Research Trip to Dhaka, Bangladesh (by Md Nazmul Hasan)

I recently finished a 3-month research trip to Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh) for my PhD project, which aims to understand the environmental behaviour of small polluting factories from a socio-ethical perspective in developing-country contexts.

I collected empirical data from factories located in two industrial clusters namely Hazaribagh leather tanning (located in Dhaka) and Kaliakoir textile dyeing (located in Gazipur District, which is 25 km northwest of central Dhaka). I selected these two industrial clusters purposefully due to their pollution-intensive nature, potential local and aggregate environmental and health impact, proximity to residential areas, and significant contribution to the national economy of Bangladesh.

Hazaribagh leather tanning cluster received significant attention recently from international NGOs and development partners such as World Bank and UK Department for International Development (DFID). Recently, the area has also been named 5th most polluted place on earth by a report published by Zurich-based Green Cross Switzerland and New York-based Blacksmith Institute, which is rather ignominious for a country where environment ranks very high on the political agenda. Kaliakoir, on the other hand, was historically an important rice growing area but its close proximity to the capital city has gradually led to more industries locating there over the past 25 years. There are now various industries in the area including tanneries, small-scale poultry farms, pharmaceutical industries but the cluster is mainly dominated by textile manufacturers, including dyeing and printing units.

In terms of data collection, I carried out a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews with owner-managers of the selected factories. During the interviews, I particularly tried to understand owner-managers' attitudes towards a number of environmentally sensitive issues related to their business. I also tried to understand the antecedents of their attitudes, and how and to what extent attitudes affect their (actual) environmental behaviour. Interview data were also supported by my on-field observation, and to a lesser extent, document analysis.

My initial plan was to select factories from a government database published in 2013, but due to serious security concerns, gaining access to local businesses without any reference was impossible. Therefore, I had to access almost all the factories through informal networking (i.e. with the help of friends, former colleagues and local consultants). Overall, the trip was very useful, both for my own research and my personal development. I gained fascinating insights on the day-to-day operations of indigenous factories in Bangladesh. I was also surprised to learn that most owner-managers hold a positive attitude towards environmental protection, but sadly they fail to transfer this positive attitude into action, predominantly because they operate within an anomic (morally corrupt) socio-economic system that, most often, instigates irresponsible business acts.

Travelling around the two industrial clusters was challenging, especially due to severe traffic congestion in Dhaka city during the weekdays. Moreover, because of poor public transport facility, I had to use private transport to commute from my house to the research locations, which was extremely expensive. I am truly grateful to the University for generously funding my research trip and I would also like to encourage others to make every effort to apply for the the Royal Holloway Travel Award.