineers to conduct enquiries andconsider whether or not any objection would be taken
into cognizance in undertaking construction ofembankments and sluices. While doing so, they are notobliged to undertake any multidisciplinary study toassess the environmental impact of such projects.
Consequently, these projects, while consideredpotentially beneficial for flood control and foodproduction, may adversely affect aquatic ecosystem
and its productivity.

4.3.13. Court Decisions
The Judiciary when well prepared and informed of therapidly expanding environmental law, plays a key
mechanism for ensuring legal effectiveness ofenvironmental law and institutional regimes forexample, by providing access to the public and to the
judicial procedures for the enforcement of theenvironmental rights.
However, one of the maindevelopments in this connection is the Public Interest
Environmental Litigation (PIEL) that permits any citizen

70

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

who is concern about the environment to come before
the court and have his grievance mitigated which
relates to the environment and environmental issues
either directly or indirectly. Thus, the PIEL helps
strengthen the national environmental legal regime.
The judiciary of Bangladesh has extended the104constitutional requirements of having the locus standi
in case of public interest litigation in Dr, Mohiuddin
105
Farooque case . Now any person aggrieved includes
any person other than an officious intervener or a
wayfarer without any interest in the cause even theexpression is not confined to individual affected
persons only but it extends to the people in general, as
a collective and consolidated personality. Where acommon interest is involved and the applicant is one of106
them he is said to be aggrieved. If an applicant bonafide espouses a public cause in the public interest heacquires the competency to claim a hearing from the107
court . So the expression ‘person aggrieved’ means
not only any person who is personally aggrieved but
also one whose heart bleeds for the less fortune fellowbeings for a wrong done by the Govt. or a local
authority in not fulfilling its constitutional or statutory
obligations. It does not, however extend to a person
who is an interloper and interferes with things which do108
not concern him. This approach is in keeping with theconstitutional principles that are being evolved in the
recent times in different countries of the world in order109
to ensure social and economic justice.
104

Article 44(1) of the Constitution states, The right to movethe High Court Division in accordance with clause (1) of article
102, for the enforcement of the rights conferred by this part isguaranteed. So the pertinent situation to move the HCD underarticle 102 is that when the right under part-III is violated. Now
the broader significance of article-31 &32 covers anything thatthreatens the fundamental right to life and if it/they did so thena person is said to be aggrieved add can move to the HCD.
Article-102 states, the HCD on the application of any
person aggrieved, may give such directions or orders to any
person or authority, including any person performing any
function in connection with the affairs of the Republic, as may
be appropriate for the enforcement of any of the fundamental
rights conferred by part-III of this Constitution.
105
In Dr.Mohiuddin Farooque vs. Bangladesh 49 DLR 1997
(AD) 1 the court observed , The expression ‘any person
aggrieved ‘ approximates the test of or if the same iscapsulized, amounts to, what is broadly called “sufficientinterest”. Any person other than an officious intervener or a
wayfarer without any interest in the case beyond the interest of
the general people of the country having sufficient interest in
the matter in dispute is qualified to be a person aggrieved andcan maintain an action for judicial redress of public injury
arising from breach of some public duty or for violation of theconstitutional provision or the law and seek enforcement ofsuch public duty and observance of such constitutional or legal
provision.[ Per A. T. M. Afzal, C. J; ]106
In Parvin Akhter vs. Rajdhani Unuayan Katripakkha 18
BLD HCD 116 case the petitioner had moved the application
for her personal interest as well as for the interest of all theresidents of The Gulshan Model Town who are, in fact,enjoying the greeneries and the Gulshan lake with its
environmental facilities. Since it relates to common interest of
all the persons of the Gulshan Model Town area, the petitioner
is an aggrieved person and has got locus standi to file the writ
petition.
107
In 49 DLR 1997 (AD) 1, Para 48 &51 Per Mustafa Kamal,J.
108
In 49 DLR 1997 (AD) 1, para 98 Per B. B. Roy
Choudhury, J.
109
Public Interest Litigation is not in the nature of adversary
litigation. When the Courts entertain public interest litigation, it
does not do so in a caviling spirit or in a confrontational moodor with a view to tilting at executive authority or seeking to

The real test of ‘sufficient interest’ on the other hand,essentially depends on the co-relation between thematter brought before the court and the person who isbringing it. Now the view of the court is that when aperson approaches to the court for redress of a public
wrong or public injury, though he may not have any
personal interest, must be deemed to have ‘sufficientinterest ‘in the matter if he acts bona fide and not for his
personal gain or private profits or for any obliqueconsiderations.
The evolving trends of covering the PIEL is wide, forexample a person who is not the riparian owner but
interested in protecting the lives of the people is said to110have locus standi,
one who applies against thedecision which has the adverse effects on human111
health is considered to have such , even the citizen
who have apprehension of being negatively affected by112
the construction of grid station .
4.4. The Constitutional and Judicial Responses inaddressing Environment and Biodiversity in South
Asian Countries
In order to address the global problem ofenvironmental hazards and also to conserve thebiodiversity, the initiatives of South Asia region are
noticeable. Majority countries of this region havealready set their respective national constitution in thisregard and most importantly, the judiciaries are also
playing a significant role in combating theenvironmental turmoil. The following discussion will
depicts a comparative picture of this.
4.4.1 Constitutional Frameworks
A constitution is the supreme law of the states. In
addition, it works as guidance in the governance of thestates, fixes the rights and duties of the states andcitizens. From the mid-1940s, the constitutions startedrd
to include the 3 generation rights, i.e. environmental
rights. In 1988, Professor Krier wrote a thoughtprovoking article, in which he asked: What can be more
fundamental than the environment? Why is this notusurp it, but its attempts is only to ensure observance of socialand economic rescue programmes. The court is thus merely
assisting in the realization of the Constitutional objectives.
[Bondhu Mukti Morcha vs. Union of India AIR 1984 SC 802].
110
In M. C. Mehta vs. Union Of India AIR 1988 SC 1115 thepetitioner had filed writ petition for prevention of nuisancecaused by the pollution of the river Ganga. And the court
entertained this as a public interest litigation. See for more
about PIEL in the following cases Union Carbide Corporation
vs Union of India AIR 1992 SC 248 ; Charam Lal Sahu vs.
Union of India AIR 1990 SC 1480 ; S. P. Gururaja vs. The
Executive Member, Karnataka Industrial areas Development
Board AIR 1998 Karnataka 223 ; State of Himachal Prodesh
vs. Ganesh Wood Products AIR 1996 SC 149 ; Citizen &Inhabitants of Municipal Ward No. 15, Gwalior vs. Municipal
Corporation, Gwalior (Maintenance of sanitation ) AIR 1997 M.
P.
33.
111
In Advocate Prokash Mone Shorma vs. His Majesty’s Govt.
Cabinet of Ministers [ WP No.2539 1994] it has been held thatthe petitioner cannot be said not to have locus standi since thewrit in questions, the basis for the import of the DDT which has
adverse effects on human health. Under the Constitution of
Nepal the protection of the Health of the people andconservation of environment are the responsibility of His
Majesty’s government. The Govt. has failed in this regard andacted against the constitutional right of general public byimporting 100 metric tons of DDT from Indonesia. The Ministryof Health cancelled the Importation order.
112
In Ms. Shehla Zia vs. WAPDA PLD 1994 SC 693.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
113

recognized constitutionally?
Thus, currently, most of
the South Asian countries Constitutions, like otherwritten constitutions of elsewhere, are foundincorporating provisions which bear provisions on theenvironment and biodiversity.
(a) The Constitution of Bangladesh
To the global call for the protection of environmentand biodiversity, Bangladesh, with limited resources
and technologies, responded with enactments ofvarious laws and making policies. There are around114
205 laws, regulations and rules in Bangladesh which
deal with environment and bio-diversity. Bangladesh
Constitution neither in the fundamental rights nor in thepreamble speaks about any right to healthy and clean
environment, however, under fifteenth amendment in
the state policies, inserted a provision regarding
environment and biodiversity as stated earlier.
(b) The Constitution of IndiandFour years after Stockholm Conference, In 1976, 42
amendment to the Constitution was passed and theprovisions relating to the protection of environment for
the first time were incorporated by adding a newprovision article 48-A in the Chapter, Directive
Principles of State Policy according to which the State
shall Endeavour to protect and improve theenvironment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of
the country. Further, article 51A (g) inserted by thesame amendment states “it shall be the duty of every
citizen of India to protect and improve the naturalenvironment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife
and to have compassion for living creatures”. The two
articles clearly determine the state and the citizens’
duties to protect and improve environment and topreserve bio-diversity. Though the first one is directive
in nature, the second one imposes fundamental duties
upon state and citizen’s to protect and preserve
environment and bio-diversity.
(C) The Constitution of Nepal
Article 35 of the Constitution of Nepal incorporates theright to Clean Environment. This very Article is underpart 3 which deals with Fundamental Rights and Duties
and is judicially enforceable. Issues of climate change,
global warming, environment rights, protection and rightutilization of resources are important issues globally aswell as locally, and it is especially crucial for Nepal andis included within under article 55(g) that also covers
115
the protection of environment and bio-diversity.
(d) The Constitution of Pakistan
There is no specific provision in the Constitution
which deals with the environment and bio-diversity
however; there are some laws such as, Pakistan
Environmental Protection Act, 1979 which deal with theenvironment and bio-diversity. The redresses ofgrievance is covered under the constitutional provisions
specifically by Articles 9, 14, and 199 as the judiciary
expanded the interpretation of ‘right to life’ to include
right to healthy environment, and there are volume of71

cases which expounded right to life as right to clean
and healthy environment.
(e) The Constitution of Bhutan
The Constitution under article 5 states that every
Bhutanese is a trustee of the Kingdom's natural
resources and environment for the benefit of thepresent and future generations and declares that it is
the fundamental duty of every citizen to contribute to
the protection, conservation, and prevention of all formsof ecological degradation including noise, visual andphysical pollution. This Article authorizes the adoption
and support of environment friendly practices andpolicies. The Government itself is under the promise toprotect, conserve and improve the environment andsafeguard the biodiversity of the country; prevent
pollutionandecologicaldegradation;
secureecologically balanced sustainable development while
promoting justifiable economic and social development;
and ensure a safe and healthy environment. To thisend, it promises that a minimum of 60 percent of
Bhutan's total land shall be maintained as forest for all
time. Moreover Article 8 speaks about the fundamental
duties of the citizens regarding the protection ofenvironment and bio-diversity.
(f) The Constitution of Maldives
The constitution of Maldives speaks about theenvironment and biodiversity under articles 22, 23(d)(f), 67(h). Article 22 states about state responsibility toprotect natural environment, biodiversity, resources andbeauty of the country for the benefit of present andfuture generations. Article 23(d) lay down that every
citizen has the right to enjoy a healthy and ecologicallybalanced environment. Article 67(h) states that theexercise and enjoyment of fundamental rights andfreedoms is inseparable from the performance of
responsibilities and duties, and it is the responsibility of
every citizen to preserve and protect the naturalenvironment, biodiversity, resources and beauty of thecountry and to abstain from all forms of pollution andecological degradation. All these provisions are
judicially enforceable and justifiable as these comeunder the fundamental rights and freedom chapter of
the Constitution.
(g) The Constitution of Sri Lanka
Article 27(14) as a directive principles of state policy
incorporates state’s duties to protect, preserve andimprove the environment for the benefit of the116
community. Apart from that article 28(f) states about
the duties of the citizen of Sri Lanka to preserve thenature and conserve its richness. To be added thatthese are not judicially enforceable under article 29 of
117
the Constitution .
(h) The Constitution of Afghanistan
Article 15 is the single article that speaks about theenvironment. Under this article the state is obliged toadopt necessary measures for safeguarding forests
and the environment. Therefore, among all the South
Asian countries constitutions, the Constitution of
Maldives is the most notable one to give better
protection to the environment and bio-diversity and all

113

The Environment, the Constitution and the Coupling
Fallacy: 32 Michigan Law Quadrangle Notes 35, 1988.
Farooque,Mohiuddin
andHasan,S.Rizwana,Laws
ndRegulating Environment in Bangladesh,2 edn,2004 (BELA).

114

115

55(g) Policies related to protection, promotion andutilization of natural resources.

