Analysing policy changes for achieving sustainable development goals: Insights from forest, environment and climate change action plan in Bangladesh

Abstract

Environmental sustainability lies at the centre of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Many developing economies, including Bangladesh, undertook massive institutional and policy reformulation initiatives to accomplish the respective environmental targets of the SDGs. However, effective policy implementation and obtaining the desired impact on people and the planet remain challenging. Against this backdrop, using the typical case of Bangladesh, the study hypothesises whether environmental (including forest and climate change) policy changes beget optimal policy outcomes and bring innovative policy ideas. Or they deliver sub-optimal policy outcomes and prioritise traditional policy substances in achieving the SDGs. The study uses a policy typology and does content analysis for a large number of policy changes (n = 82). It applies the analytical framework of policy planning and a coherent–consistent policy approach. The result shows a tremendous shortfall in policy planning and a lack of technical policy capacities to implement innovative policy substances, for example, sustainable and scientific resources management, pollution control, science-based study and data generation, and so forth. Also, incoherent goal settings (e.g., biodiversity conservation versus infrastructure development) and inadequate policy solutions for long-standing problems (e.g., land tenure conflict) can obstruct achieving transformative changes. The sustainable development targets demand an all-inclusive sectoral approach and technical-legal policy solutions to achieve environmental sustainability.