Heritage Site Sundarbans: Unesco decisions could end debate

The debate on what was actually decided regarding the conservation of the Sundarbans at the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee of the Unesco could end soon with the session's decisions made public.

The session concluded yesterday but all the decisions were yet to be unveiled.

The government had claimed that the session being held in Krakow of Poland had given it the green signal to proceed with the construction of the Rampal power plant, a few kilometres away from the Sundarbans, which is a Unesco world heritage site.

However, a group of environmentalists contradicted the claim saying that the Unesco never gave such a signal. Analysing an amended document which they claimed to be the final draft for adoption, they said Unesco actually asked for all large-scale construction to be stopped until a Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) was done. 

Immediately after the discussions regarding the Sundarbans had ended in Poland, the foreign ministry issued a press release on July 6 claiming that the Unesco changed its stance on the Rampal plant.  

Some top ruling party leaders claimed that the Unesco had “approved” the Rampal power plant.

Returning from Krakow, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy adviser to the prime minister and who led the Bangladesh delegation to the session, in a press conference on July 9 said there was no bar on building the power plant.

The government would continue building the Rampal power plant and alongside do a Strategic Environment Assessment on the country's Southwest as per the condition of Unesco, he said.

But a number of environmentalists told The Daily Star that the WHC only extended the time for submitting a progress report on the state of the conservation of the Sundarbans by 10 months.

In the fourth point of the draft, the Unesco committee welcomed the government for agreeing to Unesco's condition for doing the SEA.

The committee requested the government “to ensure that any large-scale industrial and/or infrastructure developments will not be allowed to proceed before the SEA has been completed”, they said.

It has also asked for the dredging to be stopped until an Environment Impact Assessment was done.

In point-10 of the draft, the committee expressed concerns about monitoring missions, the likely impact of the Rampal plant on air and water quality, increased shipping and dredging, and removal of freshwater.

It requested Bangladesh to ensure impacts were comprehensively assessed as part of the SEA, and adequate technological measures were put in place to mitigate those impacts in order to avoid damage to the world heritage site.

Before the discussions in Poland, the Unesco had requested the government to submit by February 2018 a progress report on what it has done to protect the Sundarbans and was also considering whether to put the Sundarbans on the List of World Heritage in Danger through the 42nd session of the committee in 2018.

But now the government would have to submit the progress report of the SEA by December 2018 for review in the 43th session of committee in 2019.