116

Fundamental duties Chapter.
Article 29 states that the provisions of this Chapter do notconfer or impose legal rights or obligations, and are notenforceable in any court or tribunal. No question ofinconsistency with such provisions shall be raised in any court
or tribunal.
117

72

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

the provisions concerning environment and bio-diversity
are judicially justifiable. Compared to the environmental
provisions of Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and India, theConstitution of Bangladesh is not so proactive andsupportive for environmental and bio-diversity
protection, however, the judiciary with the help of laws
dealing with environment and bio-diversity is marchingahead to include the ‘right to clean and healthy
environment’ in the ‘right to life’ which is judiciallyenforceable under article 102 of the Constitution readwith article 44.
4.4.2 The Framework developed by the Judiciary
The judiciary plays a significant role in protecting theenvironment and biodiversity. Since, the judiciary is
regarded as the guarantor and protector of the118
constitution , thus, the judiciary is the first to come for
implementing the constitutional provisions. The judicial
activism of the South Asian Countries, although
noticeable in this regard, their role found is different
given the socio-economic and political contexts ofrespective countries.
Within the judicial hierarchy, Bangladesh has
established three distinct environment courts by theEnvironment Courts Act, 2010. The Court has no soumotu power to take a case directly from aggrieved
119
individual
relating to environment although citizens
are free to go to the higher judiciary i.e., the Supreme
Court for environmental remedies under the coverage120
of PIL. Judicial activism contributes to proper
implementation of environmental laws and allows thevast majority of the backward section access to thejustice system. As a result of progressive interpretationby the judiciary of Bangladesh, ‘right to environment’121
has received express legal recognition
and in thisregard some of the instances of Bangladesh Judiciary
are mentioned earlier.
The Indian Supreme Court, on the other hand,through judicial activism pioneered in the field ofenvironmental jurisprudence and recognized some
doctrines which are even not recognized in internationallaw. Under the constitutional setup the legal positions ofArticle 51(A)-(g) and 48-A although directive in nature isoften been interpreted by the Indian courts as legallybinding. Moreover, these provisions have been used by
the courts to justify and develop ‘right to environment’as part of ‘right to life’ under article 21. Hereinafter, an
enterprise has been taken to depict a robust
environmental jurisprudence in domestic sphere withthe help of international law. For example, in the
122
Kanpur Tanneries Casethe Supreme Court
comprehensively cited the Stockholm Declarations andfirmed the erstwhile nascent fundamental right to118
Where the Judicial Supremacy exists.
119

The Environment Court Act 2000 sec. 5, as amended by
the Environment Court (Amendment) Act 2002.
Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, J. William Futrell, Jay Austin and
Susan Bass, ‘The Evolving Role of Citizens in Environmental
Enforcement’, National Environmental Enforcement Journal,
1996, Vol. 11, No. 5, 1996, pp. 40-50.
121See, Justice Mainur Reza Chowdhury, ‘Legal andInstitutional Framework in Promoting Environmental
Management’inBangladesh,availableat
http://www.unep.org/law/Symposium/Documents/Country_pa
pers/Bangladesh.doc.
122
M.C. Mehta, v. Union of India AIR 1988 SC 1037. See Para
4 (pp. 1038-1040) for detailed discussion of Stockholm
Declarations by Justice Venkataramiah.
120

environment in India. The court in this case preferred
the right to 'environment' over 'employment' and'revenue generation'. During this period the Rio
Declarations, 1992 was also cited in the Law Society of123
India case.
Apart from that, in providing
environmental justice, the Indian Supreme Court has
widened the scope of certain principles and doctrines
124
such as precautionary principle; polluter pays
125
126
principle, and public trust doctrine
to protect
environment and bio-diversity from further degradation.
The Judiciary of Pakistan, coming to the next, for the127
first time through the famous Shehla Zia casecreated scope for the right to clean environment within
the meaning of right to life. It further held that although“life” is not defined in the Constitution, it could not begiven a restrictive meaning of vegetative or animal life
only; rather, it includes all such amenities and facilities
which a person born in a free country is entitled to enjoy
with dignity, legally and constitutionally. Shehla Zia
case bears great importance and as it set the voyage of
all future PIL in Pakistan for environmental
jurisprudence. To be mentioned further, that the
Pakistani Court acted rigorously to develop
environmental jurisprudence in the 1990s but after
2007 there is dearth of environmental jurisprudence
from the part of the Pakistani court and a disjointed
128
effort is noticeable
The judiciary of Sri Lanka is also playing a noteworthy
and praiseworthy role in protecting environment andbio-diversity
throughinnovativeenvironmental
jurisprudence although there is no specific provision
regarding to this in their constitution. However, thejudiciary is providing environmental justice taking
articles 12 and 126 of the Constitution into
consideration. Moreover, the judiciary is applying theinternational conventions related to environment toensure environmental justice. Indeed, The Sri Lankan
Supreme Court is giving proper and effective treatment
to the principle of ‘Sustainable Development” bringing
under this doctrine the precautionary principle. In thecase of Bulankulama Vs The Secretary, Ministry of
129
Industrial Development
the court held that the123

Law Society of India v. Fertilizer & Chemical Travancore
Ltd.
AIR 1994 Ker. 308.
124
Vellore Citizens’ Welfare Forum v. Union of India (1996) 5
SCC 647 : AIR 1996 SC 2715 Unanimous Judgment
delivered on August 28, 1996; by a three judges bench of theSupreme Court of India; F.B. Taraporwala v. Bayer India Ltd.
(1996) 6 SCC 58, 61 (Para 4); M.C. Mehta (Badkal and
Surajkund Lakes Matter v. Union of India (1997) 3 SCC 715,
718-20. (Para 8 & 10); Suo Motu Proceeding In Re : Delhi
Transport Development (1998) 9 SCC 250; 251. Justice
Kuldip Singh (Joint order of the Div. bench) applied theprecautionary principle as part of sustainable development toestablish a legal duty of the state government to control thevehicular pollution in Delhi); S Jagannath, v. Union of India(1997) 2 SCC 87, 143-46 (Para 47); M.C. Mehta v. Kamal
Nath (1997) 1 SCC 388, 413-414 (para 37 & 38); M.C. Mehta(Calcutta Tannaries' Matter) v. Union of India (1997) 2 SCC
411, 429-430 (Para 18 & 19); M.C. Mehta (Taj Trapezium
Matter) v. Union of India (1997) 2 SCC 353, 382-83. (Para32).
125
Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action v. Union of India(Bichhri village industrial pollution case), Supreme Court ofIndia, Judgement of 13 February 1996, 1996 (3) SCC 212.
126
M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath, Supreme Court of India,
Judgement of 13 December 1996, 1997 (1) SCC 388
127
Shehla Zia and Others vs. WAPDA (1994 PLD SC 693).
128
Ibid. pp.24, 25.
129(2000) 3 Sri L.R. 43.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
phosphate mining must be in a sustainable way and forthe first time in this case the court referred tointernational environmental instruments including the
Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment
1972 and the Rio Declaration on the Environment andDevelopment 1992.
The judiciary of Nepal, on the other hand, does not
face any hassles in providing environmental justice as
article 35 of the constitution incorporated the right toclean environment which is a fundamental right. The
Supreme Judiciary has alreadyprovided certain
notableverdicts
in
the
cases
of
Advocate Bharat Mani Gautam
v. Secretariat, Council of
Ministers130
Mandamus,Yogi NarahariNath
v. the then Prime Minister Gririja
131
Prasad Koirala, Midevlal Upadhyay v. Buddilal
132
Gubhaju.
Thus, the right to environment is not a constitutionalright in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka andAfghanistan; nonetheless the judiciaries developed amechanism to interpret right to life to include right toenvironment in various decisions rendered by the
courts. However this right is, with judicial enforceability,
protected in the Constitutions of Maldives, Bhutan and
Nepal which are better in status than the constitutional
articulation of Bangladesh.
However, the acceptance of the obligations under theinternational environmental legal regime emanated fromthe related treaties and customs coupled with theConstitutional provisions of Bangladesh, statutes andcase laws made it imperative that in Bangladesh a welldeveloped legal framework exists to address theenvironment and biodiversity like many other South
Asian counties.
5. Assessing Ethical Approaches to Environmental
Legislation and Biodiversity in Bangladesh
5.1
Assessing
EthicalApproaches
toEnvironmental Legislation and Biodiversity in
Bangladesh
At the beginning of the twentieth century, many of theideas that had culminated in anthropocentric outlooks
became implicitly or explicitly accepted by most of the133
world’s dominant cultures. From there it was a small
step for them to be entered into the legal and policy
setting, both internationally and nationally. In otherwords, all environmentally related actions were to bedone primarily for the good of humanity, whether interms of conservation and/or the prevention of134
pollution. The environment was to be protected forthe instrumental value to humanity. Letter on, thedebate arose for not considering the value of otherliving beings and thus, another view, namely, the130

Recognizes the right to live.
N K P 2053 Ak1 P 3 dii 6127 )(N. K. P. 2053 Ank
1 P. 3 decision no. 612 held that the government do not haveabsolute right for taking decision regarding destroying natural,religious and heritage property.
132
single Bench, Nepal Pradhan
Nyayalaya, sadhak
Number 47, Decision on 2010,
shrawan 14 B.S, In Nepalese judiciary, this is the first notedcase where the the environmental conservation was seen
with serious concern.in this case the court gave punishment
for persons involved in illegal hunting of river fishes.
133
Alexander Gillespie, International Environmental Law,
Policy, and Ethics, Oxford, 2014, at p. 10.
134
Ibid.
131

73

biocentric approach became popular. It was further
augmented by getting the attention of not only the valueof living organisms but also their natural environment
and therefore, another new approach i.e., ecocentrism
anchored in the national, regional and international
legal regimes.
5.1.1 International Perspectives
As mentioned earlier, Bangladesh is a party to manyof the International Instruments that bear provisions onor relating to the protection of the environment and also
to the conserve the biodiversity. A critical analysis of
those instruments certifies that, the need to consider
the universality and applicability of the ethical principles
is intertwined to their very foundation. Although, it isalso found at the same time that all those instruments
do not hold the same ethical approach and evensometime arguably a mixed approach. However,irrespective of the approach they contained, they havea profound significance in shaping the international
ethical framework for the conservation of theenvironment. Some of the relevant instruments can becited here as examples.
The Convention Concerning the Protection of theWorld Cultural and Natural Heritage, 1972, states in thepreamble that “…parts of the cultural or natural heritage
are of outstanding interest and therefore need to bepreserved as part of the world heritage of mankind as awhole”. The Convention thus, introduces the concept ofa ‘common heritage of humankind’ into environmental
law which is argued as a concept of universal value ofenvironmental law.
The 1972 Declaration of the UN Conference on the
Human Environment reflected its anthropocentric basis
in its very title. Additionally, the declaration emphasizedthat ‘of all things in the world, people are the mostprecious’. The 1980 World Conservation Strategy,
which advocated sustainable development, defineddevelopment as ‘the application of human, financial,living and non-living resources to satisfy human needs
135
and to improve the quality of human life.’ In 1980, thefirst Brandt report, North-South: A Program for Survival,
defined development as leading to the ‘self-fulfillment’136
of ‘full human potential’.
The anthropocentric
approach appears in a number of international
environmental documents and texts in the designationof nature as resource, rather that attributing it an137
intrinsic value of its own accord.
The CBD, on the other hand, confirms the intrinsic
value of biodiversity and ecosystems both in thepreamble and throughout the document notably, under138
article 6, 8 and 9. This means that all species andthe environment should be respected and preserved inaccordance with their own rights, and not owing to thevalue to humans. Indeed, the CBD contains a
perspective on the relationship between humans andthe environment and its values that might be more135

See IUCN (1980) World Conservation Staratey, paras 4 &5; ‘conservation, like development is for people’. Reprinted in
Ruster, B. and Simma, B. (eds), 1983, International Protectionofthe Environment, New York, Vol. XIII, at p. 427.
136
Brnadt Commission, North-South: A Program for Survival(Pan
Books, London, 1980, at p. 223.
137
Alexander Gillespie, International Environmental Law,
Policy,and Ethics, Oxford, 2014, at p.12.
138
Rai, J.S. et al., Universalism and Ethical Values for theEnvironment, UNESCO Bangkok, 2010, at p. 26.

74

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

universally accepted by the variety of world views
across the world. The CBD also emphasizes thedependence of humans on functioning ecosystems andour need to protect them for the benefit of future
generations, but the language it uses is arguably lessanthropocentric and contains more elements ofbiocentrism, and even ecocentrism. It is also stated
that: “… the strong focus of the CBD on the role offunctioning ecosystems as a key factor in maintaining
or restoring biological diversity is in itself rather
ecocentric; instead of appointing the human as thecustodian of other species, the human is considered an
integral part of a larger and inherently complex systemof biotic and abiotic elements, and the survival of thissystem is dependent on the dynamic relationship.
between all its separate parts( (Rai, J. S. et al., 2010)
Apart from those, the CBD has taken into
consideration certain other ethical issues, like, firstly,
the need to include non-state actors in the process ofpreserving biodiversity; secondly,
the vulnerable
position of indigenous people and local communities
living within endangered ecosystems; thirdly, value of
local traditions and indigenous knowledge and the needto make use of these resources to achieve the goals of
the convention. And therefore, the CBD has become
one of the best examples of human-nature relationshipin the arena of environment and biodiversity.
Thus, in the arena of international environmental legal
regimes a mixed picture of different ethical approaches
are found. Although previously, this picture wasdominated by the anthropocentric approach, currently
the biocentric and ecocentric approaches are getting
more attention with the backdrop of severe
environmental degradation and the loss of biodiversity.
This shift has a positive influence, perhaps impact on
the development of the regional and national
legislations everywhere in the world, including in
Bangladesh.
5.1.2 National Perspectives
Bangladesh adopted its first constitution in 1972 andin that constitution there was no specific provisions
regarding either to the environment or to thebiodiversity. However, a Writ Petition is brought in theHigh Court Division of the Supreme Court of
Bangladesh for the first time in 1994 by a group ofenvironmental lawyers called the Bangladesh
Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) regarding
to the environment pollution and court took the
cognizance on the basis of wide interpretation of themeaning of right to life as mentioned under article 32.
Latter on the same is extended by a series of cases asmentioned earlier by Dr. Mohiuddin Farooque, anenvironmental lawyer. Thus, although the primaryconstitution was anthropocentric so far as theenvironment is concerned, the judiciary intervened andcreated a scope of ecocentrism and even biocentricism.
In several decisions aftermath, the judiciary madevaluable verdicts, implying the value and significance ofthe non-human being and natural environment.
However, very recently in 2011 a new provision
through the 15th amendment was added to theconstitution that considers the taking of endeavors by
the state to protect and improve the environment and topreserve and safeguard the natural resources, biodiversity, wetlands, forests and wild life for the present

