Assessing ecological health of Sundarbans

That the government plans to conduct the Unesco-prescribed Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the world's biggest mangrove forest and its adjoining areas augurs well for the ecological health of the Sundarbans. The assessment will follow a Unesco Resolution adopted at the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee in Poland in July last. The resolution also urged the government to keep suspended all the large industrial projects in the Sundarbans and adjoining areas until the SEA is completed. Officials said the SEA will involve environmental evaluation of the proposed policies, plans and programmes (PPP) in the entire areas of the Sundarbans listed as a world heritage site in 1997. The SEA will cover seven key issues like water resources, industry, power, communications/ transportation, urbanisation, tourism and shipping to assess the potential impacts of the industrial and urban projects. As per the Unesco resolution, Bangladesh will have to prepare the SEA and submit its report at the 42nd session of the World Heritage Committee in December 2018.

In fact, the SEA brooks no delay as lives of people who live in and around the Sundarbans, are being jeopardised due to unplanned development and industrial works near the mangrove forest. As many as 20,000 people have so far reportedly lost their houses in erosion on both sides of the Pashur river triggered by filling up of the creeks connecting the river. Recently a decision has been taken to approve all industries currently operating in the ecologically critical area (ECA) of the Sundarbans. The allocations for establishments near the Pashur river have to be cancelled as the government promised to the Unesco that it would submit a report on technicalities regarding environmental aspects of the Sundarbans and the adjacent areas by 2018.

A joint team of experts from the United Nations Education Scientific Cultural Organisations (Unesco) and IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) prepared the report following a visit to Bangladesh. The mission was tasked with a review of potential impacts from construction of the Rampal power plant, assessment of risks from climate change, and evaluation of the overall management system of the Sundarbans, including provisions around shipping safety. The experts identified four key concerns related to the construction of the plant. The concerns include pollution from coal ash by air, pollution from wastewater and waste ash, increased shipping and dredging, and the cumulative impact of industrial and related development infrastructure on the forest. The plant's construction would result in a substantial increase in shipping and dredging in the area.

The Sundarbans already has a fragile ecosystem as freshwater flow into the forest has been drastically reduced, resulting in substantial increases in siltation and salinity that are threatening the overall balance of the ecosystem. The Unesco has asked for the SEA not only for just a project but for all the 320 industrial ventures as these will turn the world's largest mangrove forest into an urban area. The move came at a time when the Unesco recommended that the government should do a SEA of the southwest region and that no big and large structure should be constructed in the Sundarbans until the assessment is done.