UNESCO withdraws its objection over Rampal power plant

Secretariat Correspondent: The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO has withdrawn its objection to the Rampal power plant project at its current location.

It has also spared the Sundarbans from being relegated to the List of World Heritage in Danger.

A press statement by the Foreign Affairs Ministry revealed the news on Thursday afternoon.

The decision was taken on Monday at the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee being held in Krakow, Poland, according to the statement.

Earlier in 2016, a Reactive Monitoring Mission from UNESCO recommended relocation of Rampal power plant considering its likely impact on the Sundarbans.

The Sundarbans was inscribed on the World heritage List in 1997 in consideration of its outstanding universal value as a unique ecosystem.

In recent years, the World Heritage Committee expressed its concern over the state of conservation of the Sundarbans world heritage property and called upon the government of Bangladesh to take a number of steps to improve conservation of the Sundarbans.

In addition to the issue of ensuring adequate fresh water flow into the Sundarbans and preventing poaching and over extraction of its resources, the decision of the government to construct a coal-based power plant at Rampal came under the radar of World heritage Committee.

After a long deliberation, the Committee endorsed Bangladesh's decision to construct Rampal power plant at its current location with necessary mitigation measures.


risingbd/Dhaka/July 06, 2017/Hassan/A K Azad