139

and future citizen. Therefore, the latest constitutional
provision regarded the natural resources, etc., as apiece of property or estate inherited by one generationfrom its predecessor and imposed a duty upon the state
as a trustee to preserve and safeguard for thegeneration to come. Indeed, the provisions insist that
all activities in or around those resources should respect
the interests of future generations, especially in making
decisions that affect whether, when and how the region’s
resources are to be used, exploited, developed and140
distributed. Therefore, the provision recognizes theinherent worth of all members of the biosphere and thenatural environment but not as an intrinsic value eitherof the non-human being or the nature but because of
the necessity of human being, which evidences thepresence of anthropocentricism approach in theconstitution.
Apart from the constitutional provisions, the generallaws made by the parliament relating to environmentand biodiversity are predominantly based onanthropocentric approaches. Although a mixed
approach of anthropocentricism, biocentric andecocentric could be found in some laws like, theBangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995.
However, very recently a change is noticed, which is torecognize the value of the environment and biodiversity
for their inherent worth in different laws, for instanceplaygrounds, open space, park and natural wetland of
all city areas conservation Act, 2000 and theirinterpretation.
5.2 Assessing Ethical Approaches in Development
Plan and Policy: Some Instances
5.2.1 Agriculture
Biodiversity and agriculture are strongly interrelated.
Biodiversity is critical for agriculture and agriculture canalso contribute to the conservation and sustainable useof biodiversity. Maintenance of the biodiversity isessential for the sustainable production of food andother agricultural products and the benefits theseprovide to humanity, including food security, nutrition141
and livelihoods.
Agricultural biodiversity is the base upon which142
agricultural production has been built.
Genetic
diversity of agricultural biodiversity provides species
with the ability to adapt to changing environment andevolve, by increasing their tolerance to frost, hightemperature, drought and water-logging, as well as theirresistance to particular diseases, pests and parasites
for example. This is particularly important regarding143
climate change.
It also performs ecosystemservices which are essential to human survival, such as
soil and water conservation, maintenance of soil fertility
144
and biota, and pollination.
During the last decades, worldwide biodiversity has
been lost at an unprecedented rate in all theecosystems,
includingagro-ecosystems.
139

Article 18A, the Constitution of the People’s Republic ofBangladesh.
140
This is like the common heritage of humankind. See fordetails
Damato, A and Kirsten Engel (1995), pp. 29-30.
141https://www.cbd.int/agro/whatstheproblem.shtml.
142
Joseph Cooper, Leslie Lipper, David , Agricultural
Biodiversity and Biotechnology in Economic Development,
Springer,2006, at p. ix.
143
COP decision V/5.
144
https://www.cbd.int/agro/whatstheproblem.shtml.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
Homogenization of agricultural production systems,
mainly due to intensification of agricultural systems
coupled with specialization by plant and animal
breeders is one of the greatest causes of agricultural
145
biodiversity loss.
According to the FAO, it isestimated that about three-quarters of the genetic
diversity found in agricultural crops has been lost overthe last century.
The economy of Bangladesh is primarily dependent
on agriculture. About 84 percent of the total population
live in rural areas and are directly or indirectly engaged
in a wide range of agricultural activities. Agriculture
146
contributes about 32 percent to the country's GDP ,about 23 percent of which is contributed by the crop
sector alone. About 63 percent of the labor force is
employed in agriculture with about 57 percent being
147
employed in the crop sector.
The primary goal of the National Agriculture Policy ofBangladesh is to modernize and diversify the crop
sector, in other words the entire agricultural system,
through initiation and implementation of a wellorganized and well-coordinated development plan.
There are different tools set in the plan which areconflicting to the ethical issues, like bringing an
increasing area for agriculture. But what will happen inthat case to the local people or the species live in thoselocations? What is the alternative set up for theirlivelihood? Those are the questions that remain
unaddressed.
5.2.2 Economics
Economic instruments play an increasingly importantrole in shaping environment, health and safety
regulation. Economists can influence environmental
policy in several ways. One is by advocating the use ofparticular tools for achieving better environment
outcomes through research, teaching and outreach topolicy makers. Another is by analyzing the benefits andcosts of regulations and standards, which may
demonstrate the inefficiencies of the foals themselves.
The third way is by analyzing how decisions are madeby examining the political economy of environmental
148
regulation.
But the intricate relationship between
economics and environment is not out of debate,
perhaps the debate becomes intense when therelationship is measured by the lens of ethics. We canread that: “The fact that environmental concerns are
assigned economic costs and benefits raises
important ethical questions of the way in whichhumans interact with their natural environment. Whennations assign a monetary value to environmental
damage, they place an economic value on
environmental change for example, carbon trading
programs. Economics can also predict individual
choices and alternatives. The economic view also
supposes that prices can be “signals” for individual
preferences and needs. Following this, it can beargued that economic value is a kind of ethical value
145

It happens through genetic erosion and the increasinglevels of genetic vulnerability of specialized crops andlivestock.
146
Agriculture sector is the single largest contributor to GDP.
147
http://www.sdnbd.org/sdi/issues/agriculture/nationalpolicy/introduction.htm.
148
http://belfercenter.hks.harvard.edu/files/The%20Impact%20
of%20Economics%20on%20Environmental%20Policy%20%20E-99-01.pdf.

75system that signals what is valued by individuals. If
biodiversity is valued, a high cost can be attached toit.”
The ecological degradation although can becompensated by monetary terms but the question isdoes it really compensate or is it possible tocompensate? Apart from the compensation to humans
whose livelihoods have been affected, how areecologies compensated? Indeed, although the greater
biodiversity exists in the ecologies of the poor
countries, they have less capacity to make economic
149
decisions. Therefore, economic forces have influence
in how the global ecology is preserved.
In contrast, some economic tools can protect
biodiversity.
For example, by assigning higheconomic costs to activities producing carbon
emissions, an economic system can signal a change
150
in behavior towards those activities.
Wheneconomics can signal human values, individuals canindeed make choices in favor of environmental
conservation. The economic tool can be a deterrent tobiodiversity loss.
Although, both economists and environmentalists
can find sustainable strategies for biodiversity
151
management, Baumgartner suggests,
states makedecisions based on the cost-benefit analysis ofenvironmental damage without taking into account theactual loss happen to biodiversity. The economic view
is not necessarily incompatible with ethical views, andeconomic decisions are a kind of ethical choice.
Economic growth does not need to hinder thebiodiversity, as environmentally conducive policies canbe negotiated with economic policies.
However, it is not very uncommon that the developing
countries frequently fail to consider the environmental
concern within the economic policy i.e., the national
152
economic policy of Bangladesh. It has been foundthrough a thorough analysis of the concerned economic
policy of Bangladesh along with the sixth five year planthat the environmental policy is undertaken without any
linkage to the conservation of biodiversity either directly
or indirectly.
5.2.3. Tourism
Around the world, ecotourism has been hailed very
recently as a panacea; a way to fund conservation andscientific research, protect fragile and pristine
ecosystems, benefit rural communities, enhance
ecological and cultural sensitivity, educating the153
tourists, and some claim, build world peace.
Theecotourism concept as an alternative tourism policy isbased on the reason that the social-economic,
environmental and political coordination must exist to154
ensure sustainable development.
149

Mendelsohn, R., Dinar, A., and Williams, L. 2006.
Environment and Development Economics. Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press. Vol. 11, pp. 159-78.
150
Refer to ECCAP WG7 report for a
discussion of the ethics of emission trading.
151
Baumgartner, S. 2007. The Insurance
Value of Biodiversity in the Provision of
Ecosystem Services, Vol.2, No.1, pp.87127.
152
The National Economic Council (NEC) is the highest
economic policy-making body.
153
Martha Honey, Ecotourism and Sustainable Development:
Who Owns Paradise?, Island Press, 1999, at, p. 4.
154
Supra note 25, at p. 72.

76

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

On the global level, the United Nations World Tourism
Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly meeting in
155
1999 approved the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism
and Article 3 of this significant instrument states thatthat all the stakeholders involved in the tourism
sector should seek to safeguard the naturalenvironment
andstrivetowards
sustainable156
growth.
Apart from that the Quebec Declaration on
157
Ecotourism, 2002
highlights the role of government
especially, in tourism policy, to conserve the natural
heritage and biodiversity. As ecotourism i s
d e p e n d e n t upon natural resources, those two
158
instruments
will serve as a guideline and also an
obligation for the governments to consider biodiversity
conservation in their tourism policy making process,159
especially in regard to ecotourism.
In a national level ecotourism policy, on the other
hand, in order to i) ensure sustainable ecotourism;
and ii) avoid the conversion of ecotourism to a mass
tourism, it is argued that ecotourism must be guided
by environmental ethics. The tourism policy as aquasi-legal instrument has an important role inshaping sustainable development within a more nonanthropocentric worldview and respectful to theintrinsic value of species and ecosystems framework.
In this regard we can read:“Within a national and regional context in the
tourism policy making process, legal directives,cultural principles, social inclusion, biodiversity
conservation and national interests have to becoordinated and consistent. Environmental ethics is
one perspective that needs to be taken into
consideration. Ecotourism projects that are notsufficiently informed or guided by environmental
ethics are easily being transformed into just anothertype of mass tourism where nature is confined tosmall reserves and/or treated as a commodity to bebought and sold. Therefore, it is necessary to strike abalance among national, sub-national and local-sector
interests and choose the respective instruments tostimulate genuine changes in human behavior,
making tourists fully aware of their actions’immediate impacts on environment, but also on thewell-being and survival of local communities.”.
(Bosworth et al., 2011)
Tourism was recognized as an industry in Bangladesh160
in 1999. The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism is
responsible for developing tourism infrastructure inorder to popularize tourist products of Bangladesh. The
major functions of this ministry include formulation andimplementation of laws, policies and guidelines relating
to civil aviation and tourism. The ultimate objective is tocontribute to the national economy through creation of155

For further informational regarding theQuebec Declaration on Ecotourism, refer tohttp://www.gdrc.org/uem/ecotour/FinalReport-WES-Eng.pdf
156
Further
information
about
the
tariffhttp://www.tourism.gov.bt/plan-your-trip/travel-requirements
157
Definition of ecotourism by the international ecotourism
society. “Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves theenvironment and improves the welfare of local people.”
158
The UNWTO Global Code of Ethics and the Quebec
Declaration.
159
Above Note 214, at p. 81.
160
http://www.plancomm.gov.bd/wpcontent/uploads/2015/02/5_Prospect-and-Strategy-forTourism-Development.pdf

employment and facilitating international trade and161
commerce. In the Sixth Five Year Plan (SFYP), thegoal has been set up to enhance contribution of
Tourism sub sector in the GDP from 0.69 to 2 percent.
Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism has formulated
Bangladesh Tourism Policy 2010 to realize this target.
162
The Bangladesh Parjatan (tourism) Corporation
classifies tourism into six different types: Tourism,
Business, Office, Study, Religion, Service and Other
purpose. According to statistics reported by
Bangladesh Tourism Board, in 2009 majority of foreign
visitors came to Bangladesh for tourism purposes (i.e.
46%) which were closely followed by business tourism(41.8%).
The government has several active policies and laws
for the tourism sector, namely the Bangladesh Tourism
Board Act, the Tourism Policy 2010, the Medium Term
Budget Framework (MTBF) and the Perspective Plan
2021. These policies and legislations have beenpromulgated to develop and promote the tourism
sector. However, among the different objectives somenotable objectives consistent with ecotourism andenvironmental ethics although distinctly
are, forexample, i) to create general awareness regarding
tourism protection, development and exploration; ii) to
execute responsible tourism through creation of somehelping hand on behalf of government like as personal
sector, local people, local admin, NGO, womenfederation, media; iii) to create a tourism friendly
environment in Bangladesh and to market its tourism
potential in both domestic and foreign nations; iv) toresearch on tourism industry and local knowledge, tosurvey international markets and to analyze the data.
However, the current tourism policy of Bangladesh
is basically anthropocentric in nature as the ultimate
objective are to contribute to the national economy
through creation of employment and facilitatinginternational trade and commerce. In fact, the policy
was finalized without taking the wide impact of
ecotourism
on
the
rural
community
into
consideration. Another important criterion advocatedby Lai and Nepal (2006) suggested that tourism
policy needs to consider the tourism area life cycle
163(TALC). This is also absent in the tourism policy ofBangladesh.
The community-based
ecotourism
approach164
advocated by Gurung and Seeland
proposesestablishing an appropriate policy framework thatemphasizes on community based ecotourism, where
local communities w o u l d be able to manage microfacilities like Eco lodges and Eco resorts in161

http://www.mof.gov.bd/en/budget/13_14/gender_budget/en/
39%20Chapter%2042_53_Civil%20%20Aviation_English.pdf
162
A statutory Public Corporation working independently forthe tourism sector.
163
Tourism area life cycle (TALC) is measured by tourist
number and time line. It involves a six-stage evolution of
tourism, namely exploration, involvement, development,
consolidation, stagnation and post-stagnation. The laststage of post-stagnation contains decline, rejuvenation or
stabilization. This model is aimed to assess and measure a
tourism destination’s development (Butler, 1980). For
details see, Butler, R.W. 1998. The Concept of a Tourist
Area Cycle of Evolution: Implications for Management of
Resources. Canadian Geographer. Vol.24, pp. 5-12.
164
Gurung, B. D. and Seeland, K. 2008. Ecotourism in
Bhutan: Extending its Benefits to Rural
Communities.
Annals of Tourism Research. Vol.35, No.2, pp. 489-508.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
particular. As indicated in the principles, successful
ecotourism should be comprised of three fundamental
elements; i.e., preservation of nature, education of
tourists, and ensuring there are benefits to local
people. This community based ecotourism can befound to some extent in Bangladesh but in practicethose local people do not have any power in thisfield.
Bangladesh is a country filled with natural wonders
and untouched reserves and home to a variety of
unique and magnificent creatures. With hills, valleys,
forests, beaches, lakes and rivers, ecotourism in
165
Bangladesh is ideal. Indeed, Bangladesh boasts tohaving the world's biggest mangrove forest ecosystem,
166
expansive pristine beach, impressive Hilly Districts.
Certainly with these vital ecosystems contribute greatly
to Bangladesh's ecotourism potential if it is wellmanaged according to the principles of long-termsustainability. Thus, Bangladesh needs to find out awell-developed policy that would take into account thenature itself and the associated ethical consideration inorder to ensure a sustainable policy outcome for thedays to come.
5.2.4 Sustainability
The protection of the environment although became acritical issue during the 1970s, and became a universal
concerns in the following decade and sustainable
167
development a common goal.
It a ls o became
apparent that the earth’s natural resources were not168
inexhaustible and further action was requiredforexample, the initiative that covers the intergenerational
169
equity.
Thus, subsequently, the Brundtland
170
Report, 1987
defined sustainable development as
development that m e e t s “the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of the future
generations to meet their own needs.” The Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD) later on, widened apartnership for the preservation of the environment in asustainable manner.
However, working towards sustainability through acommon partnership is very difficult as all states are atvarying levels of development. Therefore, in an
unceasing process of formulation, the international
community has adopted a significant number of171
principles of international environmental laws as an
expression of the ideals of the international
172
community, like the common but differentiatedresponsibility. Principle 7 of the Rio Declaration 1992
describes the said principle as:165
http://www.bangladesh.com/ecotourism/.
166

Khagrachari, Rangamati and Bandarban.

