A citizens’ committee has been constituted for the conservation of the Sundarbans, a Unesco World Heritage Site that covers the south-western coastal areas of the country, to save the mangrove forest from the risk of extinction from rising threats.
The platform was named the National Committee to Save the Sundarbans. Sultana Kamal, chairman of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), has been selected as convener, and Md Abdul Matin, general secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa) as the member secretary of the platform.
It was formed following an open discussion held at Mukti Bhaban in Paltan. The full committee will be declared after selecting all the members in its next meeting.
The program was jointly organised by Bapa, TIB, Centre for Human Rights Movement, Save the Sundarbans, Bagerhat Development Commission, Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee and Nature Campaign Bangladesh.
They identified 13 threats that are causing harm to the Sundarbans. These include establishing an unplanned tourism industry, silos belonging to the government food department, excessive exploitation of natural resources from the forest, shrimp cultivation inside the forest’s periphery, government power plants at Rampal, and another by Orion Group, and the navigation route inside the forest.
The body will work not only against the establishment of a massive coal-fired power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat, but also against all the threats the forest is facing, Sultana Kamal said.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, executive director of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association (BELA), said the government should formulate a separate law for protecting the Sundarbans considering its significance. The Forest Act of the country is not in line with the International Forest Conservation Act, she added.
The speakers also protested a 1,320MW coal-fired power plant near the Sundarbans, being implemented by the governments of Bangladesh and India. The government has already acquired 1,834 acres of land at Rampal of Bagerhat and adjacent to Pashur River. The army has been tasked with the earth-filling task.
Both the governments argue that the plant would not harm the Sundarbans, as it would use modern technology.
Bapa General Secretary Abdul Matin said the plant would destroy the ecological balance of the mangrove forest and its adjacent areas, as it would produce a huge amount of toxic waste. He said the thermal power plant would be a great threat to the sweet-water Dolphin population of the nearbyriver due to the release of hot water.
Matin said the government’s bold move to protect the Sundarbans would be ruined due to this project
He also claimed that the government was violating its own rules by establishing the plant within 10 kilometres of an Ecologically Critical Area (ECA).
Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TIB, said the government did not consider the lives and livelihood of the more than 7,000 people who were affected by the land acquisition.
Earlier on July 5, the National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas and Power-Port announced a long-march from Dhaka to the Sundarbans scheduled for September 24, protesting the plant project.
