by Ann Leonard
ENVIRONMENTALISTS MAINTAIN THAT THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB) is obligated to resolve the Bangladeshi fertilizer crisis, since it provided the funding for the Bangladesh government to purchase the fertilizer. "Since the ADB's money was used to import the toxic fertilizer, we believe the bank has a responsibility to pay for its return to the United States," Farida Akhter, executive director of the research organization UBINIG, explains. "Is this the kind of project the U.S. taxpayers want their foreign aid money to be spent on?"
Dave Batker, multilateral development bank policy analyst for Greenpeace, agrees. "Since the ADB is established to be a development organization, and this is clearly not a beneficial development project, the Bank should ensure that the waste is removed and the environment cleaned up as soon as possible," he says. In November 1993, Batker met with officers of the ADB at its headquarters in Manila in the Philippines to request that the bank assist in resolving the situation. According to Batker, ADB officers in Manila have expressed alarm, but have not offered financial assistance to contain and ultimately remove the waste.
ADB's Bangladesh Project Officer Karimul Haque Talukdar rejects the notion that the ADB should fund the return of the waste to the United States. When asked about ADB environmental policy, Talukdar admitted that environmental impacts were not considered when evaluating bids from fertilizer suppliers.
In November 1992, he told a Greenpeace representative that the ADB chooses the "lowest responsive bid," considering only two factors: price and adherence to ADB procedures. "Once the payment is made," he explained, "we wash our hands of it. We are not involved."
For this reason, Talukdar believes the ADB has no responsibility to remedy the damage caused by the imported fertilizer. When asked if the ADB would consider funding the removal of the waste, Talukdar responded, "There is no possibility of that."
"By providing funding for the import of toxic waste in the form of low-cost products, the ADB forces Third World countries to choose between poison and poverty," Batker says. "Instead of funding toxic trade, the ADB and other international lending institutions should fund environmentally beneficial projects which truly involve and meet the needs of the receiving communities."
The Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) reports that the fertilizer has been distributed to 12 BADC regional warehouses throughout the country:
| Area | Amount Sent (Tons) |
Amount Sold (Tons) |
Remaining Stock (Tons) |
| Sombhuganj (Mymenshing) | 40 | 1 | 39 |
| Chittagong | 475 | 269 | 206 |
| Melandaho (Jamalpur) | 39 | 19 | 20 |
| Rangpur | 39 | 35 | 4 |
| Gaibandha | 40 | 8 | 32 |
| Kurigram | 20 | 8 | 12 |
| Dinajpur | 20 | 3 | 17 |
| Panchagar | 20 | 2 | 18 |
| Sibganj | 19 | 4 | 15 |
| Khulna | 2,412 | 695 | 1,717 |
| Barguna | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Patuakhali | 5 | unknown | unknown |
| TOTAL | 3,134 | 1,014 | 2,115 |