167
Supra note 25, p. 76.
168

Neil
Sampson, DwightHair, American
Forestry
Association, Ural Resources for the 21st Century, Island
Press, 1990, p. 305.
169
It says about the needs to preserve natural resources andthe nature for the benefit of future generation
170
This report was and remains crucial in the sense thatit explains how economic development and environment
preservation can coexist in the development process.
171
Liaquat A. Siddiqui, the Legal Status of the Emerging
Principles of International Environmental law, the Dhaka
University Studies, Part F, Vol. IX(I), 1998, at p. 43.
172
Anita Margrethe Halvorssen, Equality among Unequals inInternational Environmental Law: Differential Treatment forDeveloping Countries, Western Press, 1999, at p. 17.

77

States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnershipto conserve, protect and restore the health and integrityof the Earth's ecosystem. In view of the different
contributions to global environmental degradation,
States have common but differentiated responsibilities.
The
developed
countries
acknowledgetheresponsibility that they bear in the international pursuitof sustainable development in view of the pressures
their societies place on the global environment and of
the technologies and financial resources they
command.
Developing countries in these situations under the
auspices of this principle can implement thes u s t a i n a b l e policies and strategies with a condition
that the developed countries will bear the ensuing
173
costs.
In
working
towards
sustainability,
governmental policy must take into consideration theeconomic, social and environmental factors of each174
particular context.
Apart from that the ethicalconsideration is important to add.
Bangladesh, for example, has several policies
regarding biodiversity in accordance with their
obligations under the CBD; one of which is the national
Plan for Sustainable Biodiversity Conservation andUtilization with the aim of reducing biodiversity loss andprotecting the components of biodiversity. The planencourages research on biodiversity in order to raise
its economic value and has in place mechanisms thatwill equally distribute benefits those results from thedevelopment on biodiversity. Indeed, the plan
protects traditional knowledge, associated with theconservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
In line with this view the Ministry of Environment andForests, Bangladesh prepared ‘the National Biodiversity
175
Strategy and Action Plan(NBSAP)’ in 2004.
The
NBSAP of Bangladesh provides a framework forconservation, sustainable use and sharing the benefitsof biodiversity of the country. A major focus of the
NBSAP is the need for cross-sectoral linkages,
reflecting the fact that in Bangladesh, more so thanmost other countries, biodiversity conservation isclosely interwoven with social and economic
development. The major objectives of the NBSAP are
to: i) conserve, and restore the biodiversity of thecountry for well-being of the present and future
generations; ii) ensure that long-term food, water,
health and nutritional securities of the people are met
through conservation of biological diversity; iii) maintainand to improve environmental stability for ecosystems;iv) ensure preservation of the unique biological heritageof the nation for the benefit of the present and future
generations; v) guarantee the safe passage andconservation of globally endangered migratory species,
especially birds and mammals in the country; and vi)
stop introduction of invasive alien species, geneticallymodified organisms and living modified organisms.
Thus, from the NBSAP of Bangladesh it is clear that
173

Rudolf Dolzer, Global Environmental Issues: The Genuine
Areaof Globalization, 1999, at p. 160.
174
Hammond A., et al. 1995. Environmental Indicators: asystematic approach to measuring and reporting on
environmental policy performance in the context ofsustainable development. World Resources Institute.
Availableat
http://pdf.wri.org/environmental
indicators_bw.pdf
175
Availableat:
http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/NBSAP%2

78

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

the Government has already embarked on taking some
initiatives towards the conservation of biodiversity
which is based on ecocentric approach that seeks torecognize the intrinsic values of all living organisms andtheir natural environment regardless of their perceived
usefulness or importance to human beings.
Therefore, a thorough analysis of the legal
frameworks of Bangladesh relating to the environmentand conservation of biodiversity made it evident that theframeworks developed particularly in the 1970s and1980s were dominated by the anthropocentric
approach that provided the basis for most of thejustifications for when the natural world is exploited.
Historically, this has meant that even in Bangladeshthat the natural world will only be conserved on accountof the instrumental values attributed to it by humans
rather than being protected because of its own inherent
value. However, with the passage of time otherjustifications
i.e.,religious,
aesthetic,
cultural,recreational, economic that work on the idea ofpreserving the environment developed. These
intellectual mindsets lead to the emergence of otherethical approaches i.e., biocentric, ecocentric that
evaluate other living beings and the naturalenvironment. Thus, the legal framework of Bangladesh
particularly after the 2000s is influenced by those two
approaches which is visible in different national laws,
policies even the judicial interpretations.
6. The National Environmental Policy Regime of
Bangladesh with an Emphasis on Biodiversity
6.1. Policy as an Instrument
A policy is a deliberate system of principles to guide176
decisions and achieve rational outcomes. It may also
refer to the process of making important organizational
decisions, including the identification of different
alternatives such as programs or spending priorities,
and choosing among them on the basis of the impact
they might have. Policies can assist in both subjective
177
and objective decision making. The term may apply
to government, private sector organizations andgroups, as well as individuals alike. Thus, the national
policies embody legal standards of the respective
countries. To be noted further, the policy of any country
may be influenced by different socio-economic andpolitical factors and also by ethical factors. Thus, themaking of policy, its effectiveness and outcomes are
dependent on many things. But unlike the rules of law,
the standards that the policies contain are more generalthan commitments and they do not specify particularactions. Policies are guidelines for the ministries andother government bodies and they may lay the178
foundation for future legal developments,
but they
also may be adopted by the private sector and different
communities. Some local governments also enact
policies.
The importance of policies in strengthening theenvironmental regime is recognized in a number ofimportant international instruments including the 1980

176

E. Vedung, Public Policy and Program Evaluation,
Transaction Publishers, UK, 2009, at p. 269.
http://sydney.edu.au/legal/policy/what/index.shtml.
178
Qerim Qerimi, Development in International Law: A
Policy-Oriented Inquiry, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2012,
pp. 11-102.
177

179

World Conservation Strategy
and the 1991
180
Brundtland Report.
Paragraph 14 of Chapter 8 ofAgenda 21, the non-binding action plan for a global
partnership for sustainable development, underscored,
181i) the necessity of formulation of national policies ;as well as ii) enactment of laws for environmental
182
protection and sustainable development.
The importance of adoption of policies has special
importance and impacts in countries like Bangladesh
where the pace of legal development is comparatively
183
slower than in the developed world.
Although,according to Article 152 of the Bangladesh Constitution,
policies are not the sources of judicially enforceable
184
obligations,they enjoy binding impact on theactivities of the GoB agencies and therefore, cangreatly influence the shaping of national environmental
185
regimes.
The environmental policies of Bangladesh have beenmostly formulated in the post-Rio era like many other186
countries. Among them, the Environment Policy of
1992 focuses solely on the environmental issues whileother policies like the Forestry Policy of 1994 and Land
Use Policy of 2001 address sectorial aspects ofsustainable development. Besides these, other notablepolicies relating to the natural resource management
and biodiversity conservation regimes in Bangladesh
include the Fisheries Policy of 1998, National
Agriculture Policy of 1999, Livestock Development
Policy of 1992, National Water Policy of 1999, Industry
Policy of 1999, Energy Policy of 1996, Export Policy of
1997-2002 and National Science and Technology
Policy, 2011.
This part analyses the contents of the national
policies of Bangladesh to the extent they are related tonatural resource management issues in order toexamine their efficiency in addressing the needs forconservation and sustainable use of biologicalresources. It also discusses the necessity of developing
the legal rules in the light of the policy directives
concerning environmental issues like biodiversity.
6.2. National Environment Policy, 1992 (NEP)
According to Paragraph 1.2 of the National
Environment Policy (NEP), the adoption of an
integrated Environmental Policy was thought to be
imperative in view of the “geographic location of
Bangladesh, the gradual degradation of its environment
and lack of appropriate technology, sustainable
management techniques and processes for the179

Shawkat Alam, Routledge Handbook of International
Environmental
Law, Routledge, 2013, at p. 212.
180
Professor Klaus Bosselmann, The Principle of
Sustainability: Transforming Law and Governance, Ashgate
Publishing, Ltd., 2013, p. 34.
181
Dan Sitarz, Agenda 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to
Save Our Planet, EarthPress, 1993, p. 84.
182
Jamie Benidickson, Ben Boer, Antonio Herman Benjamin,
Karen Morro (ed), Environmental Law and Sustainability after
Rio,
Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011, p. 24.
183
Michael Mann, South Asia’s Modern History: Thematic
Perspectives,
Routledge, 2014, pp.105-116
184
Article 152 defines the term ‘law’ which does not coverpolicywithin its purview.
185
Farooque, M., 1997, The Bangladesh Biodiversity LegalandInstitutional Profile, Bangladesh, 1997, p. 12.
186
Jorge E. Vinuales, The Rio Declaration on Environmentand Development: A Commentary, Oxford University Press,
2014, at p. 126.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
exploitation of resources”. Thus, it is obvious that thecentral theme of the NEP was environmental protection,and biodiversity issues are addressed there to theextent they are related with that theme.
The NEP embraces a number of sectors including
agriculture, industry, health, energy, water, land, forest,
fisheries, marine, transport, housing, population,
education and science. In its Part 4, it emphasizes theneed for amending the existing laws and regulations,formulating new laws and implementing the same forprotection of environment, conservation of natural
resources and control of environmental pollution. The
ambitious goal of the NEP is also manifested in its
recommendationfor
ratifying“allconcerned
international laws/ conventions and protocols.” Itassigned the Ministry of Environment and Forests(MoEF) with the responsibility of co-coordinating theimplementation of the policies and provides for theestablishment of a high level National Environment
Committee (NEC) with the head of the Government as
its chairperson to provide overall direction for
implementation of the policies.
The NEP provides for a few conservation-specificmeasures for different sectors. As regards the housing
and urbanization sector, existence of water bodies inthecitiesisrecommendedformaintaining
environmental and ecosystem balance in the urban
areas. As regards the education sector, disseminationof environmental knowledge and information is thepolicy guideline for improving the level of publicawareness of the importance of environmental
protection and sustainable use of natural resources.
The sectors regarding which the environmental policies
are more comprehensive are discussed below.
a.
Agriculture: Among the policy guidelines inagriculture sector, the more specific one encourages
the use of natural fertilizers and insecticides instead ofagro-chemicals and artificial materials. In view of thewidespread use of the chemicals and artificial materials
in Bangladesh and their adverse impact on the longterm fertility and organic properties of the soil as well as
on biodiversity, a more effective guideline could havebeen made for the gradual phasing-out of thesematerials.
b.
Industry: Undertaking EIA for all new
industries, adoption of corrective measures for polluting
industries, imposing ban on establishment of industries
that would produce pollutant goods and development ofenvironmentally sound technology are recommended
goals in this sector. The shortcomings include absenceof provision for EIA for the whole life cycle of a project,environmental management system and disposal ofindustrial wastage.
c.
Energy and Fuel: Reduction of the use of
biomass energy, exploration of alternative energy
sources, undertaking precautionary measures against
potentially harmful use of nuclear energy and nuclear
radiation, conservation of forest fuel and developmentof
improvedenergysavingtechnology
arerecommended options for the sector. However, theNEP fails to specify the need for examining thepotentials of alternatives like solar or wind energy andfor ensuring the sustainable use of the gas
187
resources. It demands EIA only before implementing

projects for extraction of fuel, not at every stage of thelife cycle of the gas related project. For biodiversity
conservation, the policy must specify that the EIA
components should include assessment of potential
impact on biological resources and the authority to be
entrusted with NBA should share the monitoring
responsibility.
d.
Water: Environmentally sound management issuggested in the utilization and development of water
resources, construction of irrigation network andembankments and dredging of watercourses. The
recommendations also include measures against riverpollution and EIA before undertaking water resource
development and flood control projects.
e.
Land: Activities that cause or result in landerosion, salinity and alkalinity and loss of soil fertility
are prohibited. Compatible land use systems fordifferent ecosystems and environmentally soundmanagement of newly accreted land are recommended.
f.
Forest,Wildlife
andBio-diversity:
Conservation and expansion of forest zones andconservation of wildlife, biodiversity and wetlands are
identified as priority areas for action. However, how todeal with them for the conservation in a priority basis is
not mentioned in the policy. Indeed, the policy fails to
address the issue of biodiversity conservation withother related arenas of environment on which it isdependent indirectly.
g.
Fisheries and Livestock: Conservation offisheries and livestock, mangrove forest and others
ecosystems and prevention of activities that diminish
the wetlands and natural habitats for fishes are thebasic policy objectives for this sector. The need for aninter-ministerial co-ordination is underscored byrequiring evaluation of the existing projects on water
development, flood control and irrigation in order tominimize their adverse impact on fish growth and theirhabitats. The policy fails to address the needs forestablishing conservation zones and mitigating the
problems caused by the already introduced alien
invasive species.
h.
Coastal and Marine Environment: Coastal
and marine eco-systems are identified as potential
areas for intervention, where all internal and external
polluting activities should be stopped. Fishing in coastal
and marine environment within regeneration limits is
recommended. Policy guidelines, however, fail toaddress the polluting impact of ship- breaking industry.
i.
Transport and Communication: The policy
objectives are to ensure that the transport andcommunication systems do not pollute the environment.
The policy guideline, however, does not define what
would be the threshold for determining pollution ofenvironment and what specific measures should beundertaken to establish and maintain environment
188
friendly transport and transport system.
The Environment Policy of 1992 provides for anumber of purely environmental principles like theprecautionary measures and EIAs. It appears to haveaddressed the conservation needs in various sectors
particularly of forest, wildlife, biodiversity and fisheries.
But excepting the provisions for EIA, discouraging
certain activities, and inter-ministerial coordination, the
188

187

This is emphasized in the latest draft of the National
Environment Policy, 2013.

