How to help - The Sundarbans Oil Spill Part 4

Kingfisher, Sundarbans, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Tanim Ashraf

A Young Birder's View

I am a 12 year old British Bangladeshi birder and conservationist and this disaster is close to my heart. If you have a heart, please help in any way you can.

You can act NOW to limit this disaster:

• Donate money to Mark Ruffalo Water Defense Appeal to clean up the oil.  Watch How the foam works
• Share my blog posts (now 16,000 views) Sundarbans Oil Spill Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 on social media to put pressure on international media to report on this catastrophe and wildlife groups to help;
• Attend my fundraising talk in Dhaka at 7.00 pm Friday 20th February 2015 (Gulshan venue to be fixed);
• Donate to Porshee Appeal who are clearing up debris;
• Read by blog on the American Birding Association website http://blog.aba.org/2015/01/open-mic-help-needed-for-sundarbans-oil-spill-response.html

Sundarbans, Bangladesh

What happened?

On 9th December an oil tanker, Southern Star VII, carrying 77,000 gallons of furnace oil was hit by a cargo boat, causing a massive oil spill inside a nature sanctuary. This shocking news came from the Sundarbans in Bangladesh, a 4000 square mile UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the world’s largest mangrove forest with rare wildlife including the iconic Royal Bengal Tiger, rare Irrawaddy and Ganges Dolphins and Masked Finfoot plus 270 bird species. It felt close to me as we had cancelled a February trip there only a couple of weeks before, to concentrate on survey work for the Spoon-billed Sandpiper near Cox’s Bazar.

As the story has unfolded, Bangladeshi’s like me have been watching in disbelief as the biggest environmental catastrophe to hit the region emerged. The oil spill is particularly devastating because it took place upstream in a river system. The oil quickly spread to a second river and networks of canals where oil dispersants could not be used. 

The immediate aftermath

Amir Hossain Chowdhury, Chief Forestry Officer of the Sundarbans commented,

"It is a catastrophe for the delicate ecology of the Sundarbans. We don't know how to tackle this. We're worried about its long-term impact, because it happened in a fragile and sensitive mangrove ecosystem."


Bangladesh does not have the knowledge or equipment to deal with the crisis as was reported by the Sea Alarm Foundation Report 2010

The clean up

Child collecting oil, Sundarbans, Bangladesh

Local villagers tried to clean up the oil by standing in the polluted water, trying to collect oil using cloth and their bare hands. This was completely inadequate, dangerous as the chemicals in furnace oil are poisonous and made the situation worse by walking oil into the mud causing more contamination. The authorities then started using buoys to try to restrict the oil slick and nets to stop the oil entering more canals. Less than 50,000 litres have been collected using these methods.

Belatedly, a team of UN experts arrived to assess the situation but there is no report yet.

Water Defense has a plan for cleaning up the oil (but not debris or wildlife) but needs to raise another $28,000. Watch the video from Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo Facebook. 

Porshee Foundation collecting debris, Sundarbans, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Porshee Foundation

Porshee Foundation collecting debris, Sundarbans, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Porshee Foundation 

Bangladeshi based Porshee also need money to collect debris and to fund doctors to treat locals.

Porshee Foundation funding doctors, Sundarbans, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Porshee Foundation

Please donate money to Mark Ruffalo Water Defense Appeal to clean up the oil.

About the writer

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 12 year old young birder, conservationist, writer and speaker.    She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world.  She has recently been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people.  Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter

The Sundarbans Oil Spill Part 3

Oil spill, Sundarbans, Bangladesh

Yesterday I heard the fantastic news that the UN have sent 15 international experts to Bangladesh, some are experts in cleaning oil spills from different habitats and the rest are experts in cleaning oil covered wildlife. This is a brilliant start, but we need international pressure to make sure that this leads to teams of people supervising the clean up project. 

What can you do to help?

As birders, environmentalists or Bangladeshi’s, we must all do everything we can NOW to help limit this disaster. Some things you can do:

• Put pressure on international media to report on this catastrophe;
• Publicize what is happening in the Sundarbans on social media;
• Put pressure on bird/animal conservation organisations to help;
• Give and help raise money;
• Put pressure on organisations/companies/governments with expertise to help;
• Offer your help through the International Save Sundarbans Facebook Group.

