( 2,3 PhD Researchers) Eco. Env. & Cons. 28 (1) : 2022; pp. (113-126) Copyright@ EM International ISSN 0971–765X Local environmental governance in Bangladesh: How far are municipalities involved in achieving environmental sustainability? A K M Mahmudul Haque 1 *, Syed Mohammad Aminur Rahman 2 , A.K.M. Fazlul Hoque 3 and Md. Asfaq Salehin 4 1 Department of Political Science, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh 2 University of Adelaide, Adelaide SA 5005, Australia 3 Central Queensland University, 120 Spencer Street, Melbourne, Australia 4 Department of Political Science, Varendra University, Rajshahi 6204, Bangladesh. (Received 20 May, 2021; Accepted 21 June, 2021) ABSTRACT Understanding the issues of local environmental governance is crucial for both the environment and for policy. This paper examines the performance of local government institutions such as municipalities in terms of their environmental responses in their responsibilities. Authorities of two municipalities and stakeholders are the primary sources of data in this study. Based on their responses, the findings are that these municipalities barely qualify as urban governing bodies in ensuring environmentally friendly governance. They are found to be highly inactive in ensuring environmental sustainability in their regular and development programs. Stakeholders are found to be greatly deprived of the services they should receive from their local authorities. The expectations of stakeholders and the actual services delivered by the authorities in regard to the environment are significantly out of step with each. Key words : Local environmental governance, Environmental sustainability, Environmental issue consideration, Waste management, Green governance, Municipality. Introduction There are many success stories about Bangladesh’s economic growth in the public domain. This country has appeared as a model for others that are strug- gling with overall development issues. Successes in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and even in the ongoing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are certainly the envy of the rest of the world. However, there remain concerns. The country’s environmental gov- ernance remains deficient. Climate change, for ex- ample, continues to present many challenges (Salehin, 2017; Bulkeley and Betsill, 2005). Accord- ingly, environmental governance is evolving as one of the most anticipated means of ensuring the country’s environmental sustainability. Local gov- ernment bodies, or municipalities, appear to drive the environmental sustainability agenda to an in- creasing extent (Girardet, 1999). In fact, globally most cities are shifting their views of governance towards a sustainable and environmentally friend Biermann, 2009; Biermann et al., 2009; Shruti, 2021). They have been charged with implementing central DOI No.: http://doi.org/10.53550/EEC.2022.v28i01.016