The seminar was organised by the Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP) at the Cirdap auditorium in the city.

"An aggrieved individual should have direct access to the court, but the obligation to go through the director general of environment department has made the court useless," said IUCN Country Representative Dr Ainun Nishat.

The Environment Court Act 2000, enacted to try cases related to offences under the Environment Conservation Act 1995 and Environment Conservation Rules 1997, has hardly any impact, said Prof KB Sajjadur Rasheed of Dhaka University while making a keynote presentation.

"Institutional apathy and lack of professionalism on the part of the forest and environment departments in conserving the environment are mainly responsible for environmental degradation," he added.

Prof Rasheed said effluents constitute the main source of water pollution as the industries and factories release their effluents directly into the river or nearby water bodies without any treatment.

Rapid growth of population and poverty are also responsible for environmental degradation, he said in his keynote paper titled 'The state of Bangladesh environment: An appraisal.'

Prof Rasheed said despite increase in water supply capacity, the growth of urban population will outpace it in near future.

Inadequate drinking water, drought, cyclones, loss of bio-diversity, land degradation and rapid deforestation are some of the environmental challenges ahead of Bangladesh with a fast growing population, he said.

Water specialist MA Siddiqui, Jalaluddin Mohammed Abdul Hye of Integrated Water Management, Tarafdar Rabiul Islam of the FAO and Additional Director General of Water Development Board Moinul Hossain also spoke at the seminar presided over by BUP Chairman Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad.