There has been “limited” environmental impact to the Sundarbans and its aquatic ecosystem following last month’s oil spill in Sela River, a team of UN experts has said as part of their primary observation after surveying the mangrove forest.
The joint team of specialists from the United Nations and the Bangladesh government found no visible impact on the forest floor while the oil spill’s initial acute impacts to wildlife appeared to be limited, team leader Emilia Wahlstrom told a Meet the Press programme at the capital’s Hotel Sonargaon yesterday.
However, further monitoring was needed to conclusively determine the effect of the residual oil in the aquatic environment and its impacts on fisheries and livelihood, Wahlstrom said.
In their primary assessment, the team said the oil spill would have a limited impact because of the tidal system of the river that experience high and low tide twice daily.
The team is scheduled to present their final assessment report on January 15.
The team also recommended the government to ensure controlled navigation through the Sela River with appropriate safeguards and mitigation measures to avoid any further disaster in the forest.
The Sela River has been used as an illegal navigation route since 2011 after siltation forced navigation to be halted on the legal Mongla-Ghosiakhali route. Regarding reopening the navigation route, Md Nojibur Rahman, secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forest, said the government would take a decision on this regard soon.
Following a request from the Bangladesh government in the wake of the oil spill, a 25-member team consisting of government and UNDP officials including nine foreign experts conducted the assessment at the forest between December 22 and 27.
On December 9, oil tanker Southern Star 7 – carrying around 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil – sank in Sela River near Mrigmari area after being hit by a cargo vessel. Around 68,000 litres of the spilled oil was manually collected by the local people, while the rest spread to nearby areas.
On tackling any similar disaster in the future, the UN team suggested the government to pursue special training, buy equipments and gain experience to improve the response to any environmental emergency and minimise the impacts on local communities and ecosystems.
According to the UN team, the oil spill had spread across 40km up and downstream in the main shoreline which showed varying degrees of pollution.
However, a recent study by the Environmental Science Department of Khulna University showed that the spilled oil had spread across around 500 square-kilometres of the forest.
The study also found there was very limited presence of different primary food producers like phytoplankton and zooplankton in the contaminated water compared to the regular situation.
The 6017 sq-km area of the forest is rich with flora and fauna diversity including 66 species of plants, more than 200 fish species, 42 mammals, 234 birds, 51 reptiles, 8 amphibians and a wide range of invertebrates species. Around 500,000 people also directly and indirectly depend on the Sundarbans for their livelihoods.