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A 'Faustian bargain'

MD. ASADULLAH KHAN
SADLY true, either in our country or elsewhere in the world, policy makers have never been serious about saving the environment. Unfortunately, country leaders and policy makers, mostly out of ignorance and partly because of exuberance to win their case and establish their point and ego shy away from facts. By setting up a coal-based thermal power plant at Rampal, 14 km distance from the Sundarbans, a wealth of
beauty and a natural shield against natural disasters which, we might face a calamity in absence of such shield. How could the government of Bangladesh go ahead with such a risky endeavour in the vicinity of the Sundarbans without evaluating the risk involved?
Policy makers in our country hardly see any point in worrying about plants, animals and insects. As a result of our relentless assault on nature, forests are on the verge of extinction. Extinction is an environmental calamity that is irreversible. By mounting assault either in or on the periphery of a natural forest like the Sundarbans, we are only hastening its extinction. As the different species disappear unnoticed, they take away with them a survival mechanism of other species. Given the complex workings of an ecosystem, it is not clear which species, if any, are expendable.
Environmentalists, biologists and nature analysts have said that it is not possible to protect high profile animals without a true balance between various
ecosystems. Tigers will n ot be there without the deer, and deer will not be there without keora tree, because they live on keora leaves. Biologists and environmentalists say that diversity is the raw material of earth's wealth.
We are indulging in a risky game by installing the plant only a few kilometers away from the Sundarbans. How will we protect the Sundarbans from acid rain that will affect its vegetation when the power plant releases 142 tons of sulphur dioxide and 85 tons of nitrogen dioxide daily? The explanation given in a government handout and PDB rejoinder that the plant operators will be using "super critical" technology and the plant and animal species will not be harmed is hardly convincing.
The huge amount of hot water, 5,150 cubic metre per hour discharged to the Passur river day in and day out for at least 25 years will definitely pollute the water systems of the Sundarbans region and disturb fish migration and breeding due to its changed temperature, velocity and dissolved chemical and other pollutants. Other than this, scared by the noise and dazzling search light of the navigational vessels that will be cruising the Passur river, too frequently, the rare Sundarbans animals like tigers and deer will run away to safer places from Bangladesh part of the forest.
It is expected that policy makers should not be driven by exuberance or ego- centric activities and should better be guided by a pragmatic decision that will prevent the country from being put in an environmental bottleneck. We have to be concerned about the current spasm of extinction which has been accelerated by the inexorable expansion of housing and industry near the forest. Sure enough, with the construction of Rampal power plant and the spate of industrialization that will follow stretching from Rampal to Mongla, the emerald mangrove forest of the Sundarbans will definitely lose its ecological balance affecting every species including humans living in and around the Sundarbans. It has to be emphasized that the well-being of our people is tied to the well- being of many other species and we can't be sure which species are most important for our survival.
The emerald mangrove forest of the Sundarbans seems to be an unspoiled showcase for the biodiversity of life. In the lush territory of the coastal belt of the Bay of Bengal there was hardly a break in the canopy of trees namely, sundari, gewa, kewra, goran etc., all naturally growing and virtually every acre was alive with the cacophony of insects, birds, and monkeys. But mainly because of human assault, many varieties of mammals, fish, birds and reptiles have disappeared in the meantime.
Deeply concerned at such human profligacy, University of Pennsylvania biologist Daniel Janzen says: "It is something that some nations of the world decided to burn their libraries without bothering to see what is in them." Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson called this profligacy the folly that future generations will not forgive. What we are doing in Rampal in the name of development might prove to be a 'Faustian bargain' because of our ignorance, shortsightedness and lack of proper judgment and analysis.
The question is, when will environmentalism move from being a philosophy promoted by a passionate minority to a way of life that governs mainstream behaviour and policy? • ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••■•••••••••••••••a The writer is a columnist of The Daily Star.
E-mail: aukhandk@gmail.com