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Dhaka Friday,  Mar 29, 2024

UN team on way to Sundarbans

EB Reporter

A UN team reached Mongla in Bagerhat this afternoon on its way to the Sundarbans to assess the extent of damage to the world’s largest mangrove forest due to the oil spillage.

The international experts will visit the Sundarbans next morning and will support the ground work in coordination with the government and also conduct an assessment and advise on recovery and risk reduction measures during their two-day tour.

About 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil from a tanker that sank in the Shela River in the Sundarbans on December 9 has hampered the growth of planktons — marine and freshwater organisms that are the base of food web in an aquatic environment.

The 25-member team of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) comprising nine foreign officials and experts started their journey for the Sundarbans by road in the morning.

In response to a request from the Bangladesh government, the UN system in Bangladesh has mobilised an international team of experts to support the government’s cleanup efforts of the oil spill in the Sundarbans.

The UN team is scheduled to visit the affected areas on a boat from Dangmari to Harbaria point in the Pashur river and up to the Harintana forest station, starting from the confluence of the Shela and the Pashur, says a Mongla port source.

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