Damage less than initially thought

The oil spill would obviously cause harm to the ecology of the Sundarbans, but its intensity might be less than what was initially apprehended, said Environment and Forests Minister Anwar Hossain Manju yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Unesco World Heritage Centre, Unesco Dhaka office and the Ramsar Secretariat have expressed serious concern over the impact of the spill on the world heritage area of the Sundarbans.

A UNDP team that had come to extend support to the government's clean-up efforts is scheduled to visit the Sundarbans tomorrow.

The environment and forests minister visited the spot with top forest officials yesterday morning, 10 days after the capsize of an oil tanker with around 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil in the Shela river.

“We were worried about a huge loss to the Sundarbans. But it seems the intensity of the damage is not going to be that much,” the minister told reporters during his visit.

If the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) could rescue the capsized oil tanker immediately, the intensity of the damage would have been much less, the minister added.

Asked if the government would slap a permanent ban on operation of commercial vessels through the Shela, the minister said it was not within the jurisdiction of his ministry.

“A decision in this regard must come at an inter-ministerial meeting,” the minister said, adding that he was against operation of vessels on this route.

Manju further said the government, however, was concerned about the future impact of the oil spill and would conduct an assessment study to that end with the help of international organisations.

Quoting the chief conservator of the forest, the minister said the trees and plants along the banks of the river, which were soaked with the furnace oil, might die after a few days, but new plants would replace them soon.

Manju reached the accident site by a seaplane and later visited the river and adjoining Suryamukhi canal on a speedboat.

He was accompanied by Md Nojibur Rahman, secretary to the ministry, Khandakar Rakibur Rahman, additional secretary, Md Yunus Ali, chief conservator of forests, Kartik Chandra Sarkar, conservator of Sundarbans Forest Department, and Amir Husain Chowdhury, deputy forest officer of Sundarbans east zone.

After the oil tanker capsized on December 9, environmentalists and others expressed concerns over ecological damage to the Sundarbans, a national and international heritage.

For days, the banks of the Shela along with trees were covered in oil, while some animals reportedly died after the accident.

Locals have so far collected 60,000 litres of oil by scooping it up from the water and colleting it from oil covered trees and plants.

The 17-member UNDP team of experts would have a formal meeting with the Department of Forest officials today before leaving Dhaka for the Sundarbans this afternoon.

The team would help the government conduct an assessment of the impact of the oil spill and advise on recovery and risk reduction measures, says a press release of the UNDP.

The UN support to the government is led by UNDP in association with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Joint Environment Unit (JEU), and other partner countries including France, the UK, the US and the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism.

WORRY OVER SUNDARBANS

The Unesco world heritage centre and Unesco Dhaka office expressed their “serious concern” about the impact of the spill on the world heritage area of the Sundarbans.

In a statement issued yesterday they said the regional experts indicate that there was likely damage to the “outstanding universal value” of the property, which must be evaluated.

The Sundarbans lies on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers on the Bay of Bengal, and is adjacent to the border of India's Sundarbans National Park.

The site was intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests, and presents an excellent example of such ongoing ecological processes. The area is known for its wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species, the Bengal Tiger and other threatened species.

In the statement they said, the Unesco is working with national authorities to ascertain the status of the situation and the best measures to be taken.

It said the Unesco Dhaka Office was trying to ensure the best assistance to the government for the Sundarbans crisis.

Meanwhile, the Ramsar Secretariat, of the Ramsar Convention, which is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilisation of wetlands, said it was deeply concerned at the news of the oil spill. It said it was in contact with the Ramsar Administrative Authorities in the country to enquire about the situation on the ground.

Chairman of Ramsar's Scientific and Technical Review Panel Prof Roy Gardner offered the advisory assistance of three experts who have worked extensively on oil spills in wetlands, including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The secretariat was also in contact with its partner UN-OCHA, which is putting together a UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team. The main tasks of the team would be to provide support to Bangladesh in undertaking technical assessments, and to provide expert advice on clean-up operations.