ACTION ALERT: Protect World's Largest Mangrove Forest in Bangladesh
09/30/00
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY
by Forests.org
Impoverished and ecologically damaged countries will rarely achieve the material development that they desire by overexploiting the few remaining intact ecosystems they still possess. Such is the case in Bangladesh, where the World's largest mangrove forest, a declared World Heritage Area and the world's largest tiger reserve, is to be severely impacted upon by widespread oil production. The Sundarbans Reserve Forest contains 6,017 square kilometers of mangrove forests that stabilize the coastline, enrich both soil and aquatic environments, and provide homes and food for wildlife, as well as nursery grounds for fish, shrimps and prawns. Two million people depend upon this biologically rich ecosystem for their survival; accessing honey, shells, crabs, shrimps, fishes, and wood. Ecological diminishment here equals certain poverty, despair and lack of options. Community based sustainable eco-enterprises, population restraint and environmental restoration will bear much more real development and advancement than plundering yet another ecosystem to allow additional over-consumption of non-renewable, polluting petroleum resources. Please respond to this important appeal for letters.
g.b.
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
#5/00 Protect World's Largest Mangrove Forest / Bangladesh
GLOBAL RESPONSE ACTION ALERT
P.O. Box 7490
Boulder CO, USA 80306-7490
Phone: 303/444-0306
Fax: 303/449-9794
http://www.globalresponse.org
Sept-Oct 2000
"This is the most important area for tigers in the world and must be protected. Britain would not let a Bangladeshi company drill for oil in the Lake District." "This is the most important area for tigers in the world and must be protected. Britain would not let a "The entire population of Bangladesh is dependent upon Sundarbans since this last remaining forest helps to protect us from many severe cataclysms which frequently occur in this disaster-prone country." --Muhammed Ali Ashraf, Institute for Environment and Development Studies-Friends of the Earth - Bangladesh
Bangladesh's Sundarbans ("beautiful forest") holds two "world's largest" titles: world's largest expanse of mangroves, and world's largest tiger reserve. Its importance is recognized by the United Nations as a World Heritage Site. Home to 450 Royal Bengal tigers, three species of wild cat, the Ganges river dolphin and crocodiles, the Sundarbans is now threatened by oil and gas development.
The Bangladesh government recently completed initial signing of a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with Shell Oil Company and Cairn Energy to begin oil and gas exploration in the Sundarbans. Bangladeshi environmental organizations vigorously oppose all oil activity in the Sundarbans. Shell's brutal devastation of Niger Delta mangroves and villages (see box) is a grim warning that oil and mangroves don't mix.
Bangladesh is a vast floodplain only a few feet above sea level, where the Ganges, Jamuna and Meghna rivers form the world's largest river deltas. Floods, tropical cyclones and storms often cause catastrophes. The Sundarbans mangrove forest provides a natural buffer against raging storms and tidal surges that assault Bangladesh from the Bay of Bengal.
The Sundarbans Reserve Forest covers 6017 sq. kms of forests, wildlife sanctuaries, sandbars, rivers and canals. The mangrove vegetation stabilizes the coastline, enhances land-building and enriches both soil and aquatic environments. It provides homes and food for wildlife, and nursery grounds for fish, shrimps and prawns. Two million people depend for their survival on this biologically rich ecosystem, where they find honey, shells, crabs, shrimps, fishes, wood and fuelwood.
The Sundarbans Reserve Forest lies in Block 5 of Shell's oil/gas concession, where the company plans to conduct seismic and aerial surveys. Friends of the Earth-Bangladesh warns that oil and gas exploration could interrupt fresh water flow to the mangroves, alter the flow of tidal sea water to the mangroves and the forest, and alter drainage patterns, vegetation and soil composition. Low altitude flights could destroy the breeding, migration and growth patterns of many sensitive bird species. Deforestation would occur during the construction of platforms, camps, wells, heliports and access roads.
In response to environmentalists' protests, Shell Bangladesh claims it will not conduct oil activity in sensitive areas of the Sundarbans. However, the entire Sundarbans is ecologically sensitive, vulnerable, and vital for Bangladesh!
