Editorial
Editorial

Sonadia mangrove forest: Why build shrimp farms destroying nature

Sonadia in Cox’s Bazar is a major mangrove forest in in Bangladesh. Though it is the government’s duty to preserve the forest, they have failed miserably to do so. Local leaders of the ruling party are destroying the forests soil to build shrimp farms one after another.

Sonadia is a tiny island on the estuary of the Bay of Bengal 11 kilometers to the north of Cox’s Bazar city. This island is famous for red crabs, tortoises and rare birds.

The island was a sanctuary once to 567 varieties of trees, 152 varieties of snails, 21 varieties of crabs, 9 varieties of shrimps, 207 varieties of fishes, 12 varieties of amphibians, 19 varieties of retiles and 206 different varieties of birds. The existence of the island is threatened now from the impact of climate change and the destruction of nature.

More than a hundred influential people including Awami League leaders and activists have built 37 shrimp farms at the cost of almost 2,000 acres of mangrove forest on the island within the last four months.

According to Prothom Alo reports, construction of shrimp farms is going on by cutting down trees on the Sonadia island that is already in a critical condition. Influential people including local Awami League leaders have built more than ten shrimp farms destroying almost 1,010 acres of mangrove forest.

The tiny island of Sonadia located on the estuary of the Bay of Bengal is threatened. Two people died in a shootout between two groups on 2 March, centering the possession of the mangrove forest.

Earlier, more than a hundred influential people including Awami League leaders and activists have built 37 shrimp farms at the cost of almost 2,000 acres of mangrove forest on the island within the last four months. Prothom Alo published a report about this on 13 June titled ‘AL leaders fell trees of Environmentally Critical Area to cultivate fish'.

How will an economic zone will be established on an island that the government itself has declared as an ecologically critical area?

Local public representatives and leaders of environmentalist organisations have said though that the construction of the shrimp farms was kept off for a few days after the report was published, it resumed again on 20 June.

Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) lawyer Zakia Sultana said despite there being clear orders from the High Court, constructing shrimp farms by cutting down the mangrove forest is equal to contempt of the court. They will go to court again to protect the forest. However if the administration does not follow the court’s orders, how can the forest be preserved?

The government had allocated total 9,466.93 acres of forest land in Sonadia for a token toll of Tk 1,001 to Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) for building an ecotourism park. This consists at least 8,000 acres of mangrove forest. Though, BEZA acquired the land from coastal afforestation division in May of 2017, they couldn’t take possession of that yet.

Prothom Alo correspondent visiting the spot in person on last 27 June found out the eight or nine excavators were working for the construction of the embankment of the shrimp farms. The workers have already cleared out the area by cutting down the trees.

In some parts, the correspondent witnessed trees being burnt by pouring petrol on them. That means there’s no rule of law in Sonadia, rather it is ruled by people who has the muscle power.

UNO of Moheshkhali Meekey Marma said that BEZA had been asked to take legal action against those involved with the construction of shrimp farms by destroying the mangrove forest. But they didn’t file a case. A drive to evict the illegal shrimp farms will be conducted in coordination with the BEZA authorities.

But why didn’t they coordinate till now? Even if BEZA doesn’t take action against the owners of the shrimp farms, the local administration has a duty as well. Let the UNO do her duty first and then BEZA can be called out.

There is also the question, how will an economic zone will be established on an island that the government itself has declared as an ecologically critical area?