Constitution of BES

ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BANGLADESH

Established: 2019

Background

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, though she is maintaining a commendable high economic growth with almost self- sufficiency in food crop production. However, the growing population has been posing a threat to maintain a balanced ecosystem. Rapid urbanization and infrastructural development not only harming the environment but also changing the ecology. Conscious people are concern about the consequence of altering ecology, and scientists and practitioners are working for finding solutions of the problem, however, independently or sporadically. Nonetheless, the progress of the work is rather slow, mostly because of lacking of a platform for sharing experiences, knowledge and ideas among the stakeholders. Realizing the need for a common forum for mutual discussion, idea exchange and defining strategic measures, the Ecological Society of Bangladesh (ESB) was formed on 03 February 2019 at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University.       

Name of the society: The name of the society will be “ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BANGLADESH”, in short “ESB”.

Address: The society shall maintain an office at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University. However, the official address of the Secretary of ESB can be used for regular correspondence. 

Objectives of ESB: The ESB will be a non-profit and non-political professional society. The objectives of the society are- 

• To promote ecological knowledge among the members and to the society as well;
• To encourage ecological research, education and development works in Bangladesh;
• To exchange ideas, share knowledge and views among the members of ESB through organizing seminar, symposium, workshop, meeting, etc. 
• To disseminate new findings, discoveries and ideas through publishing journals, books and other forms of publication. 
• To advice and cooperate with the policy makers for undertaking appropriate measures on ecological issues in Bangladesh.
• To recognize and award people for contributing for the improvement of ecology of Bangladesh. 
• To develop international cooperation with ecological societies in other countries through meetings, visits and organizing international meetings & conferences.

Membership:

• Regular member – any person interested and involve in ecological research, education and promotion or an ecological practitioner qualifies for becoming a regular member of ESB. 
• Student member – any undergraduate or graduate student formally enrolled in a degree program in a recognized university can become a student member. 
• Life member- any person who fulfills the criteria for becoming a regular member of ESB can become a life member paying “life member fee” fixed by the Executive Committee. 
• Emeritus member – any person who demonstrates remarkable contribution in the field of ecology can be awarded the Emeritus Membership by the unanimous decision of the Executive Committee of ESB.
• Institutional member – Any institution interested in the promotion of ecological research and development can become an institutional member by the decision of the Executive Committee and by paying “institutional membership fee” fixed by the Executive Committee of ESB.

To become a Regular Member, Life Member and Student Member the interested person should fill-in a prescribed form and submit it to the General Secretary of ESB along with the fixed membership fee. The membership will be confirmed in the Executive Committee meeting. 

Membership fee:

The admission fee and other fees will be decided by the Executive Committee time to time. 

Cancellation of membership: 

• If a member acts against the interest of the society.
• If a Regular Member does not pay the annual subscription consecutively for three years. 

Composition of the Executive Committee (EC):

The Executive Committee (EC) will be composed with 21 office bearers for a two-year term, as

1. President – 01: will preside over the meetings of ESB and work as a head of the society.
2. Vice-President- 02: The two Vice-Presidents will assist the President and the senior one (based on the date of membership) will work as an acting President in absence of the President. 
3. General Secretary- 01: will call the meeting with the prior consent of the President, conduct all types of meeting and be responsible for official correspondence. 
4.  Joint Secretary- 02: The two Joint Secretaries will assist the Secretary and the senior one (based on the date of membership) will work as an acting General Secretary in absence of the Secretary. 
5. Organizing Secretary- 01: Will be responsible for strengthening the activities of ESB.
6. Treasurer- 01: Will prepare annual budget, maintain accounts and present the accounts in the EC meetings for approval.
7. Assistant- Treasurer- 01: Will assist the Treasurer.
8. Publication Secreaty-01: Will be responsible for different types of publications of ESB.
9. Assistant Publication Secretary-01: Will assist the Publication Secretary.
10. Seminar Secretary-01: Will organize seminar, symposium, workshop, etc.
11. Social Welfare Secretary-01: Will organize social work on behalf of the society. 
12. Members- 08: Will assist the Executives in all sorts of activity of the society. 

The tenure of the Executive Committee will be for two years. Two months before the end of the tenure of the committee, the EC will form a three-member Election Commission, one Chief Election Commissioner and two members, for holding an election for forming the next EC. All the regular members and life members will be the voters. However, the regular members can cast the vote after 02 years’ maturity of its membership and paying the annual subscription regularly.

Meetings: ESB will convene annual general meeting (AGM) once in a year and Executive Committee meeting once in every three-month. The General Secretary will serve the notice with the consent of the President, 07 days before AGM and 03 days before EC meetings. If the Executive Committee fails to call meetings duly then, with the signatures of one-fourth life members of ESB, a requisition meeting can be called to discuss a specific problem and find a solution. One third members will be required for quorum of both the EC and general meetings. However, if the meeting suffers from quorum problem then the General Secretary will call the meeting again after 07 days. For the 2nd time, the meeting will be held duly even there is no quorum. Emergency meeting can be called with a 24-hour prior notice. Decision on all agenda will be taken based on majority opinion.

Accounts and financial matter: The source of fund of ESB will be the membership fee, subscription, contribution or donation from any institution and private person. There shall have an account in the name of ESB in any schedule bank. The President, General Secretary and Treasurer will jointly open the account. However, the signature of the Treasurer and either of President or Secretary shall be required for financial transaction of the account. There must have an approval of the Executive Committee for withdrawing Tk. 5,000.00 (five thousand) or more from the account.

Amendment of the constitution: Any clause of the constitution can be amended in the Annual General Meeting with the support of two-third or more of the participants in the meeting.