Requested Action: Please write polite letters to Bangladesh
government officials and Shell Bangladesh, insisting on complete protection for the Sundarbans.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Mangroves: Mangroves are the rainforests by the sea. They are
comprised of diverse, salt-tolerant tree and other plant species which thrive in inter-tidal zones of sheltered tropical shores, "overwash" islands and estuaries. Mangrove trees have specially adapted aerial and salt-filtering roots and salt-excreting leaves that enable them to occupy the saline wetlands where other plant life cannot survive.
Mangrove forests literally live in two worlds at once, acting as the interface between land and sea. Mangrove forests are vital for healthy coastal ecosystems. Fallen leaves and branches from the mangroves provide nutrients for the marine environment and support immense varieties of sea life in intricate food webs. They offer refuge and nursery grounds for juvenile fish, crabs, shrimps and mollusks.
Mangroves help protect coastlines from erosion, storm damage, and wave action. They catch alluvial materials flowing toward the sea, providing sediment accretion that balances sediment loss. Vital coral reefs and sea grass beds are also protected from damaging siltation.
Mangrove ecosystems have traditionally been sustainably managed by local populations for the production of food, medicines, tannins, fuelwood and construction materials. For millions of indigenous coastal residents, mangrove forests offer dependable, basic livelihoods and sustain their traditional cultures.
Shell Oil in the Niger Delta: Oil spills, which are quite numerous and continue to plague the petroleum industry, are a very serious concern in regards to the health of our planet's remaining mangrove forests. The leaked oil permeates the coastal waters and streams, coating the exposed, air-breathing roots of the mangroves, in effect slowly suffocating the mangroves. Massive mangrove die-offs are a common phenomenon in mangrove regions where coastal oil exploitation occurs.
One Nigerian put it: "There are no fish near shore now, the mangroves are dying, our food crops will not grow, our well waters are contaminated, and even our rainwater is no longer safe to drink!" [In Nigeria] Shell Oil, which runs over 50% of oil operations in the Delta, was the most notorious and troublesome of the multinationals, accused by locals of gross negligence involving violations of human rights and callous disregard for the environment.
--Mangrove Action Project, www.earthisland.org/map/map.html
Requested Action:
Please send a polite letter to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Send copies to the Minister of Environment and Forests, and to Shell Bangladesh.
Urge the Prime Minister to take immediate action to prohibit all oil and gas exploration in Block 5 because:
Block 5 includes the entire World Heritage Site and the largest mangrove forest in the world, the Sundarbans. This unique and fragile ecosystem should be permanently protected and sustainably managed for future generations;
Oil exploration and development in any part of Block 5 risks irreversible damage to the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the Sundarbans.
Damage to the Sundarbans would violate many international accords ratified by Bangladesh, including the Convention on Biodiversity, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, and the declaration of Sundarbans as a World Heritage Site.
Addresses:
Honorable Prime Minister
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Old Sangsad Bhaban New Airport Road, Tejgaon
Dhaka 1208, Bangladesh
FAX: Int'l code 2-811-3243
Please send copies of your letter to:
Honorable Environment &Forest Minister
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
FAX: Int'l code 2-861-0166
Mr. Saskia de Koning, External Affairs Manager
Shell Bangladesh Exploration and Development B.V.
IDB Bhaban, 9th Floor
E/8-A, Rokeya Sharani
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar (Agargaon)
Dhaka-1207 Bangladesh
FAX: Int'l code 2-988-2947
This Global Response Action was issued at the request of and in collaboration with the Institute for Environment and Development Studies-Friends of the Earth Bangladesh (email: iedsfoeb@accesstel.net) and Mangrove Action Project, Earth Island Institute (mangroveap@olympus.net).
For more information on mangroves, see
www.eaarthisland.org/map/map.html; on Shell Oil Company in Nigeria, see
www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/motherlode/shell/shellgame.html; on the campaign to stop oil exploration, see
www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/motherlode/drilling/intro.html; on Royal Bengal Tigers, see
www.amnh.org/Exhibition/Expedition/Endangered/tiger/tiger.html.
Attn, TEACHERS: For curriculum materials on mangroves, contact
Martin Keeley, Mangrove Action Project, mangrove@candw.ky.