By Tareen Rahman :The United Nations Inspection team left Mongla Port on Saturday afternoon for Dhaka after a five-day inspection work on the impact of the oil-spill in the Shela River in the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest. During their stay in the Sundarbans, the 25-member UN experts team carried out a thorough inspection on the extent of oil spillage and how to control this; the extent of damage to flora and fauna; the damage and loss in the livelihood of local people of that area; and the extent of negative influence on the mangrove’s ecosystem.From the morning of December 23 the team members spread across the river, from Chandpai Wildlife Sanctuary to Harintana Canal, in four speed boats to assess the damage to the World Heritage Site. They worked in different areas of the forest in six sub units. The team members, however, did not divulge their findings to the journalists till Saturday night.The rivers and canals in and around the Sundarbans are particularly known as the home of more than six rare kinds of dolphin called ‘Irabati Dolphin’.It is to be noted that the UN experts team reached Mongla Port on December 22, two weeks after the tanker capsized on December 9 with more than 3.57 lakh tonnes furnace oil in the Shela River.