79

This was later covered both by the Bangladesh
Environment Conservation Act, 1995 and the Bangladesh
Environment Conservation Rules, 1997.

80

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

NEP does not elaborate the measures needed for
integrated efforts for conservation and sustainable useof biological resources. It also fails to address someother related issues that warrant consideration forconservation and sustainable use of natural resources.
For example: use of chemical fertilizer and insecticide
is discouraged in the NEP, without suggestingmeasures for gradual phasing out of these materials
and discouraging hybrid
agriculture.
Again, theagriculture, forest, fisheries and livestock policies haverecommended introducing alien species for increased
production without considering its potential harmful
impact on endemic species, habitats and ecosystems.
The NEP is silent about the needs for identification of
biological resources and establishing mechanism forconserving the varieties of those resources. It almost
completely ignores the issues related to genetic
resources. It does not address issues related to accessto genetic resources and equitable sharing of related
benefits, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO),
intellectual
propertyrights(IPR),
watershed
management and trans boundary environmental
problems.
With some modifications, the Environment Policy,
however, could graduate to the level of a goodfoundation for initiating further conservation efforts in
Bangladesh. It underscores the need for more proactive measures by suggesting immediate action toamend the existing laws and make new laws to protect
the environment, conserve natural resources andcontrol environmental pollution. It has also emphasized
the needs for ratification of international conventions,
treaties and protocols, without properly spelling out theirimportance in ensuring sustainable use of the biologicaland other natural resources though.
In this regard, it is also mentionable that the MoEF of
the GoB has published the Draft NEP in 2013 andsolicited public opinion. The Draft NEP 2013 is arevision of the NEP 1992 in the context of the new
189
reality of climate change.
The NEP 2013 also
outlines a more up to date understanding of the extent
and magnitude of environmental degradation that has
become a fact of life in the world in general, and in
Bangladesh in particular covering the problems of
population growth, illiteracy, lack of awareness andhealthcare services, limitation of arable land, unplanneddevelopment and urbanization and industrialization as
the major impediments of the conservation of theenvironment and biodiversity.
6.3 Sector-specific Policies
6.3.1 Livestock Development Policy, 1992
The basic goal of the Livestock Policy is to identify the
impediments to the development of livestock and to
determine the strategies for its development. Some ofits objectives are controversial. The policy encourages
the introduction of alien species of grasses like ‘napier’to meet the demand of fodder. But it has not considered
the impact of such species on the environment andbiodiversity. It has also encouraged in-breeding of local
varieties with foreign varieties of cattle like theHolsteins and the Friesians to improve the quality of the
livestock and milk production of the country without
underscoring
the
needs
for
examining
the189

http://opinion.bdnews24.com/2013/10/07/nationalenvironment-policy-promises-need-to-follow-with-action/consequences of the in-breeding practices.
The policy recognizes that introduction of bio-gas inrural areas as an alternative source of fuel energy will
reduce pressure on forest reserves and homestead
forests. But it fails to reflect the importance of theexcreta of the cattle population that provides the soil
with nutrients and moisture holding capacity.
6.3.2 Forestry Policy, 1994
The Forestry Policy of 1994 is the modified andamended version of the previous forestry policy of
1979, in line with the proposals and suggestions of the
Draft Forestry Master Plan. The instruments that are
taken into account in formulating the policy include“Decisions and recommendations taken in different
international conferences and conventions, particularly,
the envisaged programmes on forestation cited in the
Agenda of the Earth Summit held in Brazil, 1992.”
The Forestry Policy aims to conserve the existing
forest areas and bring about 20% of the country's landarea under the afforestation programme and increase
the protected areas by 10% of the reserve forest landby the year 2015 through the co-ordinated efforts of
GO-NGOs and active participation of the people. It also
provides for encouraging private initiatives, eco-tourism,
massive media campaign, strengthening of the Forest
Department, strengthening educational, training andresearch organizations. In order to achieve this goal,
the policy recommends for amendments of the existinglaws, rules and regulations relating to the forestry
sector and for creation of new laws, rules andregulation.
Like the environmental policy, the Forestry Policy fails
to take into account the threat of introduction of alien
invasive species to the forestry resource management.
While providing for biodiversity of the existing forests, itfocuses on conserving only “the remaining natural
habitat of birds and animals”, leaving aside the needs
for restoring the habitats already lost or damaged.
6.3.3 National Energy Policy, 1996
The National Energy Policy (NEP) touches uponvarious issues of energy exploration, production andutilization. Its goals and objectives include using energy
for sustainable economic growth, meeting energy
demand of various regions and different groups ofusers, sustainable operation of energy utilities, ensuring
environmentallysoundenergydevelopment
programmes, causing minimum damage to theenvironment and to encourage public and private sector
participation in the development and management of
the energy sector.
These policy guidelines look more like mission
statements and fail to indicate how its objectives shouldhave to be achieved. The NEP provides for
implementing laws, rules and policies formulated by theGovernment in this regard and amending the existinglaws and rules to implement the policy, wherevernecessary. But it falls short of identifying the areas oflaw which need to be modified and has hardly
addressed the question of strengthening the existing
institutional regime.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
Considering the importance of the institutional
aspects in implementing the NEP, Chapter 7 of thepolicy deals with five different components of theenergy sectors: Non-Renewable Energy Policy,
Petroleum Policy, Rural and Renewable Energy Policy,
Power Policy and Rural Electrification Policy. Amongthem, the first two policies are more important for the
purpose of this study. The Non-Renewable Energy
Policy recommends, among other things, fordetermining actual field potentials of the developed gas
fields, actual recoverable reserve of discovered gas/oilfields, reduction of imbalance in energy consumption by
developing energy supply in the western zone of thecountry, pricing all forms of non-renewable energy attheir economic cost of supply, reducing system loss
and making EIA an integral part of any new energy
development project.
6.3.4 Fisheries Policy, 1998
Biodiversity conservation and environment protection
in developing fishery resources are among the main
objectives of the policy. In order to achieve theseobjectives, inland open water fishery, inland close wateraquaculture and its management, shrimp culture in the
coastal area and marine fishery resources are identified
as areas for immediate action.
The Fisheries Policy recommends for bringing thejalmahals (wetlands) under the Fisheries and Livestock
Ministry. The intended purpose is to resolve theproblems of their overexploitation by the lessees under
the current short-term leasing system that is regulatedby the Ministry of Land (MoL). The Fisheries Policy,
however, does not explain what alternative measures
the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry should undertaketo promote more sustainable utilization of the fisheries
sector.
The Fisheries Policy reflects the need for stopping therelease of untreated effluents from the industries into
the water bodies by describing it as a criminal offence.
It encourages the exploration of export market for
turtles and some other aquatic species without
sufficiently stressing the needs for related biodiversity
obligations.
6.3.5 National Agriculture Policy, 1999
The National Agriculture Policy, 1999, takes a narrowapproach to define agriculture by focusing on “cropproduction and marketing together with minor irrigation,
seeds, fertilizer and agricultural credit”. It aims toensure, inter alia, sustainable agricultural production
system, preservation and development of land
productivity, preservation of crop biodiversity,
introduction of new technology, increased use oforganic manure, integrated pest management system,
efficient irrigation system, diversification of crops andestablishment of agro-processing and agro-basedindustries. It also emphasizes on the need for updating
the agricultural system in the light of the agreements on
agriculture under the WTO, SAFTA and otherinternational treaties.
Some of the policy objectives, however, appear tohave been formulated without understanding of therelated issues comprehensively. For example, while
explaining the need for crop diversification, specificemphasis is put only on traditional crops, i.e., rice,wheat and maize. In order to augment rice production,81

the agriculture policy encourages increased use of
hybrid seeds that may entail higher inputs of chemicalfertilizers,
insecticides
andpesticides
andconsequential damage to the fisheries and water
quality. The policy itself recognizes that 'chemicalfertilizers and pesticides used for increased crop
production' may lead to 'environmental pollution', butdoes not explain how increased use of hybrid seeds
would not involve increased use of chemical fertilizers
and pesticides as well. The Agriculture Policy is alsosilent about the need for assessing the impact of theuse of agro-chemicals on soil, water bodies, fisheries
and overall biodiversity.
6.3.6 National Water Policy, 1999
The promulgation of the National Water Policy in 1999
was a response to the long felt needs for government
directives and guidelines for the management,
regulation and utilization of the water resources of thecountry. The Water Policy aims to ensure efficient andequitable management of water resources, proper
harnessing and development of surface and groundwater, availability of water to all concerned andinstitutional capacity building for water resource
management. It has also addressed issues like river
basin management, water rights and allocation, public
and private investment, water supply and sanitation andwater need for agriculture, industry, fisheries, wildlife,
navigation, hydropower, recreation, environment,
preservation of wetlands etc.
The goals of the Water Policy include “protection ofnatural environment” and chapter 4.12 titled “water forthe environment” lists a number of tasks for the water
management agencies and related natural resource
department. These include, i) adhere to formal EIA
process as set out in EIA guidelines and manuals forwater sector projects; ii) ensure adequate upland flow inwater channels to preserve the coastal estuary ecosystem; iii) stop the filling of publicly-owned water
bodies in urban area; iv) take necessary steps toremove all existing unauthorized encroachment onrivers and watercourses and stop unplanned
construction on riverbanks ; v) enforce the “polluter pay”
principles in the development of regulatory guidelines
for all regulatory actions designed to protect publichealth and the environment.
The Water Policy, however, fails to address theissues like consequence of trans-boundary waterdisputes, watershed management and sustainable
practice for pricing of water utilities. It also fails to
identify the needs for modifications of related civil laws.
6.3.7 National Industry Policy, 1999
Environmentally sound industrialization is among thevarious objectives of the National Industry Policy, 1999.
No specific guideline is given for sustainable extraction
and utilisation of raw materials for different industries.
The Policy also falls short of addressing important
issues like the release of harmful effluents into the open
water bodies or environmental management systems.
6.3.8 National Land Use Policy, 2001
One of the objectives of the Land Use Policy is tointroduce a `zoning’ system in order to ensure the bestuse of land in different parts of the country according totheir local geological differences and to control the82

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

unplanned expansion of residential, commercial andindustrial constructions. While explaining this, the policy
provides that areas already defined and recognized asforests, hills and hillocks, marshlands and special
garden areas should not be urbanized, constructedupon or utilized for commercial purposes without proper
authorization of the concerned authority. Thisauthorization process must incorporate stringent
accountability mechanism to avoid its misuse.
Other objectives of the Land Use Policy are to protect
natural forest areas, prevent river erosion and toprevent the destruction of hills and hillocks. The Land
Use Policy, in this regard, put emphasis on theimplementation of other relevant policies as well, forexample, firstly, it provides that “…it is also necessary
at the same time to ensure the preservation of present
forest areas. It can be hoped that the total situation will
improve if the Environmental Policy, 1992 and the
National Forest Policy 1994 are properly implemented”
and secondly, while noticing the present extensive
tendency of transforming dried up water lands into
agricultural lands during the dry months, the policy
provides that attempts should be made to harmonize
the implementation of the National Agriculture Policy
with that of the National Fisheries Policy in order toincrease and develop both food and fisheries
production simultaneously. The policy, however, fails tostress that this harmonization should be aimed forachieving conservation objectives as well.
A National Conservation Strategy is still awaiting
approval of the Government, which might facilitate toeffectuate the environment-related provisions of thepolicies. The initiative for preparing an important
document called the National Biodiversity Strategic
Action Plan taken in January 2003 and completed in
190
June 2004.
Furthermore, although many of thepolicies underscore the importance of amendment ofexisting laws and formulation of new laws, only a very
few like the ECA of 1995 and ECR of 1997 could befound that post-date the policies.
The policies are not always convenient for
implementation either. Some provisions of the Fisheries
Policy contradict that of the Land or Industrial Policy;
the Environmental Policy does not conform to thenarrow objectives of the Export Policies and so on. The
Agriculture Policy puts emphasis on increased irrigationfrom surface water sources viz. khals (canals), beels(wetlands) and rivers, without considering its impact onnavigational as well as non-navigational use of thesurface water. This contradicts the interest of otherwater-based sectors like the fisheries and forestry.
Under the Environment Policy, the Ministry ofEnvironment and Forest is assigned with the
responsibility of implementing the policies concerning
protection of forest, wildlife and biodiversity, whereas
many forestlands and resources having wildlife are
actually beyond their jurisdiction. It is imperative to
make a coordinated and integrated effort to prioritize
the areas of relevant legal and policy reform forfacilitating wise and sustainable use of the biologicalresources of Bangladesh.