A young conservationist's view

It was difficult for me outside of Bangladesh to know what was happening. I have tried to bring together the snippets of news into one article. These are the most difficult articles that I have written,. They are not about Bangladeshi party politics but about saving a really special place on this earth. I have used photographs from Facebook and the internet and do not intend to breach any copyrights. 

Oil spill, Sundarbans, Bangladesh

An Urgent Appeal

Child cleaning oil spill, Sundarbans, Bangladesh

The local villagers now have to go a long way downstream to continue collecting oil, as it has dispersed. They can not travel these distances in their non motorized boats unless they are towed by motorized ones. The Forestry Department and a local NGO, Shushilon, have provided two motorized boats (trawlers) to tow the villagers’ boats back and forth. Those helping there urgently need money to pay for motorized boat hire, so that more people can join the cleanup operation. With the price per litre for the oil collected and sold back to the state petroleum company being increased from 30 to 40 taka, people are eager to make some money while serving the cause. A small scale pilot project is being trialed for the distribution of gloves and safety gear, which does seem essential for those involved.

Child cleaning oil spill, Sundarbans, Bangladesh

We are also hearing good things about dedicated forestry officers. They do not know how far the oil has travelled beyond a place called Haringhata. So need to conduct an urgent survey, for which they need more people to come and help bringing with them money to pay for their own food, tents and boats. Apparently there are local NGO’s waiting for funds to come through.

Money and help is needed urgently.

The Impact

During any oil spill, the first victims are the zooplankton and phytoplankton that die in billions; followed by surface dwelling creatures including fishes, birds swimming in oily water get feathers covered in oil, stopping them flying; when oil settles on the deeper water along the coast line, all filter feeders get affected; soon fish and other aquatic animals start dying and the area gets filled with a bad odour. If the area is not properly cleaned quickly, then it will take years for nature to regenerate the Sundarbans mangrove forest. 

A study titled “Oil-spill Impact on Mangrove Forest Sundarbans” conducted by the Asian Development Bank and the Bangladesh Government in 2002 said the regeneration of mangrove forest plants is very sensitive to contamination by oil. This is partly because oil films on the breathing roots inhibit the supply of oxygen to the underground root systems.

Oil on mangrove, oil spill, Sundarbans, Bangladesh

The authorities have two options to remove oil from water, firstly by using chemical dispersants which were likely to cause more damaged to the eco-system or secondly, oil-consuming bacteria which has to be imported. This seems to be the reason why no effective measures have so far been taken to remove the oil.

Interview with a Sundarbans Specialist

Sundarbans specialist Dr Abdullah Harun, Department of Environment, University of Khulna set out the steps that should be taken to remove the oil in the Sundarbans as follows:

• The furnice oil that has collected on the canals has to be removed. But to achieve this we should not depend on the spontaneity of the people, rather employ the various governmental agencies and members of the armed forces in an organized way. And to extract the oil, sponges and other oil absorbent material and instruments should be used in addition to using hands.

• Before deciding to use chemical sprays to remove the floating layer of oil, we need to consider many things. One cannot afford to lose time reaching this decision, while the work of extracting oil using sponges and other absorbent material and vacuum machinery by the governmental agencies and members of the armed forces must begin as soon as possible.

• Steps must be taken to extract the oil from the layer of mud that is regularly flooded by the tides, if necessary 4-5 cm of soil must be extracted to achieve this.

• The oil that has collected at the base of the trees must be removed. 

• If bare hands alone are used, the scale of danger that is facing the Sundarbans will not become apparent right away, as we have seen from incidents of oil spills in mangrove forests in other countries in the past, it takes several weeks or even years for the effects of the pollution to become fully manifest. It may take a mangrove forest several decades or even half a century before it recovers. The future of the Sundarbans in the near future depends on the number of trees and animals that have fallen victims to the oil pollution, and also on how much of it has been affected fully or partially.

