In St. Martins, Bangladesh’s only coral island, people are quickly building many resorts. They are cutting down Keya forests and coconut trees without care, which breaks the law.
Even with strong laws from the Bangladesh Environmental Protection Act 1995 and the Bangladesh High Court, some powerful people and bad groups are still ruining the island’s beauty and special wildlife. This threatens the island’s survival.
Illegal construction and environmental destruction: To avoid the surveillance of the administration, heavy construction work is being carried out secretly in various areas of the island’s Konapara and Dakshinpara with tin fences:
Destruction of Keya forests and corals: The natural fence of the island and the reserved areas for Keya fruit production and seedlings are being cleared and new residential hotels and cottages are being built. In addition, sensational information has come to light that sand and limestone are being illegally removed from the beach and used for construction work.
Restoration initiative of the Department of Environment, Bangladesh vs. Occupancy: On the one hand, while the Department of Environment has undertaken a mega project to produce seedlings from Keya fruits to create and expand Keya forests to protect beaches and sand dunes, on the other hand, influential people are destroying the island’s ecosystem by cutting down Keya trees in the dark of night.
Conclusion and Green Page View: To protect the fragile sea and land ecosystem of Saint Martin, it’s not enough to just make a ban. We need strict monitoring and a zero-tolerance policy in action.
Green Page thinks that if we don’t take fast actions to remove illegal buildings and bring back local plants and animals, this special coral island will vanish soon.
