Staff Reporter :The UN experts team highly recommended banning traffic through the Sundarbans. The experts termed the oil spill incident as ‘a serious wake-up call’.”It is an initial report over the oil spill in the Sundarbans and the final one will be made public after two weeks,” Emilia Wahlstrom told the reporters at a press conference held at the Surma Hall of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka on Wednesday afternoon.After a six day visit to the Sundarbans the United Nations-Bangladesh Mission shared some of its findings with the Ministry of Environment and Forest MoEF and the media.According to the mission, there is immediate but limited environmental impact to the mangrove and aquatic ecosystem. An experts team of the United Nations (UN) has advised the government to take legislative measures immediately to avoid traffic through the Sundarbans and mitigate the oil spilled there earlier recently.Replying to a question Emilie said, “UN will work with training, equipments, monitoring and the lesson learned from the oil spill.” UNDP and Bangladesh government will work together to ensure ecological balance in the world’s largest mangrove forest, Wahlstrom added.While experts suggested banning tanker traffic in Shela river, Anwar Hossain Manju, Minister of Environment and Forests said that the ministry is planning an alternative route for the vessels and they have some other plans.The team consists of 25 experts from home and abroad studied the environment, wildlife, forest and the potential impact on humans. Though the commission is still working on it, the initial findings will be presented to the government on 31 January, with a first report ready by early January.UN Resident coordinator in Bangladesh Beatrice Kaldon, Deputy Minister Abdullah Al Islam Jakob and Secretary Md. Nojibur Rahman, Ministry of Environment and Forests was also present in the program.
