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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
ACTION
ALERT: Protect World's Largest Mangrove Forest in Bangladesh
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives & Portal
09/30/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
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.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: #5/00 Protect World's Largest Mangrove
Forest / Bangladesh
Source: 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
Date: 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.
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