Stop the coal plant, save the Sundarbans

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Published on Friday, 01 July 2016 08:30

Written by editor

Dear friends,

The Sundarbans is the world's largest mangrove forest, running through India and Bangladesh and forming a crucial natural defense against cyclones -- and a huge new coal plant puts it in danger.

The Bangladesh government has cut a deal with India to build a 1320 Megawatt coal plant on the border of the forest and is refusing to back down -- no matter the cost to the people nearby, or the country's climate future. It's time that their recklessness be called out on a global stage.

The Rampal coal plant would require transporting millions of tons of coal through narrow waterways, and further erode the forest's cyclone protections -- not to mention put surrounding communities at risk of toxic pollution of every kind.

In the past, India and Bangladesh have committed to protect Sundarbans forest as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO... has the power to list the forest as a 'World Heritage Site in Danger' and send an international signal to the Indian and Bangladeshi governments that they cannot continue to put coal and profit above the communities that live in and around the mangrove forests.

Both India and Bangladesh are pushing to keep the Sundarbans off this list -- so it's up to us to push back. Ask UNESCO to include the Sundarbans Forest in the World Heritage Sites in Danger list.

With the onset of climate change, the strength of the cyclones have increased, battering the low lying villages in Bangladesh. The forest is their best protection, which means that the 1320 Megawatt Rampal coal plant threatens the lives of people that exist with it. The plant would take 219,600 cubic metres of water everyday from the Poshur river and discharge 123,600 cubic meters of water after cooling the plant, polluting the water on which the mangroves depend. The plant will need to import 4.72 million tons of coal per year, all transported on boats through narrow waterways, bringing increased oils & coal spills, noise pollution and every other related danger to the Poshur river.

And it's a potential human rights disaster as well. The government already forcefully acquired 1834 acres of land for the plant from local farmers and fishworkers. Many displaced families are now finding it hard to survive.

The people of the Sundarbans are also fighting back. They’ve organized two long marches of thousands of people to oppose the plant, organised a boat chain, and have kept up a long fight locally to defend their land and future. But a global message is needed to support them: Ask UNESCO to list Sundarbans Forest as a World Heritage Site in Danger.

Marshaling international attention to the World Heritage Site Sundarbans forest will send the message that Bangladesh must take corrective measures which includes shutting down work at the Rampal coal plant -- and build a more secure climate future for one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries.

With Hope,

Payal

P.S. Yesterday was a big day. Canada's Federal Court of Appeal overturned the Harper government's approval of the Northern Gateway pipeline -- this is great news and it's all thanks to the strong movement against the pipeline led by Indigenous peoples and supported by people like you. Thanks to everyone who made this possible.

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