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Social license to operate is a measure to engage with and gain acceptance from the stakeholders for large infrastructure projects. The object of this study is to measure social license to operate an infrastructure project in Khulna city, Bangladesh. Predicated on an established model, 16 statements were selected as the basis for measuring the social license to operate. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 44 local stakeholders. Using varimax rotation, five different components were identified: socio-political, economic, procedural fairness, interactional trust, and institutional trust. The model was statistically tested and found to be a medium fit explaining the results. The findings are that the project has gained socio-political, economic, procedural fairness, and interactional trust of the stakeholders, yet lacks institutional trust factor to achieve a social license to operate. The paper recommends the inclusion of the social license to operate concept in infrastructure planning and implementation phases in Bangladesh.

Proper solid waste disposal is very important for the nature itself and its’ inhabitants. However, a study covering various aspects of solid waste management including management practices, prevailing problems and possible solutions are scarce in the literature. Accordingly, this study investigates a municipality of Bangladesh to understand the practices, problems and probable solutions of solid waste management. The dwellers of the surveyed municipality throw solid waste in various places like dustbin, drain, roadside and other crude dumping sites. Only about one-fourth of the respondents throw wastes to designated dustbins. More than half of the respondents don’t have knowledge about proper disposal of solid wastes. The study findings indicate that the survey respondents throw waste throughout the whole day. More than 80 percent of the respondents are either dissatisfied or highly dissatisfied with the existing solid waste management services of the municipality. The data indicate that about two-third of the respondents are willing to pay for improving the waste disposal system. The respondents informed that they are affected by various diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia, asthma, and bronchitis during the last one year which they perceive as the outcome of improper solid waste management. Therefore, this study suggests for awareness development, time management of waste disposal, establishment of more disposal and collection points, employment of more manpower and vehicles, introduction of the ‘door to door’ waste collection mechanism, segregation of industrial and clinical wastes for ensuring a better managed solid waste disposal system in the municipality.

Erosion is one of the predominant hazards in coastal Bangladesh. For implementing effective adaptation and mitigation strategies, assessment of risk to coastal erosion is crucial. This study aimed to assess the levels of risk to coastal erosion in the Meghna estuary, a major erosion-prone area in the coastal region of the country impacted by abrupt changes in hydrological and geomorphological conditions. Using physical, environmental, and socio-economic geospatial data, this is the first attempt in assessing erosion risk and characterizing three main risk components: hazard, vulnerability, and exposure at a regional extent in the estuary. A total of 19 indicators were considered, and statistical methods assisted with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were used for the construction of hazard, vulnerability, and exposure indices, which were then integrated to calculate erosion risk comprehensively at the lowermost administrative unit (union) level throughout the study area. The results of hazard and vulnerability analyses depicted 35.72% and 46.69% areas as highly hazard-prone and highly vulnerable to erosion, respectively. Assessment of the exposure index exhibited 42.25% area as highly exposed to coastal erosion in the estuary. Finally, the results quantified different levels of risk as very high (14.91%), high (19.36%), moderate (23.40%), low (23.91%), and very low (18.41%). Among 161 coastal unions, 45 unions were identified as high to very high erosion risk-prone areas, located in the coasts of Bhola, Noakhali, and Barishal districts including their major islands. The validation result confirmed a reasonable level of acceptance of the calculated risk map, despite several data limitations. The geospatial distribution of different risk categories presented in this paper can assist relevant authorities with reliable spatial information in formulating improved erosion risk mitigation policies in the most dynamic estuary of the country.

Abstract: Flood is one of the most common and extreme hazards in Bangladesh because of its geographical location. Sirajganj is a district with the highest flood propensity in Bangladesh. The study aims to evaluate the vulnerability in the ten Unions of Sirajganj Sadar upazila to the flood hazard. Different forms of vulnerability evaluation approaches differ in their method. The Flood Vulnerability Index (FVI) method has been implemented in this research to determine flood vulnerability in order to classify which areas of the study are the most vulnerable to flooding. For the study of flood vulnerability, three indicators (i.e. exposure, sensitivity and resilience, etc) are selected in four dimensions (social, financial, environmental and physical). The FVI calculation determines the flood vulnerability index scores for each union. Following the analysis of FVI, in Sirajganj Sadar Upazila Mechhra union is marked as being highly vulnerable. Since this union is very poor in adaptability, coping capacity and resilience; exposure and susceptibility are greater. The other syndicates are highly exposed to floods. Finally, the zoning map for flood risk was developed on the basis of vulnerability index ratings.