UNESCO contemplates over engraving Sundarbans as World Heritage in Danger

The World Heritage Centre of the UNESCO is contemplating over engraving the Sundarbans in the list of World Heritage in Danger in the wake of construction of the coal-fired Bangladesh-India Friendship Rampal Power Plant near the World Heritage site.

“The State Party of Bangladesh has been requested to provide a progress report to the World Heritage Centre by 1 December 2016, including a 1-page executive summary on the state of conservation of the property,” said a UNESCO news release on Tuesday.

It said the progress report will be examined by the World Heritage Committee at its 41st session in 2017, “in view of possible inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger.”

The Sundarbans were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997, and will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year.

The UNESCO news release said the World Heritage Centre and International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) conducted a reactive monitoring mission in March 2016 to assess the conservation of this iconic area. The mission was requested by the World Heritage Committee during its 2015 session in Bonn.