• Lastly, what remedial steps are being taken? The only way to keep the Sundarbans oil free in the future is to make sure that the passage of ships through the forest is banned and to stop development projects such as the two coal based power plants, NTPC and Orion Coal Power Plants, planned close the Sundarbans, This can only be achieved by building strong public pressure on the government.

The Present Position

The Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan said that the government is not considering a permanent ban to on vessels travelling through the Shela River in the Sundarbans. In reply to query from reporters regarding the government’s priority, he said: “Sundarbans is important to us, but the need of the people comes first.” This does not take into account the environmental impact of this disaster; If you kill the land you kill the people. 

Monirul H Khan, Professor of Zoology at Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka said 

“Generally, dolphin corpses do not come to the water surface. If large creatures such as dolphins can not survive, then smaller ones like otters and fish are in much bigger danger. A large number of dolphins may have migrated from the area by now. They probably suffered breathing problems because the contamination would have significantly lowered the level of dissolved oxygen in the water,” going on to explain

“The recent oil-spill in the Sundarbans is the biggest disaster this fragile forest has ever faced. The immediate impact is on aquatic organisms including dolphins, fish, shrimp, crabs, and many microscopic organisms, together with semi-aquatic organisms like crocodiles, otters, lizards, Masked Finfoot, etc. Ultimately the pollution will affect all flora and fauna including the tiger and the deer, because the pollution will reach them through drinking water and the food chain. Not finding many carcass of wildlife does not mean nothing is affected. Manual cleaning of oil by deploying villagers is effective at small scale, but this must be conducted under rigorous monitoring and supervision of the Government Departments so that there is no opportunistic poaching and illegal logging, which are possible when a large number of people get access to the reserved forest. Because of the smell of the oil the wild animals will haphazardly move in search of unpolluted areas and will be vulnerable to poaching.” 

A week into the incident, a Bangladesh inter-ministerial meeting suggested maintaining the recently imposed transportation ban the Shela River route. After the meeting, Abdullah Al Islam Jacob, junior minister for environment and forest, told reporters that the government asked the shipping ministry to ban the use of the Shela River route. An inter-ministerial committee will be formed for the supervision of the overall progress of the clean-up of the Sundarbans, which is at least a start.

Oil spill, Sundarbans, Bangladesh

Next: The Sundarbans Oil Spill Part 4

About the writer

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 12 year old young birder, conservationist, writer and speaker.    She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world.  She has recently been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people.  Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter

The Sundarbans Oil Spill Part 2

Sundarbans oil spill, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright AFP

I have today heard the fantastic news that the UN have sent 15 international experts to Bangladesh, some are experts in cleaning oil spills from habitats and the rest are experts in cleaning oiled wildlife. This is a brilliant start, but we need international pressure to make sure that this leads to teams of foreign experts supervising and managing the clean up project. We just can not expect the Bangladeshi Government to be able to do this alone, without any experience of this kind.

Local child collecting oil, Sundarbans oil spill, Bangladesh

What can you do to help?

As birders, environmentalists or Bangladeshi’s, we must all do everything we can NOW to help limit this disaster. Some things you can do:

• Put pressure on international media to report on this catastrophe; 
• Publicize what is happening in the Sundarbans on social media; 
• Put pressure on bird/animal conservation organisations to help; 
• Put pressure on organisations/companies/governments with expertise to help;
• Give and help raise money – send your pledges to me; 
• Offer your help through the International Save Sundarbans Facebook Group
• Go and volunteer in the Sundarbans: 
• Sign the petition Petition to Bangladesh PM and for those in Bangladesh Petition to our PM. 

A Young Conservationist's view

It was difficult for me outside of Bangladesh to know what was happening. I have tried to bring together the snippets of news into one article. These are the most difficult articles that I have written and they are not about Bangladeshi party politics but about saving a really special place on this earth. I have used photographs from Facebook and the internet and do not intend to breach any copyrights. 

Birdgirl Blog Sundarbans Oil Spill Part 1

BBC News Clip - 12/12/2014

The clean up

Sundarbans oil spill, Bangladesh

In the middle of last week, officials of the Environment Ministry said a ship carrying dispersants (chemicals that help remove oil from the water surface by breaking oil slicks into smaller droplets) was heading to the area and would start work Thursday afternoon. However, environmentalists were very concerned that using dispersants would cause further damage to the delicate mangrove ecology. 

