Unesco team to assess power plant’s impact on the Sundarbans

A Unesco team will arrive Bangladesh next month to assess the environmental impact of the Rampal coal-fired power plant on the Sundarbans.

It will also review the damage caused by sinking of vessels in rivers through the mangrove forest carrying oil and coal.
 
The delegation will visit the world’s largest mangrove forest and will hold talks with the government, inhabitants around the forest, civic bodies, media, university teachers and experts, said Chief Conservator of Forests Yunus Ali.
 
“They are coming to see the steps taken by the government to address the possible impact of the Rampal power plant,” he said.
 
He said the impact of sinking of ships carrying oil and coal will also be assessed by the team. 
 
 The Unesco team, due any time in March, will be accompanied by a delegation of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
 
The three-member Unesco delegation will hold meetings with the ministries of forest and environment, energy and power and shipping, said Ali.
 

রয়েল বেঙ্গল টাইগারের দেখা মেলে শুধু এই সুন্দরবনেই- ছবি:মুস্তাফিজ মামুন

In 1997, the Sundarabans was declared as a world heritage site by the Unesco.

Bangladesh signed a deal with India in 2012, to set up a 1,320-megawatt thermal power plant in Bagerhat’s Rampal.

The two countries will have equal partnership in the venture called Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Ltd.

Environmentalists and locals say this coal-fired power plant will threaten the ecological balance of the Sundarbans.

The government, however, insists that proper measures will be taken to protect the environment from pollution.