Annually, IIBB organizes international symposia on toxic contamination and its impact on Bengal Basin economies. The symposia series provides a forum for people of different disciplines to meet and discuss the complex issues that affects Bengal Basin. The symposia series aims to: identify the public health and environmental problems of the Bengal Basin caused by toxic chemicals and pollutants;describe the capabilities and limitations of those economies to address and fix those problems; share knowledge and experience on what works, what doesn’t work and some of the traps which can destroy the best of intentions. The goal is primarily to develop cost effective and workable solutions which can really have a positive impact, and to promote the redirection of some of the environmental management resources in western countries to those parts of the world where the impacts would be much more significant. 

The environmental and public health problems found in the Bengal Basin are the most challenging anywhere. In the present and future global economy, the activities in one part of the world will impact lives in other parts of the world. We are part of a global ecology. Environmental isolationism is no more tenable in the long term than economic isolationism. Threats to public health know no boundaries, and problems do not go away when we ignore them. The problems in the Bengal Basin impact all of us. Some have considered the groundwater and surface water pollution of the Bengal Basin as the most serious and the worst anywhere. It is home to some 300 million people, a population which continues to increase. Due to the climate and the watershed, the pollution is not confined but is continually being drained into the Bay of Bengal. If fundamental and major changes in how pollution issues are addressed are not made now, then the rest of the world will also be impacted by pollution and public health problems from this region. 

The symposia series expects to benefit government environmental policy makers and regulators, lawyers, economists, business leaders, environmental engineers and consultants, chemists, geologists and hydro-geologists. It will also interest university faculty and graduate students and all concerned citizens.