Nurun Nawar Nolok :
The largest mangrove forest in the world, the Sundarbans is a world heritage site and Bangladesh’s most precious natural resource. To restore the Sundarbans, Department of Environment has been announced 10 km area around the Sundarbans reserved forest, an Ecologically Critical Area (ECA), since 1999. The ecosystem, biodiversity, and environment of this largest mangrove forest are suffering from threat of extinction due to the human intervention. The Sundarbans is shared by Bangladesh and India like some other resources they need to share. Both the countries are developing, and unfortunately, their development activities are leading the Sundarbans to degradation. Gradual increase of industrial waste and water pollution around the Sundarbans create trans-boundary harm to the very existence if this world’s most largest mangrove forest. Now a major concern regarding the Sundarbans shared by Bangladesh and India is the violation of ‘the no-harm principle’.
From the beginning o f 21st century, the Sundarbans has been suffering the worst than before. Natural disasters like Cyclone, Sidr, Amphan degrades Sundarbans severely and man-made factors like Coal-fired power plant, Oil spill, mangrove tree cutting and plastic waste littering are the most significant environmental threats to the Sundarbans. These types of disasters are also creating threats to the carbon disposal, animal and plant communities. Also as people of the local community are poor so they depend on the Sundarbans for their survival. Increasing salinity, heavy metal pollution also harm trees of the Sundarbans and also the local inhabitants as physiological progress may malfunction to the heart, brain, kidneys, etc. It also leads ideal nutrients and elements to be pushed from their natural locations, compromising their biological function. These are affecting problems of the Sundarbans biodiversity. Still the Sundarbans’ mangroves fight back, avoiding even further destruction. That’s why the Sundarbans must be restored and sustained.
Due to pollution in the Sundarbans, the no-harm principle to the forest is violated. So, if both Bangladesh and India adopt the no-harm principle, it can be a preventive way to restore the Sundarbans. The no-harm principle is customary law which talks about no one can harm another state or territory or people or no man’s land for their development activities. No-harm principle was established in the 1st period of the development of environmental laws. From the Stockholm declaration to the Rio de declaration, the law has become more specific; indicating that what should not be done to violate the no-harm principle. It adds more limitations and obligations to every state. So, firstly every state should remember not to violate the no-harm principle when they are in development activities because they are more hazardous for transboundary pollution.
Necessary action and management plans are required to improve and also to stop degrading the Sundarbans. Some rules and regulations are imposed when the Sundarbans are declared as Ecologically Critical Area. If anyone breaks these rules, they have to be punished. Considering the importance of ecology, biodiversity, and natural heritage site of Sundarbans, there are nine key points that the department of environment needs to take into consideration to develop an effective ECA management rule, and they are: (i) Forests cannot be destroyed (ii) No stuff can be done which harms the water quality (iii) Nothing can be done here which affects the aquatic life (iv) Waste cannot be disposed in the water body of ECA area (v) No oysters, corals etc can be collected (vi) Mineral extraction shouldn’t be done (vii) No industries can be created there (viii) Wild animal habitat shouldn’t be hampered (viii) No animals can be hunted.
Also we must find an alternative way for the local poor communities so that they can reduce their dependency on Sundarbans. There should be scientific forest management system to sustain the mangrove. This given suggestion should be adequate to prevent the Sundarbans transboundary harm. It explicitly explains that the ECA areas should not be hampered or destroyed anyway as those areas are already threatened. That is why the department of the environment of Bangladesh has made these rules. Suppose, both the countries follow these rules and India announced the Sundarbans as an ECA as Bangladesh did, it can be a preventive way to stop trans-boundary pollution and should be an effective way not to violate the no-harm principle.
(Nurun Nawar is a student of the Department of Environmental Science and Management, North South University).
