Proceedings of 9th Asian Business Research Conference
20-21 December, 2013, BIAM Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-1-922069-39-9
Recognizing Traditional Sustainability Accounting in Bangladesh
Mahmood Hasan Khan, Amzad Hossain and Dora Marinova
On the basis of secondary data and personal observation the paper interprets
beliefs and practices of the rural people of Bangladesh in the framework of
sustainability accounting. It addresses the research question as to how to
understand diverse facets of sustainability accounting. The paper emphasizes
sustainability accounting in terms of carbon neutral living pursuing simple life in
coherence with nature, self-reliant and non-consumerist lifestyle, and
sustainability education as provided by the perennial spiritualistic culture of
Bangladesh.
The country had enjoyed emissions neutral sustainability prior to the
emergence of the emissions intensive Green Revolution in the 1970s. The
Green Revolution has changed the sustainability framework of rural living, for
the Revolution is inherently characterized by destructiveness to nature,
consumerism, and corruption. The paper argues that the Green Revolution has
not only broken the socioeconomic and ecological makeup of Bangladesh’s
traditional self-reliant society, but it has also caused injury to the country’s
governance system.
The objectives of the paper are: (a) to investigate the cultural beliefs and
practices that make people sustain the tradition of sustainability account
keeping; and (b) to investigate whether the traditional accounting precepts and
practices in Bangladesh for sustainability upkeep can be a solution to the
emissions problem, even globally.
The paper concludes that indigenous spiritual education as mentored by the
Baul-philosophers of Bangladesh can inspire people to upkeep sustainability
accounting, and that spirituality intensive sustainability education can be a
prototype of global sustainability accounting for achieving carbon neutrality.
Keywords: Baul-philosophers, consumerism, corruption, Green Revolution, lifestyle, spirituality.
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Mahmood Hasan Khan, Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute, Curtin University, Australia.
Amzad Hossain, Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute, Curtin University, Australia.
Dora Marinova, Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute, Curtin University, Australia.