190

See
the
full
doc
at:
http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/NBSAP%20
bangladesh.pdf.

7. Concluding Remarks
191
Biodiversity is too valuable to lose. The values anduse of biodiversity i.e., species, genetic and ecosystem
diversity to human society is not confined to only one
arena. It is regarded, considering its wide applicability
and significance as the sine qua non for the existenceof human life as well as for the support of human192
livelihoods. Smith, a classical economist, stated that‘the origin of all wealth came from the bosom of earth’,
implying the existence of great bondage between
economics and the earth’s resource, especially193
biodiversity. The social value of biodiversity can also
not be denied, although it tends to vary because thesocial value of biodiversity in reality refers to themanner in which bio-resources are used or abused andnot actually estimated in terms of their ‘worth’ to194society.
Indeed, biodiversity not only provides anactual and potential source of biological resources but
also contributes to the maintenance of the biosphere in
a condition that supports human and other life.
195
Sands also opined as mentioned earlier, biodiversity
is worth maintaining for non-scientific reasons of ethicaland aesthetic value too.
However, in spite of the immense importance,
currently biodiversity is under greater threat. The
threats come from a multitude of sources. Tropicaldeforestation is readily cited as the main source,
although serious threats are also posed by thedestruction of temperate forests, wetland and coral
196
reefs.
Human activities, both direct i.e., hunting,collection, persecution, and indirect i.e., habitat
destruction and modification contribute to the197
destruction of nature and the loss of biodiversity.
Even, new modes of threats are adding every day tothe existing modes and although the modes are notsimilar but the consequence is the same which is thegradual loss of biodiversity. As the problem concerning
biodiversity is growing greater with the passage of time,
the conservation of biological diversity is considered as
one of the most urgent issues at present time.
The conservation of biodiversity, for those reasonsrequires- i) a comprehensive approach for regulation ofa broad range of human activities; and ii) a greater
regulatory challenges to international to national to local
law than any other environmental issues. Indeed, theconservation of biodiversity illustrates clearly the rangeof difficulties which exist in developing and applying
rules of international law to resources which do notrespect national boundaries. Hence, corollary to theinternational environmental legal regime the national
legal regime becomes relevant and important.
Apart from the international and national legal regime,
the intricate relationship between ethics andbiodiversity, on the other hand is important when it
191

Donald S. Maier, What's So Good About Biodiversity?: A
Call for Better Reasoning About Nature's Value, Springer
Science & Business Media, May 23, 2012, p. 2.
192
Smith, Adam, Wealth of Nations-An Inquiry into the
Nature and Cause of Wealth of Nations, Strahan and Cadell,UK,
1776, p. 17.
193
K V Krishnamurthy, Textbook of Biodiversity, Science
Publishers,
2003, p. 67.
194
Ibid.
195
Philippe Sands, Principles of International
EnvironmentalndLaw, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2 Edition, pp. 499500.
196
Ibid, p. 499.
197
Ibid.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
makes us consider the immensity and complexity of the
dynamics of life balanced through the mutual reliance198
and dependency that all species share.
This alsoessentially draws more attention, because, the costs ofdestruction of biodiversity are not purely ecological, andextend to economic, medical and agricultural losses,
but have profound moral and aesthetic implications also
affecting our ethical and aesthetic values. In this regard
it is worth to mention that there is also a debate onwhether values are to be considered ‘ethical judgments
199
or equivalence measures’ , i.e., whether values arestatements of principle or a reflection of social
200
opportunity costs.
Ethical judgments influencepeople’s preferences and therefore, can be ‘translated
into a willingness to commit resources to biodiversity
201
conservation’.
Equivalence measures of value thatare needed to fix the desirable level of conservation are
the ‘opportunities foregone in committing resources toconservation.’ Equivalence measures of value in reality
202
are not blind to ethical judgments and vice versa.
International law, however, on the other hand, for theconservation of biodiversity is relatively well203
developed.
This is because by a chronologicalanalysis it is found that although the early developmentof international environmental law that continued up to
the creation of the United Nations in 1945 was ad hoc,
sporadic, limited in scope and less efficient, it
developed enormously gradually. Thus, the second
phase that continued up to the Stockholm Declaration
came with some more strong outcomes like, theAntarctic Treaty of 1959, 1968 African Nature
Convention for wildlife conservation, the Ramsar
Convention 1972, and certain UN Resolutions i.e.,
ECOSOC resolution of 1947 having direct effects on
the environment protection. The third phase i.e., from
Stockholm to Rio, for the first time declared very
specifically on the Environment and Development
issue. The Rio Declaration along with some otherinternational instruments like the CBD in theinternational arena particularly from early 1990s topresent time therefore, notably contributed to theerection of globally sustainable environmental regime.
The national legal framework of Bangladesh havedeveloped moderately in recent decades. This
framework articulates that the conservation of
biodiversity has a particular important symbolic value
which raises issues about the balance to be struck
between the conservation of nature and the conduct ofhuman behavior; and the role of law must, ultimately,
198

Bosworth, A. et al. Ethics and Biodiversity, Working
Group 16 Report, Ethics and Climate Change in Asia andthe Pacific (ECCAP) Project, UNESCO, Bangkok, 2011, p.
84.
199
UNEP, Global Biodiversity Assessment, Cambridge
University Press, 1995, p. 18
200
Turner, R.K. and Pearce, D.E., Sustainable Economic
Development: Economic and Ethical Principles (1993): In
Barbier, E.B. (Ed.), Economics and Ecology, Chapman & Hall,
London, at pp. 177-194.
201
Peacock, W.J. Molecular biology and genetic resources In:
Brown, A.H.D., Frankel, O.H., Marshall, D.R. and Williams,
J.T.( Eds.). The Use of Plant Genetic Resources, Cambridge
university Press, 1989, at pp. 355-376.
202
UNEP, Global Biodiversity Assessment, Cambridge
University Press, 1995, at p. 23.
203
Philippe Sands, Principles of International Environmental
Law, Chapter 2, pp. 26-30, Cambridge university Press, UK,nd2 Edition.

83

be limited to reflecting the values which humans
ascribe to other forms of life.
Some of the notable national development that has
occurred in parallel are, firstly, the preparation of a
National Conservation Strategy (NCS) in line with theWorld Conservation Strategy; secondly, the preparationof a National Environment Management Action Plan
204
(NEMAP)
identifying the key environmental issues
and actions required to halt or reduce the rate ofenvironmental degradation, to improve the natural andman-made environment, to conserve habitats andbiodiversity, to promote sustainable development, andto improve qualitative indicators of human life; thirdly,
the preparation of a National Phase Out Plan of Ozone
Depleting Substances, which is currently being
implemented with assistance from the Montreal
Multilateral Fund. Indeed, Bangladesh has developed
Draft Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) for (a)water pollution; (b) air pollution; (c) noise pollution; (d)sewage pollution; and (e) industrial pollution with anobject of ensuring better environment and biodiversity.
However, in contrast to the purely legal consideration,
the ethical approaches i.e., biocentricism andecocentrism being the recent addition to theenvironmental regime could not be clearly found in theenvironmental regime of Bangladesh, like many otherdeveloping countries. The international environmental
regime although made an exception in this regard very
recently by emphasizing on the biocentric andecocentric approaches. The constitutional provision of
Bangladesh particularly the latest provision on theenvironment as inserted in 2011 is based onanthropocentric approach that emphasizes on thehuman person and regards environment as a distinct
object. The same view is reflected within other national
legislations, like the Bangladesh Environment
Conservation Act, 1995 or even the Environment Court
Act, 2010. Another two approaches as covered by thisstudy as mentioned earlier- the biocentric approach thatrecognizes the intrinsic value of all living beings, andthe ecocentrism that recognizes the intrinsic values of
all living organisms and their natural environment
regardless of their perceived usefulness or importanceto human beings are currently being taken into
consideration by the judiciary of Bangladesh in deciding
various environment and biodiversity related issues.
Thus, the environmental regime of Bangladesh is
predominantly influenced by anthropocentric approachalthough after the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21
which contains the global partnership for sustainable
development, the legal development in this field started
a turn from an anthropocentric vision to biocentric andecocentric approaches, so far as the court decisions
are concerned which are regarded as ‘precedent’ andhave binding effects in Bangladesh. Although his shift isevident in tourism policy, environmental movements,
sustainability and economic policy and in many otherpolicies, the national legislations are outside of theambit of this shifting. But, in practical aspects, those
approaches are not holistic rather detached,disorganized and in fact, those are not meant forneither by the legislators nor by the policy makers.
However, the ethical approaches have already been
proved as effective tools for the protection and
204

The NEMAP is the first initiative towards the preparation of
a National Agenda 21.

84

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)

preservation of the environment and biodiversity by not
only recognizing the intrinsic value of the biodiversity
and the natural environment but also by educating
people and also by awaring their obligations. Therefore,
those approaches seen in the international community
should also be inserted in a meaningful way in thenational laws, policies and other regulatory regime ofthe environment and biodiversity of Bangladesh.
Indeed, those ethical approaches i.e., biocentricism andecocentrism can be inserted not only in theenvironmental laws of Bangladesh but also in therelevant policies having environmental impacts. Thiscan be done either directly or indirectly. If it is a direct
insertion i.e., express insertion in the text of the law it
may come to have a direct impact, and if it is an indirect
one i.e., insertion of the philosophical view, it may cometo have an indirect impact on the environment andbiodiversity, or at least will bear some educative value.
Thus, in conclusion after the critical assessment of
the environmental legal legislation perhaps, theenvironmental regime of Bangladesh that comprises
mainly, the Constitution, national legislations and thecourt decisions it can be said that the ethicalapproaches i.e., biocentricism and ecocentrism are notinserted either directly or indirectly in Bangladesh
although the approach of anthropocentricism isnoticeable. In this backdrop the intrinsic values of theenvironment and biodiversity issues are neither getting
any recognition nor within the consideration of thepeople that could lead to protect and conserve theenvironment and biodiversity for all the times be it for
the interest of people or not. Thus, considering thesignificance of biocentricism and ecocentrism theenvironmental legislations of Bangladesh need to take
into account of them. And, if it is, then it can be said
that the environmental legislation of Bangladesh
coheres to the demands of a general ethical approachto the environment and in particular to biodiversity. The
sooner this is done, it is better.
8. Acknowledgements
I would express my deepest gratitude to my esteem mentor as wellas the supervisor of the present study Prof. Darryl Macer. I also thankProf. Dr. M. Selvanayagan, Loyola College, India and Prof. Dr. Nazrul
Islam, Dhaka University, among many other colleagues, who gave
me valuable advice and guidance in the entire process of the work.

9. Bibliography
Alam, Shawkat, Routledge Handbook of International Environmental
Law, Routledge, 2013.
Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of
Bangladesh, Vol. 6., Dhaka, 2010.
Bilderbeek, S., Wijgerde, A., Van Schaik, N. (ed.), Biodiversity andInternational Law: the Effectiveness of International Environmental
Law, Amsterdam, IOS Press, 1992.
Baumgartner, S., The Insurance Value of Biodiversity in the Provisionof Ecosystem Services, Natural Resource Modeling, Vol. 20, No. 1,
2007.
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, The Second Report on
Plant Genetic Resources Developed for Food and Agriculture,Bangladesh, 2007.
Birmie, Patricia W., Alan E. Boyle, International Law andEnvironment, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992.
Boas, Gideon, Public International Law: Contemporary Principles andPerspectives, Edward Elgar Pub, 2012.
Bosselmann, K., The Principle of Sustainability: Transforming Law
and Governance, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2013.
Bosworth, A. et al., Ethics and Biodiversity, UNESCO Bangkok, 2011
Brandt Commission, North-South: A Program for Survival, Pan
Books, London, 1980.

Burns, Emma, Lindenmayer, David Thurgate, Nicole, Lowe Andrew,
Biodiversity and Environmental Change: Monitoring, Challenges
and Direction, CSIRO Publishing, 2014.
Chowdhury, Justice Mainur Reza, ‘Legal and Institutional Frameworkin Promoting Environmental Management’ in Bangladesh, availableat
http://www.unep.org/law/Symposium/Documents/Country_papers/
Bangladesh.doc.
Clayre, A., Nature and Industrialization: An Anthology, Oxford
University Press, 1977.
Cooper, Joseph, David Leslie Lipper, Agricultural Biodiversity andBiotechnology in Economic Development, Springer, 2006.
Crawford , James, Brownlie's Principles of Public International Law,
OUP, Oxford, 2012.
David, Ingram, Parks Jennifer, The complete idiot's guide tounderstanding ethics. Alpha Books. 2002.
Devlin, Lord, The Enforcement of Morals, 1965.
Dolzer,Rudolf, Global Environmental Issues: The Genuine Area of
Globalization, 1999..
Elizabeth ,Maczulak Anne, Biodiversity: Conserving Endangered
Species, New York, 2010.
FAO, National Forest and Tree Resources Assessment 2005-2007,
Dhaka: Bangladesh, Forest Department, SPARRSO.
Farooque, Mohiuddin and Hasan, S. Rizwana, Laws Regulating
Environment in Bangladesh, BELA, 2004.
Farooque, M., The Bangladesh Biodiversity Legal and Institutional
Profile, Bangladesh, 1997.
Fuller, Lon, The Morality of Law, 1969.
Gain, Philip , Moral Shishir ,Raj Priscillaj, Sircar Lucille , Bangladesh
Environment: Facing the 21st Century, Society for Environmentand Human Development, 2002.
George, Derr Patrick, Mc Namara, Edward M., Case Studies inEnvironmental Ethics, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.
Gillespie Alexander, International Environmental Law, Policy andEthics, Oxford University Press, 2014.
Goudie , A., The Nature of the Environment, Oxford, 1993.
Gurung, B. D. and Seeland, K. Ecotourism in Bhutan: Extending its
Benefits to Rural Communities, Journal of Tourism
Research.Vol.35, No.2, 2008.
Gillespie, Alexander, International Environmental Law, Policy, andEthics, Oxford, 2014.
Hamilton, Lawrence S., Takeuchi, Helen F., Ethics, Religion andBiodiversity: Relations between Conservation and Cultural Values,
White Horse, 1993.
Halvorssen, Anita Margrethe, Equality among Unequal’s inInternational Environmental Law: Differential Treatment forDeveloping Countries, Western Press, 1999.
Haque, C. E., Hazards in a Fickle Environment: Bangladesh, Kluwer
Academic Publisher, 1997.
Hart, H.L.A., Law, Liberty and Morality, 1963.
He,Jim Chen, Juris-dynamics of Environmental Protection: Change
and the Pragmatic Voice in Environmental Law, Environmental
Law Institute, 2003.
Honey, Martha, Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who
Owns Paradise?, Island Press, 1999.
Hussain, K.Z. &Acharya, G. (eds.), Mangroves of the Sundarbans.
Volume II : Bangladesh. IUCN, Bangkok, Thailand, 1994.
IUCN , World Conservation Staratey; ‘ Ruster, B. and Simma, B.
(eds), International Protection of the Environment, New York, Vol.
XIII, 1980.
Jayme, Johnson, Biocentric Ethics and the Inherent Value of Life,
2008.
J. Hey, Genes, Categories and Species: The Evolutionary andCognitive Causes of the Species Problem, Oxford University
Press, 2001.
J. Rowe Stan., Ecocentrism: the Chord that Harmonizes Humans andEarth, The Trumpeter, 1994.
J Benidickson, B Boer, A H Benjamin and K Morrow (eds),
Environmental Law and Sustainability after Rio, Edward Elgar
Publishing, 2011.
Krishnamurthy, K V, Textbook of Biodiversity, Science Publishers,
2003.
Lepard, Brian D., Customary International Law: A New Theory with
Practical Applications, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Lloyd, Lord, Introduction to Jurisprudence, London, 1979.
Loreau, M., Naeem, S. & Inchausti, P. (Eds), Biodiversity andEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)
Ecosystem Functioning: Synthesis and Perspectives. Oxford
University Press, 2002.
Mahajan, V.D., Jurisprudence and Legal Theory, Eastern Book
Company, 2005.
Mann ,Michael, South Asia’s Modern History: Thematic Perspectives,
Routledge, 2014.
Merchant,Carolyn, Environmental Ethics and Political Conflict: A View
from California, Journal of Environmental Ethics, Volume 12, Issue
1, Spring 1990.
Mill, J.S. , Nature, the Utility of Religion and Theism (Baker, London),1858.
M.,Midgley,‘The End of Anthropocentricism’, in R. Attfield (ed),Philosophy and the Natural Environment, Cambridge University
Press, 1994.
Mukul, Sharif Ahmed, Biodiversity Conservation Strategies in
Bangladesh: The State of Protected Areas, Dhaka, 2010.
th
4 National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Ministryof Environment and Forest, Government of the People's Republicof Bangladesh, 2010.
Nishat,Ainun, National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, IUCN,
2003.
O.,H.,A.H.D., Frankel; D.R. ,Marshall, and J.T., Williams,( Eds.). The
Use of Plant Genetic Resources, Cambridge university Press,
1989.
Pound, R. , Jurisprudence, the Law book Exchange Ltd, 1959.
Public Trust Doctrine in Natural Resource Law: Effective Judicial
Intervention, Michigan Law Review, vol-68, part I.
Qerimi,Qerim, Development in International Law: A Policy-Oriented
Inquiry, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2012.
Rahman,A. Atiq, Environment and Development in Bangladesh,
Volume 1, UPL, 1994.
Rahman, A.B.M.Z, Environmental Aspects of Energy Exploration in
Bangladesh and the Role of EIA, 2003.
Ranulf, Moral Indignation and Middle Class Psychology,1983.
R.,Mendelsohn,A.,Dinar.,andL.,Williams,2006.EnvironmentandDevelopment
Reza, AHMA; Chowdhury, MM; Santiapillai, C. 2000. Tiger
conservation in Bangladesh. Tiger Paper 27:5.
Stern, N., The Economics of Climate Change, Cambridge
University Press, 2006.
Sarkar, S., Biodiversity and Environmental Philosophy, Cambridge
University Press, 2005.
Sampson ,Neil, Hair Dwight, American Forestry Association, Ural
Resources for the 21st Century, Island Press, 1990.
Sands ,Philippe, Principles of International Environmental Law,ndCambridge University Press, 2 Edition.
Seidensticker, J., Large Carnivores and the Consequences of Habitat
Insularization: Ecology and Conservation of Eigers in Indonesia
and Bangladesh, 1986.
Shweitzer, Cicovacki, P., Albert, Ethical Vision, Oxford University
Press, 2009.
Siddiqui ,Liaquat A., The Legal Status of the Emerging Principles ofInternational Environmental law, the Dhaka University Studies, Part
F, Vol. IX(I), 1998.
Sitarz,Dan, Agenda 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to Save Our
Planet, Earth Press, 1993.
Smith, Adam, Wealth of Nations-An Inquiry into the Nature andCause of Wealth of Nations, Strahan and Cadell, UK, 1776.
Susan,Casey-Lefkowitz, J., Futrell William, Austin, Jay and Bass,
Susan,‘The Evolving Role of Citizens in Environmental
Enforcement’, National Environmental Enforcement Journal, 1996,
Vol. 11, No. 5, 1996.
Taylor, Paul, Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental
Ethics. Princeton University Press.1986.
The Environment, the Constitution and the Coupling Fallacy: 32
Michigan Law Quadrangle Notes 35,1. 1988.
Turner,R.K, Pearce David and Bateman Ian, Sustainable Economic
Development: Economic and Ethical Principles, London, 1993.
UNEP, Global Biodiversity Assessment, Cambridge University Press,
1995.
Vedung, E., Public Policy and Program Evaluation, Transaction
Publishers, UK, 2009.
Vinuales Jorge E., The Rio Declaration on Environment andDevelopment: A Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2014.
Water Resources Planning Organization, National Water Resources
Database, Dhaka: Bangladesh, 1997.

85

Wilson, Edward O., The Diversity of Life, Harvard University Press,
1992.
World Health Organization, Ecosystem and Human Well-being,
Geneva, WHO Press, 2005.
Wolch, Jennifer R., Jody Emel, Animal Geographies: Place, Politics,
and Identity in the Nature-culture Borderlands, Verso, 1998.

10. Appendices (Available in on-line edition)
Appendix I: List of Biodiversity Related Laws in Bangladesh
Laws to be administered by the DoE§ The Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995 (Act No. 1
of 1995)/ amendment 2000 (Act No.XII of 2000) and 2002(Act No.IX
of 2002)/ Gezette Notifications/ Orders/Circular.
§ The Environment Conservation Rules 1997, Under Sec. 20 of
ECA (S. R.O No-197Act/97)/ Corrective Notifications 2002
§ The Environment Court Act 2010 (Act No. LVI of 2010)§ The Open Space, Gardens and Wetlands Protection Act 2000.
(Act 36 of 2000)§ Brick Kiln (Control) Act 1989 (Act No. VIII of 1989), Amendment
1992 (XXII of 1992) and 2001(Act No.XVII of 2001)/§ Building Construction Act, 1952/ Rules 1996
Fish and Fisheries§ The Protection and Conservation of Fish Act 1950 (Bengal Act
XVIII of 1950), The East Bengal Pro. and Cons. of Fish (Amend.) Act
1963/ The E.B.P.C of Fish (Amend.) Ord. ’70 /The E.B.P.C.F(Amend.) Ord. 1982, Amendment 1995 (Act No.IX of ‘95).
Amendment 2002
§ The Protection and Conservation of Fish Rules 1985 (S.R.O No.
442-L/85), Under Section 3 of Fish Act 1950, amendment/notifications§ The Government Fisheries (Protection) Ordinance 1959
(Ordinance No. XXIV of 1959). Act 2001 (Third Amendment) Act
2001. (Act No. XLVIII of 2001).
§ The Private Fisheries Protection Act 1889 (Bengal Act II of 1889), Amendment in 1998
§ The Marine Fisheries Ordinance 1983. (Ordinance No. XXXV of1983)/ Rules 1983 (No.S.R.O 349-L/83), Framed under Section 55 of
MF Ordinance 1983. (amendment 84/85?)
Forest and Forestries§ The Forest Act 1927 (Act No. XVI of 1927)/ amnd 1990/
2000/2002(?)/notifications§ Sundarbans Act 1905 (1 of 1905)/ executive orders (Repealed)§ The Private Forests Ordinance 1959 (Ordinance No. XXXIV ofrd1959) 3 Amendment Act, 2001 (Act No. XLVIII of 2001)§ The Attia Forest (Protection) Ordinance 1982 (Ordinance No.
XXXIII of 1982)/ amendment 1989
§ The Sylhet Forest Transit Rules, 1951 (and other transit rules)§ The Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts Reserved Forest Fire
Protection Rules, 1958
Land
§ Land Management (Water body) Manual 1990.
§ The Public Parks Act 1904 (Act No. II of 1904)§ Land Customs Act 1924 (XIX of 1924)Repealed§ Land Acquisition Act 1894 (I of 1894) Repealed§ The Acquisition of Wasteland Act 1950 (Bengal ActNo. XIX ofnd1950), Amendment (2 Amendment) Act, 2000 (Act No. XXXX of2000).
§ The Culturable Waste Land (Utilization ) Ordinance 1959.(E.P.O
rdNo. XIII of 1959), (3 Amendment Act), 2001 (Act No. XLVIII of 2001).
Water§ The Water Resources Planning Act 1992/Water Resources(Amendment) Act 1992 (XI of 1992)§ The Tanks Improvements Act 1939 (Bengal Act No. XV of 1939)/ Ordinance 1986 (III of 1986)§ Water Hyacinth Act 1936 (XIII of 1936), Bengal Act(Amendment) (IV of 1941)§ The Territorial Water and Maritime Zones Act 1974 (XXVI of1974)/ Rules 1977 (S.R.O No.26 –L/78), Framed under section 9 of1974 Act.
§ The Ground Water Management Ordinance 1985 (Ordinance
No. XXVII of 1985)§ The Canals Act 1864 (Bengal Act V of 1864)

