It is good to note that the government has undertaken a project to save the Sundarbans from pollution created by the waste of sea bound ships navigating through Poshur channel from the Mongla seaport.
In order to conserve the biodiversity of the Sundarbans and protect Royal Bengal Tiger and other animals, the government has taken various steps over the last decade. The government with the help of local authorities has been relentlessly working to prevent forest crime and create alternative employment opportunities for local people dependent on the Sundarbans. But what is worrying is that still different kinds of illegal activities have been potentially harming the Sundarbans and its biodiversity.
The forest has recently been exposed to a wide range of threats because of reapid industrialization in and around Sundarban. In August, 2017, the National Environment Committee relaxed and changed some policies in order to allow potentially risky industries to run in the forest’s ecologically critical area (ECA). The forest is supposed to be a sanctuary for its vast flora and fauna. Instead, it has become a safe haven for smugglers and poachers who illegally snatch away its natural resources. Hence, necessary steps should be taken to keep all kinds of unlawful and haphazard human activities away from ECA of the Sundarbans.
Necessary steps should be taken
to keep all kinds of unlawful and
haphazard human activities away
from ECA of the Sundarbans
Reportedly, when the British left India, the Sundarbans was 37,813 square kilometres in size. Today, it has already shrunk to a mere 10,000 square kilometres — 6,000 in Bangladesh and 4,000 in India. With the unplanned industrialisation so close to it, surely that will be reduced even more.
According to Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995 (amended in 2010), no one is allowed to set up any factory in the ECA. However, going against the country’s policy, over the last few years 190 industrial and commercial units have been set up in the area, which, according to experts, poses a serious threat to the biodiversity of the world’s largest mangrove forest.
In order to protect the world’s largest mangrove forest, we must avert all kinds of illegal activities in and around Sundarbans by ensuring proper management and maintenance. In this regard, the forest department should deploy adequate manpower to monitor the illegal activities of poachers and the land grabbers. Also establishments that are harmful to the Sundarbans should be shut down, and the people who are involved in harming the forest should be brought to book.