The government also advised that it had started legal proceedings against the owners of the two boats. With the Ministry of Shipping also saying that the cargo boat had been detained and its survey certificate and registration cancelled.

Southern Star VII, Sundarbans, Bangladesh

On Thursday, officials at the Ministry of Environment and Forests confirmed that the naval vessel Kandari had arrived, raised the oil tanker and towed to the river bank along the river, stopping further spillage. However, it looks like it had lost most of the oil in the four damaged containers by the time it was recovered, with 100,000 litres remaining in the two undamaged containers. Although the ship had dispersants on board, it was fortunately stopped from using them by the Forestry Department.

Forest guards, environmentalists and local residents described how the oil had spread into smaller channels inside the forest, a complex mosaic of waterways, mud flats and small islands with the oil spreading 50 square miles and to at least 20 canals connected to the two rivers. By this time, the authorities had hired 100 boats and 200 local villagers, who were interviewed on TV talking about an overpowering stench of oil and how they had seen oil covered ducks dying.

Oil had covered grasses and plants on the banks of the rivers, affected seven young saltwater crocodiles at Karamjal Wildlife Reproduction Centre and killed at least a Monitor Lizard and Otter both found some miles from the accident site. I think this is likely to be the tip of the iceberg.

Mangroves covered in oil in Sundarbans, Bangladesh

Mangroves covered in oil in Sundarbans, Bangladesh

Environmentalists have criticized the government for not reacting sooner to the spill and for allowing commercial shipping to pass through a wildlife sanctuary, 

“It is completely unacceptable for tankers to be passing through an area with a delicate ecosystem like the Sundarbans,” said Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association. “This was a disaster waiting to happen.”

There was a meeting on Friday 12th December between the government and interested parties, when it was agreed that no chemical dispersants would be used in the clean up process. The government agreed to immediately send more naval boats with personnel and officials, so that there were a total of four involved as part of a clean up operation. Abdullah Al Islam, the Deputy Environment Minister, confirmed that the government had closed the boat route through the Sundarbans and had mounted a cleanup operation involving navy personnel, forest guards and local volunteers,

“We’re doing everything we can to limit the damage to the Sundarbans”. 

However, it is still clear that Bangladesh does not have the expertise to deal with this catastrophe.

The Shipping Minister, Shajahan Khan, who visited the area on Thursday afternoon, told BBC radio that a London-based team had offered its assistance for the clean-up but gave no further information. At the moment, it does not seem that the government has asked for any international help, which I don’t understand. 

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, also said that it had started to collect water samples from the Shela River, at 15 points every day. The Director-General of the Environment Department, Mohammad Shahjahan, said that they had sent the specimen of the chemicals for analysis to their own laboratory and the testing facilities of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

“But we are yet to get their reports and suggestions. So until now we cannot give permission for its use [of chemicals] in the Sundarbans”.

Government officials say they still cannot give an assessment of the likely damage. 

Sundarbans oil spill, Bangladesh

The conservation effort

Tapan Kumer Dey, Chief Conservation Officer of forest wildlife said,

“The risk of damage to the biodiversity is high but we have yet to confirm any deaths of major animals including dolphins and crocodiles. Several teams are desperately trying to determine the immediate impact. We are closely monitoring the situation as this is a major disaster. We have spotted dolphins coming out of the water for air and going down again in some places. Crocodile movement in the affected areas has been less after the disaster and we are trying to determine actually what happened to them.”

Environmental activists are now warning of massive ecological disaster due to the spill, particularly in the southern parts of the Sundarbans, where the rivers meet the sea. Officials have agreed that the damage had been done as the slick has spread to two rivers and at least 20 canals.

The recent situation

There are some unsubstantiated claims that local villagers were stopping their help because they had not paid them but the government is saying that the price has been increased to TK40 per litre. Only 43,000 litres of oil have been collected by hand, with Amir Hossain Chowdhury, Chief Forestry Officer of the Sundarbans, giving an estimate that just 50,000 litres of oil is likely be collected in this way because the rest will disperse with the current or get mixed into the mud.

