Protect the Sundarbans
The Washington Post on July 18, 2016 wrote an article which stated that the Rampal power plant could devastate the world's largest mangrove forest. Environmentalists are urging the United Nations to draw greater attention to the issue. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, mangrove forests and coastal wetlands may be able to store up to five times more carbon than the same size tropical forests. Damaging these ecosystems can both harm their ability to continue storing carbon, as well as release carbon that's already sequestered. Adding to this, the plant would require almost 13,000 tons or coal per day and would release an estimated 7.9 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. We learned that environmental activists have even raised questions about the legitimacy of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for this project rejecting its findings for being biased, distorted and inaccurate. It is telling that the EIA for this project was approved by the Department of Environment (DoE) on August 5, 2013, but the land acquisition began two years earlier on August 23, 2011, and the joint venture between NTPC and BPDB was signed on January 29, 2012. So, that work on the project began long before the EIA was approved only goes to show that it was done as an eye wash to justify the project.
Therefore, considering the serious consequences of the Rampal power plant, we hope that the government will refrain from building it.
Nur Jahan
Chittagong
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