86

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)§ The Bangladesh Irrigation Water Rate Amendment Act 1990
(XXXIV of 1990)§ Water Supply and Sewerage Authority Act 1996 (VI of 1996)(Amendment, XXVII of 1992) (Second Amendment, XLIX of 1998)
Agriculture/Irrigation§ Food Grains Supply (Prevention of prejudicial Activities)
Ordinance 1979 (XXVI of 1979)§ The Agricultural Produce Markets Regulation Act 1964, (ActNo.IX of 1964)§ The Shrimp Cultivation Taxation Act 1992,(Act No.LIII of 1992) /Rules’ 1993 (Rules framed under Section 9 of Shrimp Cultivation
Taxation Act 1992)§ The Irrigation Act 1876 (Bengal Act III of 1876)§ The Agricultural and Sanitary Improvement Act 1920 (Bengal
Act VI of 1920)§ The Destructive Insects and Pest Act 1914 (Act No. II of 1914),
Amendment 1939 (III of 1939) Amendment 1988 (VI of 1938 )§ Agricultural Pest Ordinance 1962 (Ordinance No. VI of1962)/Ordinance 1971 (II of 1971)/ (Amendment) Ordinance 1983
(XXV of 1983)/Agricultural Pesticides (Amendment) Act 1980 (V of1980)§ The Embankment and Drainage Act 1952 (Act No. 1 of 1953)§ The Seeds Ordinance 1977 (XXXIII of 1977)/ Amendment Act
1997.(Act No. XIII of 1997)§ Jute (Amendment) Ordinance 1983 (XVI of 1983)§ Tea (Amendment) Ordinance 1986 ( Ordinance No.XV of 1986)§ Cotton Act 1957 (XXXVIII of 1957)§ Agricultural Census Act 1958 (XLI of 1958)/ (Amendment)
Ordinance 1983 (XXII of 1983)§ Fertiliser (Control) Order 1995?
Wildlife/Livestock§ Bangladesh Wildlife Preservation Order 1973 (P.O. No. 23 of
1973)/ Bangladesh Wild Life (Preservation) (Amendment) Act 1974
(XVII of 1974)/ EO 1998, 2003
§ Elephants Preservation Act 1879/ Wild Birds and Animals
Protection Act’1912/ Bengal Rhinoceros Preservation Act 1932 All
Repealed§ The Animals Slaughter (Restriction) and Meat Control Act’1957(E.P. Act VIII of 1957) (Amendment) 1983
§ The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals(Amendment) Act 2001
§ The Cruelty to Animals Act 1920 (Bengal Act No. 1 of 1920)§ The Live Stock Importation Act 1898 (IX of 1898)§ The Bengal Diseases of Animals Act 1944 (Bengal Act VI of
1944)§ The Cattle Trespass Act 1871 (Act No.I of 1871) (Bengal
Amendment Act IV of 1947)/The Cattle (Prevention of Trespass)(Amendment) Act 2001 (Act No. XLVIII of 2001)
Energy/Nuclear laws
§ The Bangladesh Institute of Neuclear Agriculture Ordinance1984 ( Ord. II )§ The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission Order 1973 (ord.
XV)§ Paromanabik Nirapatta o Bikiron Niyontron Ain, 1993 (XXI)§ Draft Acts (The Biodiversity and Community Knowledge
Protection Act and Plant Varieties Act)
§ Bangladesh Petroleum Act 1974 (LXIX of 1974)§ The Bangladesh Petroleum (Amendment) Ordinance 1976 (LIVof 1976)§ Miners and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act 1967 (IIof 1968) Repealed.
§ Mines an Mineral Resources (Control and Development) Act
1992 (XXXIX of 1992)
Others§ The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marketing) Act 1937 (ActNo.1 of 1937)§ The Prevention of Interference with Aids to Navigable Water
Ways (Amendment) Act’2001§ The Removal of Wrecks and Obstructions in Inland Navigable
Water Ways Rules, 1973
§ Oil seeds Committee Act 1946 (IX of 1946)§ Sea Customs Act 1878 (VIII of 1878) (Amendment) (XXXIV of1957) Repealed
Local Government/ Municipality§ Barisal City Corporation Act, 2001 (Act No.XI of 2001)/ Rajshahi, 1987, Amendment 1999,\Sylhet , 2001/ Chittagong Ordinance, 1982./ Dhaka, Ordinance,
1983/ Khulna Ordinance, 1984/ Khulna (Amend) Act 1992./ The
Paurashava Ordinance, 1977, The Paurashava (Amendment) Act,
1989, Amendment 1990, 1992.
§ The Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board (Amendment)
Act 1980 (Act No. X of 1980). (Amendment) Ordinance 1983 (XLIV of1983), Amendment Ordinance 1984 (IX of 1984)
Institutions§ The Live Stock Research Institute (Amendment) Act 1996 (IX of
1996)§ The Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation Act 1973
(Act No. XXII of 1973)§ The Water Resources Planning Organization Act 1992 (XII of
1992)§ Bangladesh Water Development Board Act 2000 (Act No. XXVIof 2000)§ Bangladesh
Water
and
Power
Development
Board(Amendment) Act 2001 (Act No. XXV of 2001)§ THE Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council Act 1996. (ActNo. 7 of 1996)§ The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute Act 1996 (ActNo. XIV of 1996)§ The Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation
Ordinance 1961 (E.P. Ordinance No. XXXVII of 1961)/ amnd 1975
§ The Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agricultural (Amendment)
Act 1996 (Act No.IV of 1996)§ Bangladesh
Jute Corporation
Act 1973(XXVII of1973)/(Amendment) Act’1975 ??
§ The Jute Research Institute Act 1974 (Act No. XIII of 1974)/
Amendment Ordinance 1983, Amendment 1996 (VIII of 1996)§ The Bangladesh Rice research Institute Act 1973 (Amendment)
1996, (Act No. X of 1973)§ The Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute Act 1996 (XI of
1996) (Amendment ) 2002.
§ The Fisheries Research institute (Amendment) Act 1996 (ActNo. X of 1996)§ The
Bangladesh
Fisheries
Development
Corporation(Amendment) Ordinance1984 (O.No. XXIV of 1984)§ The Forest Industries Development Corporation Ordinance1959(Ordinance No. LXVII of 1959) Amendment 2001
§ The Bangladesh Veterinary Practitioners Ordinance 1982 (XXXof 1982)§ The Bangladesh Oil and Gas Development Corporation(Amendment) Act 1966 (XV of 1966)??
§ The Bangladesh Oil , Gas and Minerals Corporation(Amendment) Act 1989 (XI of 1989)§ The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (Amendment) Act 1990
(XXXII of 1990)§ Bangladesh
Water
and
Power
Development
Board(Amendment) Act 1990 (XXXIII of 1990)??
§ The River Research Institute Act 1990 (LIII of 1990)§ The Food (Special Courts) (Amendment) Act 1956 (Act No.X of
1956)§ Malaria Eradication Board (Amendment) Ordinance 1965 (L of1965) Repealed§ The Prevention of Malaria (Special provisions) Ordinance1978(IV of 1978)§ Forest Industries Development Corporation Rules 1965
§ Tea Plantations Labour (Amendment) Act 2001 (XIVIII of 2001)§ Bangladesh Unani and Ayurvedic Practitioners Ordinance 1983(XXXII of 1983)§ Statute of the Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission 1972
Appendix II: List of conventions on biodiversity issues to which
Bangladesh is a party§ Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement ofHazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, 1989
§ Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, 2000

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 26 (March 2016)§ Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural andNatural Heritage, 1972
§ Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992
§ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ofWild Fauna and Flora, 1973
§ Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especiallyas Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention), 1971
§ Indigenous and Tribal Population Convention, 1957
§ International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the
Sea by Oil, 1954
§ International Convention for the Protection of Plant Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture, 1999 (?)§ International Convention Relating to Intervention on the High
Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution Casualties, 1969
§ International Convention to Combat Desertification, 1994
§ International Plant Protection Convention, 1951
§ Plant Protection Agreement for the South East Asia and PacificRegion, 1956
§ United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982
§ United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
1992 and Kyoto Protocol, 1997 (ratified by Bd Ratified by Bangladesh
on 15 April 1994)§ Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, 1985,
Montreal Protocol, 1990

87

EJAIB Editor: Darryl Macer
Associate Editors
Jayapaul Azariah (All India Bioethics Association, India),
Masahiro Morioka (Osaka Prefectural University, Japan).
Editorial Board: Akira Akabayashi (Japan), Sahin Aksoy(Turkey), Martha Marcela Rodriguez-Alanis (Mexico), Angeles
Tan Alora (Philippines), Atsushi Asai (Japan), Alireza Bagheri(Iran), Gerhold Becker (Germany), Shamima Lasker(Bangladesh), Minakshi Bhardwaj (UK), Christian Byk (IALES;
France), Ken Daniels (New Zealand), Ole Doering (Germany),
Amarbayasgalan Dorjderem (Mongolia), Hasan Erbay(Turkey), Soraj Hongladarom (Thailand), Dena Hsin (Taiwan),
Rihito Kimura (Japan), Abby Lippman (Canada), Umar Jenie(Indonesia), Nobuko Yasuhara Macer (Japan), Anwar Nasim(Pakistan), Jing-Bao Nie (China, New Zealand), Pinit
Ratanakul (Thailand), Qiu Ren Zong (China), Hyakudai
Sakamoto (Japan), Sang-yong Song (Republic of Korea),
Takao Takahashi (Japan), Noritoshi Tanida (Japan), Ananya
Tritipthumrongchok (Thailand), Yanguang Wang (China),
Daniel Wikler (USA), Jeong Ro Yoon (Republic of Korea).

ASIAN BIOETHICS ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP 2016
and subscription to Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics (EJAIB)
Web site: <http://eubios.info/ABA.htm>____ I wish to pay my annual membership fees of Asian Bioethics Association (ABA), and receive the 2016
issues of Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics (EJAIB) (The Official Journal).
____ Regular Price: US$70 Euro 50 NZ$80 ¥7000 (=Credit card price NZ$90)____ I wish to make a reduced contribution of____ I wish to register as a member of Asian Bioethics Association, but am not in the position to pay a fee. I
understand that I should be satisfied with Internet access to Eubios Journal of Asian and International
Bioethics (EJAIB) <http://eubios.info/EJAIB.htm>.
____ I wish to make a donation to Eubios Ethics Institute of ________ I wish to receive the 2016 issues of EJAIB but not ABA membership, the price is:____ Regular Price: US$70 Euro 50 NZ$80 ¥7000 (Credit card price NZ$90)____ Exchange subscription with journal, newsletter, etc. (Name____________________ )____ I agree / ____ do not agree to my name being listed on the ABA www site
List Research Interests to be included:
Post or send an E-mail with your address* (or include current address label)
To: E-mail: asianbioethics@yahoo.co.nz
We prefer credit card transactions … if you cannot you can post a cheque for:Note: Cheques in local currency are accepted from accounts with major banks in EU, New Zealand and USA. For
cheques please add US$20 or NZ$20 processing fee if not in NZ dollars. Please find my cheque for:
(The currency has to be the same as the address of the bank, and the cheque made out to "Eubios Ethics Institute",
and posted to P.O. Box 16 329, Hornby, Christchurch 8441, New Zealand).
Other currencies use a bank or post draft in NZ$ for the Overseas price. In Japan use postal transfer to the "Eubios
Ethics Institute" account number: 00340-9-32465. Or authorize a one time credit card payment as below:
Please charge my VISA / MASTERCARD card (circle) for NZ$________
Account #Expiry Date
Signature
Name:*Mailing address:
E-mail:Editorial address, and all correspondence to:Prof. Darryl Macer, Ph.D., Hon.D.
President,(AUSN);

American

UniversityofSovereign

Nations

Editorial Address: 13 Carlina, Irvine, CA 92620-1826, USA

Email: darryl@eubios.info
http://www.eubios.info
Registered address of EJAIB: P.O. Box 16 329,
Hornby, Christchurch 8441, New Zealand
Asian Bioethics Association Membership form ison the inside back page of this issue.

Eubios Ethics Institute is proud to partnerwith the American University of Sovereign
Nations (AUSN) to offer Eubios Ethics
Institute Scholarships for tuition assistanceupon application of financial need and pastqualifications:• Postgraduate Certificate in
Bioethics and Global Public
Health[800 USD - discount from 2000 USD]

• Postgraduate Certificate inCommunity and Peace[800 USD - discount from 2000 USD]

Forthcoming Conferences
Visit http://www.ausn.info for more information.
Email to: darryl@eubios.info
Fourth Joint AUSN-IIB International Conference on
Bioethics: Public Health, Peace and Indigenous
People, AUSN Arizona, USA, 5-8 May 2016. Speakers
from many countries.
Joint
AUSN-Turkish
Bioethics
Association
Intensive Bioethics Training Conference: Bioethics
Empowering the Public and Professionals, Ankara,
Turkey, 5-7 June 2016. Subsequent events/tour in
Sanliurfa, 8 June and Istanbul. The Ankara training is
concurrent with the Annual Conference of the Turkish
Bioethics Association (3-5 June 2016). Speakers frommany countries.
AUSN Intensive Ethics of Science and Technology
Training Workshop; AUSN-Chulalongkorn University
and International Peace Park @Kaeng Krachan,Thailand, 12-17 June 2016. Speakers include Prof.
Soraj Hongladarom, Thailand; Prof. Darryl Macer, New
Zealand; Prof. John Weckert, Australia; Dr. Tonmoy
Biswas, Bangladesh. Speakers from many countries.
Second International Congress of Bioethics IIB
2016, Fifth AUSN-IIB Conference on Bioethics,
Public Health and Peace Indigenous peoples andintensive Joint workshop, Institute for Investigationin Bioethics (IIB), Monterrey, Mexico, 4-9 July, 2016.

• Masters in Bioethics and Global
Public Health

12th Youth Peace Ambassador (YPA12) Training
Workshop, AUSN Arizona, July 2016.

[5,000 USD - discount from 15,000 USD]

13th Youth Peace Ambassador (YPA13) Training
Workshop, MAAP, Bataan and Bicol University, thePhilippines, November 2016.

• Masters in Public Health[5,000 USD - discount from 15,000 USD]

• Master of Science in
Sustainability Science[5,000 USD - discount from 15,000 USD]

• PhD. in Bioethics,
Sustainability and Global Public
Health[16,000 USD for those with prior Masters
degree - discount from 32,000 USD]

Please visit http://www.ausn.info for the
program details; alumni; application
forms; faculty; and Email inquiries to:provost@ausn.info

Fourth Joint AUSN-UNSOED Intensive Bioethics
Training Course, UNSOED, Purwokerto, Indonesia,
9-11 November 2016; with an Intensive AUSN Thesis
writing course, 12-13 November in Indonesia.
Seventeenth Asian Bioethics Conference: Towards
a peaceful world: Asian initiatives for bioethics intrans-cultural settings, UGM, Jogyakarta, Indonesia,
14-17 Nov, 2016 meeting of Asian Bioethics
Association (ABA); in conjunction with the 8th
Conference of the Indonesian Bioethics andHumanities Association (in Bahasa Indonesian), 12-13
Nov, 2016. In cooperation with the UGM, National
Bioethics Commission of Indonesia, ABA, AUSN,
Eubios Ethics Institute among others.
Tenth Kumamoto Bioethics Roundtable: Bioethics
and Conflict Resolution in the Age of Advanced
Technology, Kumamoto, Japan. 19-20 November
2016. There will also be intensive bioethics lectures on
21 November, and other events.