March on March 10 against coal plant near Sundarbans
Thousands of Bangladeshis will march from the country’s capital, Dhaka, to the world’s biggest mangrove forest next week in protest at plans to build two coal-power plants on the edge of the World Heritage-listed forest.
The organisers of the so-called long march on 10 March hope to persuade the Bangladeshi government to drop its backing for construction of the plants near the Sundarbans, an area of rice paddies, shrimp farms and vast mangrove forests.
“No sensible person will deny that there are many alternative ways for electricity generation,”
Scientists uncover wild surprises in tribal Bangladesh
The locals said there were tigers in the forest. They also said there were sun bear, gaur, dhole and clouded leopard. Few took note, but it turned out, not surprisingly, that locals were right. Conservationists surveying the super-remote, little-known Chittagong Hills Tract region of Bangladesh have taken the country’s first ever photos of sun bear and gaur. And last month they discovered a 13-centimetre pugmark (or pawprint) of a feline, which experts believe is a tiger.
“Despite the tremendous challenges [facing] the natural heritage of Bangladesh – all hope is not lost yet,” said Shahriar Caesar Rahman, the co-founder of the new group, Creative Conservation Alliance (CCA). Rahman and his group, which organized the wildlife survey that employed camera traps, have been working in th...
Rampal power plant despite major backlash
Regular power outages are prompting Bangaladesh to build two new coal-fired power plants. The Rampal plant is the furthest along and is scheduled to become operational by 2021.
The plants are planned to be built near the Sundarbans, the world’s largest single tract of mangrove forest, home to tigers, freshwater dolphins, and hundreds of other wildlife species.
Critics ranging from local communities and scientists to banks and UNESCO are critical of the plants’ proposed location near the Sundarbans, which they say will harm the region’s wildlife and human communities.
Bangladesh, regarded by many as the nation most vulnerable to the impacts of global climate change, is on track to construct two coal-fired power plants that critics say are dangerously close to the world’s largest...
Polluted air causes 5.5m deaths a year
More than 5.5 million people worldwide are dying prematurely every year as a result of air pollution, according to new research.
Most of these deaths are occurring in the rapidly developing economies of China and India.
The main culprit is the emission of small particles from power plants, factories, vehicle exhausts and from the burning of coal and wood.
The data was compiled as part of the Global Burden of Disease Project.
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Ganges dam project stumbles on Indian flooding fears
Bangladesh’s plan to build a dam on the Ganges River to ease water shortages in its southwest coastal region hangs in the balance as neighbouring India has yet to accept the plan.
Bangladesh started work on the proposed Ganges Barrage Project during the tenure of the previous ruling Awami League government in the late 1990s.
The country has already completed a feasibility study and the design for the proposed 2.1km long dam, due to be constructed at Pangsha in Rajbari district, about 100km downstream from 
Cabinet clears jute bill
The cabinet on Monday gave the final approval to the draft of the Jute Bill, 2016 with a provision of maximum three years’ imprisonment or maximum Tk one lakh fine or both for the violation of the law.
The approval was given at the regular weekly meeting of the cabinet held at secretariat with prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, reports UNB.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said the proposed draft law is a modification of the jute ordinance 1962.
He said a specific amount of maximum financial punishment has been incorporated in the draft law that was not specified in the original ordinance.
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