New fossil fuel projects – is it really needed?

Bangladesh, a country full of natural beauty. We have the largest sea beach, the world largest mangrove forest Sundarban and so many more. We are a developing country and with the growing technology advancement electricity is a faster growing need of the progressing nation. The government is trying its best to fulfill the need. At present, Bangladesh has the installed capacity of power generation is 16,048 MW.

The government has a proposed coal-fired power station at Rampal which is a 1320 megawatt plant measuring country’s largest power plant. The power plant is proposed at a distance of 65 km north from the world largest mangrove forest Sundarban, a UNESCO world heritage site. According to UN world heritage body, the coal fired power plant is a serious threat for the ecosystem of the forest and the Bengal tigers.

A fact finding mission, published by UNESCO and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has mentioned that the coal plant would expose the downriver forest to the condition of pollution and acid rain.

The threatening situation is ships will be carrying coal and other needed materials throughout the rivers of the Sundarban. That will need a dredging and dumping of 32.1 million cubic metres of river bed at first and also it requires annual dredging regularly.

The report concluded stating that “a serious threat to the site”.

Therefore, we should take necessary steps to stop the coal based power plant and look for renewable energy solutions. By using solar energy, wind energy we can produce electricity and fulfill the demand. And by saving our pride Sundarban alive, we can show the rest of the world the unique beauty of the world heritage forest which is a source of income for tourism also.

Tarif Mohammed Khan, the feature writer is a youth activist, brand strategist.