Since the oil spill, no fish, animals or birds have been seen in the area. They are either dead or moved into other areas, where they are unlikely to survive.

Local villager collecting oil, Sundarbans oil spill, Bangladesh

Ecology and biodiversity researcher Pavel Partha, at the oil spill, said that local people wading and trampling in the water to collect oil by hand, was causing oil to be mixed into the forest floor’s muddy soil, causing more contamination.

“The photosynthesis of primary food producers like Phytoplankton and Zoo-plankton will be badly affected by oil entering into the mud, and will ultimately destroy the primary level of the mangrove ecosystem’s food chain. The seeds of many plants will probably not sprout because of disruptions to respiration and evaporation caused by the oil. Engaging untrained locals in collecting the oil is also likely to turn out to be a boomerang. Along with oil, they are also collecting a lot of mud from the river banks. This may harm the composition of the soil and end up harming the regeneration of the forest ecosystem.”

Sundarbans oil spill, Bangladesh

Next: The Sundarbans Oil Spill Part 3

About the writer

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 12 year old young birder, conservationist, writer and speaker.    She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world.  She has recently been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people.  Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter

The Sundarbans Oil Spill Part 1

An oil covered kingfisher cleaned without expert knowledge
Photograph taken by and copyright Kurshad Alam Rinku

What can you do to help?

As birders, environmentalists or Bangladeshi’s, we must all do everything we can NOW to help limit this disaster. Some things you can do:

• Put pressure on international media to report on this catastrophe; 
• Publicize what is happening in the Sundarbans on social media #sundarbansoilspill; 
• Put pressure on bird/animal conservation organisations to help; 
• Give and help raise money - send your pledges to me
• Put pressure on organisations/companies/governments with expertise to help; 
• Offer your help through the International Save Sundarbans Facebook Group
• Volunteer in the Sundarbans 
• Sign the petition Petition to Bangladesh PM and for those in Bangladesh Petition to our PM

I am a 12 year old Bangladeshi conservationist living in the UK.  It was difficult for me outside of Bangladesh to know what was happening. I have tried to bring together the snippets of news I found into one 3-part article. These are the most difficult articles that I have written. They are not about Bangladeshi party politics but about saving a really special place on this earth. I have used photographs from Facebook and the internet and do not intend to breach any copyrights.

BBC News clip - 12/12/2014

What happened?

The last week has brought shocking news from the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. An area that stretches across the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna river deltas near the Bay of Bengal and that the United Nations made an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. At almost 4000 square miles, it is the world’s largest mangrove forest with many rare birds including Masked Finfoot and lots of waders, Irrawaddy and Ganges Dolphins, Olive Ridley Turtles, Freshwater Crocodiles and the Royal Bengal Tiger. My Mum and I were planning to go to the Sundarbans in February but had to cancel at the last minute, instead concentrating on survey work with the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. 

WWF mangrove ecosystems

A young Birder's view

As the story has unfolded, Bangladeshi’s at home and abroad, like me, have been watching in shock and disbelief as the biggest environmental catastrophe to hit the region became apparent. The impact on wildlife is likely to be disastrous. 

In the early hours of last Tuesday, 9th December, at 5.00 am an oil tanker, Southern Star VII, carrying an estimated 77,000 gallons of furnace oil was hit by a cargo boat in the Shela River. The boat was trying to steer though thick fog, partially sinking the tanker, damaging four out of six compartments and causing a massive oil spill. The tanker was on its way to deliver oil to a power plant in Gopalganj. 

Muhammad Giasuddin, managing director of Harun & Co, the tanker’s owner, confirmed that the ship sank after being rammed by another vessel in thick fog, maintaining their vessel was not to blame for the accident. 

The Southern Star VII leaking furnice oil

The immediate aftermath

The oil quickly spread to the Passur River and networks of canals in the mangrove delta and has been spreading at least 20 km per day.

