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Letters to the Editor

Saving our World Heritage sites

April 19, 2021 00:00:00


Many of us may not know that there is a day of the year set aside for celebrating and promoting cultural heritage. Every year, April 18 is observed as the World Heritage Day. One of the goals of this day is to preserve, create and maintain heritage awareness. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) selects landmarks or areas around the world, which are of cultural, historic or scientific significance. In short, these are landmarks or locations that have outstanding universal value. There are currently 1,121 sites on this list, of which three are in Bangladesh. They are Paharpur Buddhist Monastery in Noagaon, Bagerhat Mosque City and the Sundarbans. It is a matter of concern that once The World Heritage Centre of UNESCO thought to put the Sundarbans on the list of the World Heritage in Danger. We are worried about the mangrove forest, near which development projects, including the much-talked-about Rampal power plant, are being implemented. Although our government believes that such a construction project would not harm the biodiversity of the forest, environmental groups believe otherwise.

While celebrating the World Heritage Day, we must not forget one of the largest mangrove forests in the world. The forest is essential for protecting us from cyclones and other natural calamities. So, considering all these, the authorities concerned must seriously think about alternative ways of implementing projects without causing any harm to our treasured mangrove forest and two other World Heritage sites.

Emon Islam,

Student of Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Jahangirnagar University,

[email protected]


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