N.Y. – As part of a global day of action and in solidarity with the Save the Sundarbans movement, New York-based Bangladeshi environmental groups, Friends of the Earth U.S. and allies will hold a protest on Saturday, January 7 at Union Square Park calling for all development of coal plants near the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Bangladesh, to be stopped immediately, says a press release received in Dhaka
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The 1320 MW Rampal coal-fired power plant is proposed to be built just miles away from the Sundarbans, home to thousands of indigenous communities as well as endangered species, including the Bengal tiger and Irawaddy dolphin. It would also make some 50 million coastal people more vulnerable to natural disasters, as the Sundarbans is a natural safeguard against frequent cyclones, storms and other natural disasters. In October 2016 the United Nations World Heritage Committee issued a report urging the Bangladeshi government to cancel the Rampal coal plant due to the threats it poses to the Sundarbans.
The India-Bangladesh Friendship Power Company recently secured financing for the Rampal coal project from India’s Export Import Bank, and construction is expected to start soon. Pressure is also mounting for banks, including JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, to divest from the project.
As part of this global day of action protests will also be held in the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, and Indonesia. A protest held in Bangladesh in November 2016 drew over 15,000 people.
Groups participating in the Union Square protest include: Ecology Movement (Protibesh Andolon), Bangladesh Environmental Network NYC, Progressive Forum Udichi, Supporters of the Bangladesh Communist Party and Friends of the Earth U.S.
Speakers include:
Esa Abrar Khan, Architect & Activist, International Secretary of Ecology Movement
Jenny Bock, Friends of the Earth U.S. Campaigner
Naeem Mohaimein, Historian
Mosharraf Khan, Supporters of the Bangladesh Communist Party
Mamoon, Progressive Forum Udichi
Comments from speakers:
“How can such a devastating establishment as the Rampal plant be located so close to a UNESCO World Heritage Site? The Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world. This issue is not only a domestic issue that Bangladeshis care about. It has become an international issue. People all over the world care about protecting the Sundarbans and its precious treasures like the Bengal tiger. Also the Sundarbans saved Bangladesh from various natural calamities like SIDR and Aila. So if we don’t stop this project then it will become a huge international devastation of environmental rights.” said Esa Abrar Khan, International Secretary of Ecology Movement (Protibesh Andolon).
“Opposition to the Rampal coal plant in Bangladesh is global. From Bangladesh and Indonesia to Germany and the U.S., the public knows that fossil fuels must stay in the ground, and that the future belongs to renewables — for the sake of our climate, people’s livelihoods and precious natural wonders like the Sundarbans,” said Jenny Bock, Economic Justice Campaigner at Friends of the Earth U.S. “Bangladesh’s government should expand the country’s already flourishing solar industry to improve access to electricity and help the country develop sustainably, neither of which will be accomplished by building a coal plant near the Sundarbans.” – Source: Kate Colwell<kcolwell@foe.org>
Organizations in Bangladesh Call for Global Day of Protest for the Sundarbans
The Sundarbans is the world’s largest single tract of mangrove forest, extraordinarily rich in biodiversity, a Ramsar Site and listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO. Encompassing lands on India and Bangladesh, this site is now in grave danger of losing its unique biodiversity and extraordinary ecosystem from a planned coal-fired power plant along with many other commercial projects in and around its forest area. To preserve the Sundarbans’ outstanding universal value, the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports has called calling for a Global Day of Protest for the Sundarbans on January 7, 2017.
During the grand rally that took place on November 26th, 2016 in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, organized by the National Committee and attended by more than 15,000 people from different parts of the country, the call for this Global Day of Protest was made in order to raise a collective voice around the world to save the Sundarbans.
In their communication, the National Committee stated that “we believe the observance of a global day would strengthen our unity, uphold our common spirit, and take our struggle to a new level to protect the mother-nature from the disastrous profit hungry projects. The global solidarity would also open up the opportunity to create worldwide awareness for environment and ecology-friendly power generations and sustainable development that put people and environment before corporate profit.”
The joint project of PDB (Bangladesh) and NTPC (India) to build the 1320 MW Rampal coal-fired power plant poses a deadly threat for the survival of the Sundarbans. In addition, a range of national and international vested interest groups have been invited to grab forest land and set up hundreds of commercial projects in and around the Sundarbans. This not only puts the livelihoods of at least 3.5 million people at risk, but it makes the lives of around 50 million coastal people vulnerable to natural disasters as the Sundarbans also represent a natural safeguard against frequent cyclones, storms and other natural disasters in the country.
Along the 5 years of existence of the popular movement for the cancellation of the Rampal Power plant, people around the world have expressed their solidarity for the campaign to save Sundarbans.
The call for the Global Day of Protest for the Sundarbans asks activists, environmental groups, political parties and people around the world to join this cause by expressing solidarity and taking up various forms of activities, including:
Staging demonstrations/human chains and sending written appeals to the embassies of Bangladesh and India
Organizing cycling rallies, boat rallies, or creating theatre plays, songs, cartoons, masks
Making appeals to United Nations
Campaigning and sharing information with international press/media
Sending protest/solidarity video messages.
Source: PRESS RELEASE January 6, 2017 by Jenny Zapata Lopez<jenny.zapata@350.org>