After the accident, Amir Hossain Chowdhury, Chief Forestry Officer of the Sundarbans said,

“The oil spill has spread over a 37 mile long area in the Shela and Passur Rivers. It’s a catastrophe for the delicate ecology of the Sundarbans. The oil spill has already blackened the shoreline, threatening trees, plankton, vast populations of small fishes and dolphins. The symptoms of environmental damage will be visible soon, as the water quality has already been damaged. Things have worsened a lot since then.”

The authorities have relied on a small scale clean-up which is completely inadequate being dangerous for the people involved and making the situation worse by getting oil stamped into the mud. It is clear that the Bangladesh authorities do not have the knowledge or equipment to deal with the crisis. 

Local villagers started trying to soak up the oil themselves. Seeing this, as an incentive, the authorities agreed that they could sell the oil. It was awful to watch local villagers standing in this dangerous black water, trying to collect oil with small sponges and sacks with their bare hands. They were then told that they could sell the oil for TK30 (25p) per litre back to Padma Oil, Bangladesh’s state petrol company, who had started using buoys to try to restrict the oil slick as well as asking local fishermen to use nets to try to stop the oil entering small canals. However, carcinogenic chemicals the furnace oil is highly damaging to liver and skin. Also, nothing has been done to help the fishermen who have lost their livelihood. No relief efforts have been announced for these affected people and the danger is that they start hunting rare birds and animals for food. Mr Chowdhury went on to say,

“We have not started any major clean-up efforts yet. In fact, the Forestry Department does not have the technology to deal with this kind of disaster. This catastrophe is unprecedented in the Sundarbans and we don't know how to tackle this. We're worried about its long-term impact, because it happened in a fragile and sensitive mangrove ecosystem".

The contaminated Shela River, Sundarbans, Bangladesh

The Environmental Impact

The collision happened inside one of three nature sanctuaries set up for the rare Irrawaddy Dolphin. The three areas were declared dolphin sanctuaries, where fishing is banned, in 2011, after studies found approximately 6,000 in the area. Commercial boats were banned from passing though the Sundarbans in the late 1990’s, but despite the obvious risks, in 2011 the government allowed tankers and other boats to travel through the forest. This was because the regular river route, which went around the Sundarbans, was closed due to heavy silting, which the government say they were trying to fix by dredging. Environmentalists say that the shipping route through the Sundarbans was an ecological violation. 

Rubayat Mansur, Bangladesh Head of the New York Wildlife Conservation Society, speaking from the accident site, described the oil spill as a “national disaster” and accused the authorities of not doing enough to contain the damage.

“There are no coordinated efforts to tackle the disaster. The air has become toxic and we got news from fishermen they have seen dead fishes. Crabs which make up the largest single group in the forest are facing the biggest threat. And if crabs are hit, the dolphins and tigers will be affected. Dolphins will find it very difficult to breathe this foul air. Irrawaddy Dolphins can be found in South East Asia. But their population size is very small compared to Bangladesh”.

Mr Mansur also said that it looked like most of the oil had already leaked out.

"I visited the sunken trawler this morning. Only few hundred litres of oil remain inside, so almost all the oil has spilled into the Sundarbans”. 

He went on to say that oil dispersants were "not appropriate for the mangrove ecosystem" and urged local villagers to help collect the oil from nets that have been placed in the river to contain its spread.

Dilip Kumar Dutta, Professor of Environmental Science at Khulna University explained that the oil would reduce the amount of oxygen in the water and make it difficult for aquatic species to breathe,

“The oil is spreading in the mud flats and removing it will need specialist expertise”.

Pauline Tamesis, Country Director of the United Nations Development Program in Dhaka, expressed her concern about the oil spill and called for efforts to prevent long-term environmental damage. She went on to say that the accident showed “the need for a complete ban on the movement of all commercial vessels through the Sundarbans. Global experience shows that this kind of incident has long term environmental consequences and it requires coordinated multi-sectoral efforts to restore the affected areas”.

An oil covered kingfisher cleaned without expert knowledge
Photograph taken by and copyright Kurshad Alam Rinku

An oil covered kingfisher cleaned and not long before it died
Photograph taken by and copyright Tanim Ashraf

Next: The Sundarbans Oil Spill Part 2

About the writer

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 12 year old young birder, conservationist, writer and speaker.    She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world.  She has recently been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people.  Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter